"Ms Schouten-Elsenhout was not "discovered" as a poet until she was almost fifty
years old, when she had, as she herself stated, 'never before read a poem nor
knew what a poem was'. Born and raised in an oral culture, she chose to write
in Sranan, then considered a "non-language." She showed that one could also
express complex literary/poetic sentiments in this despised vernacular."
– D. France Oliviera
SWETI
Mi nyun oloysi
nanga prakiki
di brad' en ffrey a tapu
di m' win' lek'
nomru wan a pren
bigin nak' yuru
e waka a baka
agers' m' e firi f' go ler' swen
nanga koni a mindri faya
wins' a f' wandey prisiri
f' dukrun wan kefe
mindri a se f' asema brudu
f' marki
soso wan enkri drop' sweti f' mi libi
d' e lon lek' kowru watra a mindrisey
frede bigin dangra mi
pref' mi fadon nanga doro insey
mi dyonpo nanga tap'ay
a mindri Srananliba AGONY
di m' op' ede a loktu baka
mi si tak' a owru Betkayn My brand new clock
mi fen' mi srefi with spread-eagled lovebirds
mindri a smeri on top, I won at the fair
f' den srafu dedebonyo starts chiming time
though behind time; it seems
as if I want to learn to swim with cunning in fire
even if for just a one-day fling
to dive for a moment into a sea of vampire's blood
to mark
just one single drop of sweat
of my life that courses like cold water at the center.

0; Then I was gripped by fear;
instead of falling headlong indoors
I jumped with eyes shut tight into the river.
When I surfaced again I noticed that
I'd popped up right in the old jewish cemetery
with the rank smell of the bony remains of the slaves
clogging my nostrils.
…
GOWTU ATI A GOLDEN HEART
Wan gowtu ati A golden heart
a wan di n' e krey is one that does not cry
awansi a no e waka even if not walking
a mindri soso rosu nomo only in a rose garden
wan gowtu ati A golden heart
a wan di n' e kibri is one that does not hide
a baka kruktu behind injustice
te reti sor' en fesi when justice shows up.
wan gowtu ati A golden heart
a wan d' e taki is one that speaks
a mindri wi brudu in our blood
lek' wan oloysi f' a ten like a clock shows time
awansi dede e kon even when death strikes.
Poems from 'Awese' © by Johanna Schouten-Elsenhout Estate, Paramaribo, 1986
Copyright this English translation 'Awese: Light In This Everlasting Dark Moon'
© by D. France Olivieira - Paramaribo, Suriname, 2010
FARJOURNEY CARIBBEAN 