The Sun of Always
The Sun of Always
Liliana Ancalao
Translated by Seth Michelson
“These are poems that remember, that conjure, that define and defy, that locate. ‘To be a Mapuche poet is to be a researcher, historian, anthropologist, semiotician, linguist, officiant,’ Ancalao writes. The poems in this collection are a reckoning and interrogation of the narrative of the benevolent (Western/-minded) naturalist; they are a waking and awakening, of the forgetful and the forgotten. The violence, they remind us, is in the silence, but in our mother tongues we find ourselves. In the silenced tongues of indigenous peoples lives an affinity to the land and to those stewards severed from their lands across borders of time and geography. In their voicing, then, is resistance, resilience, strength—and joy. That the poems appear in triplicate, each tongue conjured on the page, is a promise: the forgotten will not be silent anymore.”
—Abigail Chabitnoy, Author of How to Dress a Fish
Details
ISBN: 978-1-7329363-9-3
Trilingual Edition: Mapudunzun, Spanish, English
256 Pages
P/Reviews
Two Poems in Latin American Literature Today
Three Poems in World Literature Today
Praise for The Sun of Always
“Liliana’s poetry is a gesture of resistance to the politics of silencing, forgetting, and plundering. Her verses hurt us in our bodies. They masterfully weave together threads of rage, tenderness, and amazement. They offer us horizons to the future.”
—Ana Cacopardo, Journalist & documentarian
“As a chisel of ice, Liliana Ancalao’s profound and vibrant poetry carves Nahuel words from the sacred land. It gives them the form of a kimun arrow so as ‘to guide their return to the territory.’ From the galaxy to the sky below, her poetry expands our sororal universe and leaves its footprint on we females. Multiplied ‘like the birds of Elal.’ Embodied seeing a new ‘dawning of the world with two scars on her back,’ being weaving and trees and branches, being ‘buffalo of water.’ Waiting ‘to receive the sun, / the sun of always.’”
—Karina Bidaseka, Doctor of Social Sciences
About the Author
A celebrated Mapuche poet, Liliana Ancalao was born in 1961 in Puel Mapu, or what is more commonly known around the world today as Argentina. There she helped to found ñamkulawen, a Mapuche community group working to protect and advance Mapuche culture. Her books of poetry include Rokiñ provisiones para el viaje, Mujeres a la intemperie-pu zomo wekuntu mew, and Tejido con lana cruda, and she has published a book of essays with poetry entitled Resuello- neyen. She has been widely anthologized internationally, and her work has been translated into English and French.
Seth Michelson has published sixteen books of original poetry and poetry in translation, and the bilingual-Spanish poetry anthology Dreaming America: Voices of Undocumented Youth in Maximum-Security Detention, with all proceeds going to a legal defense fund for undocumented, incarcerated youth. Honors for his work include an NEA Fellowship, a Fulbright Fellowship, and a Mellon Foundation fellowship, and his work has been translated into Hindi, Italian, Malayalam, Slovenian, Spanish, Vietnamese, and other languages. He teaches the poetry of the hemispheric Americas at Washington and Lee University, where he founded and directs the Center for Poetic Research.