John Agrad, Guyana
Por: John Agrad
Heart Transplant
No puff,
no pant
check out
a heart transplant
let’s swop
your heart
for mine
heart transplant
the new life line
come on baby do the heart transplant
come on baby do the heart transplant
experiment number 1
put the heart of a bird
into a stone
the stone sings
the stone grows wings
wondrous flight
of a common thing
experiment number 2
a medical breakthru
put the heart of your average politician
into a common stone
stones grow paranoid
stones grow suspicious of grass
stones hurl themselves into the void
alas
will stones develop a paunch
seeking the votes of God
Cowtalk
Take a walk to the splendid morning fields of summer
check out the cows in full gleam
of their black and white hide
and remember was a man once say I have a dream
but they shoot him down in cold blood of day
because he had a mountaintop dream
of black and white hand in hand
Take a walk to the splendid morning fields of summer
check out the cows in the green of meditation
a horde of black and white harmony
maybe the cows trying to tell us something
but we the human butchers can’t understand cowtalk
much less cowsilence
to interpret cowsilence you must send for a poet
not a butcher or a politician
cows in the interwoven glory
of their black and white hide
have their own mysterious history
cows in the interwoven glory
of their black and white hide
never heard of apartheid
never practice genocide
never seem to worry
that the grass greener on the other side
cows calmly marry and intermarry
cows in the interwoven glory
of their black and white hide
cows in the interwoven glory
of black and white integration
can’t spell integration
cows never went to school
that’s why cows so cool supercool
cows have little time for immigration rule
and above all cows never impose
their language on
another nation
do yoo moo my message do yoo moo
Quipu Chant
By coloured knots on strings,
we Keepers of the Knots
we remember
our Inca beginnings.
By the Quipu, our calendar.
By the Quipu, our ledger.
By the Quipu, our message-bearer.
By the counting threads
of the Quipu,
we Keepers of the Knots
we account for
the ears of corn
the heads of cattle
the gold of the sun
the silver of the moon
the roaming llama.
By the living threads
of the Quipu,
we Keepers of the Knots
we account for
the fallen in battle,
the numbers gone to Pachacamac
god of earth and time,
and the numbers still here
to breathe rain’s miracle.
Bt the talking threads
of the Quipu,
we Keepers of the Knots
we keep the past un-dead.
We who unravel
the Quipu’s secrets
as the hours unravel us.
We Keepers of the Knots.
Let it not be said
that we forgot.
Víctor Jara
Víctor Jara
Víctor Jara
your name
bears the sound
of guitarra
your instrument of love
Víctor Jara
Víctor Jara
your name
bears the sound
of tierra
the earth you cherished
like your mother’s songs
and how I wished
there was no need
for yet another poem
dedicated to hands
that still sing and bleed
how I wished
the silence of this poem
was shattered now
by bullets of love
from your guitar
Víctor Jara
Víctor guitarra
Víctor tierra
Víctor Jara
Jara
Jara
Jar
ah
Tongue
Small flame
under the roof
of a mouth.
You devour
You cleanse
You tell honey
from vinegar.
You speak truth.
You speak slander.
You soothe
with a kiss.
You bruise
with a word.
To the possessed
you are the gift
of enlightenment.
To the dispossessed
you are the scale
of judgement.
Small flame
under the roof
of a mouth.
Tyranny knows
your hiding place.
Once Upon A Time
Once upon a time there lived
a small joke
in the middle of nowhere.
This small joke
was dying to share
itself with someone
but nobody came to hear
this small joke.
So this small joke told
itself to the birds
and the birds told this small joke the trees
and the trees told this small joke to the rivers
and the rivers told this small joke to the mountains
and the mountains told this small joke to the stars
till the whole world
started to swell with laughter
and nobody believed
it all began
with a small joke
that lived in the middle of nowhere.
Everybody kept saying
it was me
it was me.
John Agard (born 21 June 1949 in British Guiana) is an Afro-Guyanese playwright, poet and children's writer, now living in Britain. In 2012, he was selected for the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. Other recived awards are: Casa de las Américas Prize (Cuba) for Man to Pan; 1987: Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (shortlist) for Lend Me Your Wings; 1995: Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (Bronze Award) (6–8 years category) for We Animals Would Like a Word With You; 1997: Paul Hamlyn Award for Poetry; 2004: Cholmondeley Award; 2007: British Book Awards Decibel Writer of the Year (shortlist) for We Brits; 2007: Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature; 2009: Centre for Literacy in Primary Education poetry award for The Young Inferno; 2012: Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.
