Gloria Anzaldúa. Poesía chicana (3)

TO LIVE IN THE BORDERLANDS

To live in the borderlands means you

      are neither hispana india negra espanola

      ni gabacha, eres mestiza, mulata, half-breed

      caught in the crossfire between camps 

      while carrying all five races on your back

      not knowing which side to turn to, run from;

To live in the Borderlands means knowing

      that the india in you, betrayed for 500 years,

      is no longer speaking to you,

      the mexicanas call you rajetas, that denying the Anglo inside you

      is as bad as having denied the Indian or Black;

Cuando vives en la frontera

      people walk through you, the wind steals your voice,

      you’re a burra, buey, scapegoat,

      forerunner of a new race,

      half and half-both woman and man, neither-a new gender;

To live in the Borderlands means to

      put chile in the borscht,

      eat whole wheat tortillas,

      speak Tex-Mex with a Brooklyn accent;

      be stopped by la migra at the border checkpoints;

Living in the Borderlands means you fight hard to

      resist the gold elixir beckoning from the bottle,

      the pull of the gun barrel,

      the rope crushing the hollow of your throat;

In the Borderlands

      you are the battleground

      where enemies are kin to each other;

      you are at home, a stranger,

      the border disputes have been settled

      the volley of shots have scattered the truce

      you are wounded, lost in action

      dead, fighting back;

To live in the Borderlands means

      the mill with the razor white teeth wants to shred off

      your olive-red skin, crush out the kernel, your heart

      pound you pinch you roll you out

      smelling like white bread but dead;

To survive the Borderlands

      you must live sin fronteras

      be a crossroads.

Found here. 

VIVIR EN LA FRONTERA

Vivir en la Frontera significa que tú

      no eres ni hispana india negra española

      ni gabacha, eres mestiza, mulata, híbrida

      atrapada en el fuego cruzado entre los bandos

      mientras llevas las cinco razas sobre tu espalda

      sin saber para qué lado volverte, de cuál correr;

Vivir en la Frontera significa saber

      que la india en ti, traicionada por 500 años,

      ya no te está hablando,

      que las mexicanas te llaman rajetas,

      que negar a la Anglo dentro tuyo

      es tan malo como haber negado a la India o a la Negra;

Cuando vives en la frontera

      la gente camina a través tuyo, el viento roba tu voz,

      eres una burra, buey, un chivo expiatorio,

      anunciadora de una nueva raza,

      mitad y mitad –tanto mujer como hombre, ninguno–

      un nuevo género;

Vivir en la Frontera significa

      poner chile en el borscht,

      comer tortillas de maíz integral,

      hablar Tex-Mex con acento de Brooklyn ;

      ser detenida por la migra en los puntos de control fronterizos;

Vivir en la Frontera significa que luchas duramente para

      resistir el elixir de oro que te llama desde la botella,

      el tirón del cañón de la pistola,

      la soga aplastando el hueco de tu garganta;

En la Frontera

      tú eres el campo de batalla

      donde los enemigos están emparentados entre sí;

      tú estás en casa, una extraña,

      las disputas de límites han sido dirimidas

      el estampido de los disparos ha hecho trizas la tregua

      estás herida, perdida en acción

      muerta, resistiendo;

Vivir en la Frontera significa

      el molino con los blancos dientes de navaja quiere arrancar en tiras

      tu piel rojo-oliva, exprimir la pulpa, tu corazón

      pulverizarte apretarte alisarte

      oliendo como pan blanco pero muerta;

Para sobrevivir en la Frontera

      debes vivir sin fronteras

      ser un cruce de caminos.

Traducción: María Luisa Peralta

Encontrado aquí.

Gloria Anzaldúa (Valle del Río Grande, Texas; 1942 - Santa Cruz, California; 2004). She was a scholar of Chicana cultural theory, feminist theory, and queer theory, writer, poet and activist. Her work is fundamentally concerned with articulating what she calls a "new mestiza consciousness," an identity characterized by hybridity, flexibility, and plurality and focused on the experiences of Chicanas (Mexican American women) and particularly mestizas. Writing fiction, poetry, memoirs, and literary and cultural criticism (sometimes all within the same text), Anzaldúa has helped define and lend authority to women of color as well as gays and lesbians, whom she identifies as empowered by the inclusiveness and expansiveness of mestizaidentity.

Anzaldúa was born on a ranch in south Texas, near the border of Mexico. In her youth, she and her family labored as migrant agricultural workers. Although she felt stifled by the confines of a traditional Chicano home life in which gender roles tended to be rigid and rather limiting, Anzaldúa early found what she calls "an entry into a different way of being" through reading. Defying everyone's expectations, she went to college and earned a B.A. from Pan American University, an M.A. from the University of Texas at Austin, and did graduate work at the University of California at Santa Cruz. She has taught high-school English, been involved in education programs for the children of migrant workers, and taught creative writing and literature at a number of universities. A prolific writer, Anzaldúa has published stories, poems, critical theory, children's books, and a novel (La Prieta). Her work appears in both mainstream publications and alternative presses and journals. Anzaldúa's complex identity as a woman, a Chicana, a mestiza, and a lesbian is reflected in her pioneering contributions to gender studies, Chicano studies, queer theory, and creative writing. Her 1987 book, Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, stands as a manifesto of her ideas about culture and identity construction.

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