"A proud African-Surinamese rooted in the oral tradition of her culture
she chose not to employ oral poetic techniques in her work, although
she did utilize materials from that tradition for her poetic idioms,
producing powerful poems in Sranan in a free style that sounded
conversational and fresh."
– D. France Oliviera
KLORU
No suk' a kloru f' yu buba
mindri moysmoys' nesi
suk' en ini den kruyara a opo-Sranan
No suk' a kloru f' yu buba
a fes' wan drikant' grasloyki
suk' en ini Parakriki
mindri den kasaba pransun
a mindri a son f' y' ati
No suk' a kloru f' yu buba
a mindri alatafal
suk' en a Stondansi mindri den bugrumaka
a lobi f' yu eygi kondre
No suk' a kloru f' yu buba
a mindri birbiri
suk' en a Kosu mindri den bato
No suk' a kloru f' yu buba
a mindri den patata-bedi
suk' en a brabakoto mindri SsÂbeni gongote
No suk' a kloru f' yu buba
a dipi se mindri den sarki
suk' en a mindri den nengrekondre pepresiri
te doro gron f' y' ati
No suk' a kloru f' yu buba
nanga leygi ay mindri kowru libi
suk' en ini winti nanga alen mindri den aleysigron
No suk' a kloru f' yu buba
mindri den asema brudu
suk' en ondro a pangi ef' sari f' yu mma
No suk' a kloru f' yu buba
lek' bigimenbre krabdagu
a mindri akademi-sturu
suk' en sondro f' afront' I yeye
mindri Sranan udu bangi
a mindri yu eygi kra
THE COLOR OF YOUR SKIN
Don't look for the color of your skin
in a mice nest
look for it in the canoes upriver
Don't look for the color of your skin
in front of a three-sided windowpane
look for it in a brook
amid the shoots in the cassava garden
in the sun of your heart
Don't look for the color of your skin
in a rat trap
look for it at the Dancing Stones Falls amidst the bugrumaka palms
in the love of your own country
Don't look for the color of your skin
in the underbrush
look for it in Kosu among the riverboats
Don't look for the color of your skin
in the potato patch
look for it on the smoking racks, at Sistah Abeni's gongote dance party
Don't look for the color of your skin
in the deep among the sharks

60; look for it among the seeds of the guinea pepper
down to the bottom of your heart
Don't look for the color of your skin
with empty eyes in this cold life
look for it in the wind and in the rain in the rice field
Don't look for the color of your skin
in the blood of the vampire
look for it under the wrapper cloth
if it's large enough to cover your mama
Don't look for the color of your skin
like the spoiled brat at the shrine
look for it without offending your yeye soul
among the wooden benches
right in your very vital soul kra
Poems from 'Awese' copyright © by Johanna Schouten-Elsenhout Estate, Paramaribo, 1965
Copyright this English translation 'Awese: Light in This Everlasting Dark Moon' © by
D. France Olivieira, Paramaribo, Suriname, 2010
FARJOURNEY CARIBBEAN 