CABO VERDE: short story MARCH 2010

by Albert Chambers...

I yawn as I stretch my body from limb to limb, my fingers pull up sand from the earth. I have risen to the morning sun again. This is usually my favorite spot to rest, right in the middle of this white filled sandy beach. So, I must shake my head like a wild lion shakes his mane in order to rid my hair of the obscene amount of sand that has accumulated in my in my curly locks of hair during the night time. This seems to have become a daily ritual of mine in the morning.

My mother was lucky enough that of the twelve children that she gave birth to, my brother and I were the only two survivors. Well, not true, my brother had been sacrificed in hopes that I would have an 'opportunity' at survival. My mother would usually be the one to stay home for at least a month mingling in nojad with those who came to pay tribute to Nikilo, my brother (Parsons 97). When I learned of this, I despised my mother. Who is allowed to walk freely after killing their own child? So, I write. "Road, asphalt, purity violated under murderous wheels. You, my land, come hidden in my suitcase" (Claridade, no.8, p.1). I have always been the lone shark. I have always tried to make sense of nonsense, like why is my skin so dark. I blame it on the unwritten rule to never stand underneath a tree during the sun's most dangerous of sun-rays (Parsons 92). Thank God for my African lineage or I would have surely died under this treacherous heat.

I am what my country refers to as a coude and would not be so if I stayed home (Parsons 92). I left home around nine years old. T'was the only way I would find a peace of mind, my path, or know who it was that I am, right? Plus, I smoke when, what and where I want to (Parsons 93). "Real men do what they want." That is what Mandello, my childhood friend, told me before he took sail to the motherland. I never wanted for much. I never asked for anything. I grew accustomed to working for my earnings and I took fancy to the opportunity to show my work, no matter what it was. The other guys went around stealing food and drink, especially during carnavale (Parsons 104). What they would do took the form of many names. I call them 'thieves.'

I never took kindly to the ideas of marriage either. It all just seemed way too complicated. Marriage seemed more like a trapped door. It was more like a nine month pregnancy, only it lasted longer and there were a lot more rules. That explains my creativity, I was alone a lot. Actually, it was rare to see me with someone, better yet anyone, even if there was a multitude of people around. I spent most of days looking for inspiration on whether or not I should stay of leave Cape Verde the way Mandello did.

Anyway, I went fishing after a quick swim to wash my away yesterday's troubles. I did not catch much but it was enough. It was only one catch but a mighty big catch I might add. Myth has it that once the "king fish" has been caught, there will be no more catches during that trip (Parsons 101). Knowing that, I set up my fire and my notepad to write a line or two and take a bite. I loved being able to do this.

I wrote a beautiful poem today. It was not like many of the poems that I had been told. I just learned to read and write, otherwise I would have been able to read for myself. The older guys would say that I am doing pretty well though, considering that I am yet to turn fourteen. Today, I looked up from my roasting fire, it took me by surprise what I had found. Wearing the colors found in the sun, sand, and the ocean, a mermaid perhaps, changed my life. I wondered what true beauty was for I had never truly experienced the phenomenon. Like the poem I had written today, I saw with my very own eyes, beauty in the form of a goddess. I love you Cabo Verde but you never made time stop. You never took my breath away. Oh today, look what you have brought to me! My life will never be the same.

Mariana's Love: A Fictional Story from Cape Verde

It was the summer that I was seventeen years old, that my husband’s father came to my house to arrange our wedding. Unlike some of my friends, I was lucky enough to know him before we got married. My father consented to the match, and all of the plans were set. As I got to know my husband more, I was glad to learn that he appreciated the natural beauty of the island. He understood my frustration with living with my parents, and most of all my love of the written word. Because we were so young it did not seem like anything would ever come from our appreciation of Cape Verdean poetry—but it would come to change our lives.

Less than a year after we were married, my husband heard about this new literary and cultural review called Claridade that published many great poems and stories in our own language—our own creole from Cape Verde (Hamilton 260-261). While there were other publications that came before it, we knew that this one would be different. We prayed that it would last longer than some of the other. For us, the poetry provided a link to our unique history, one both separate from and deeply connected to Portugal and its influence throughout the world. However, this time the review focused on Cape Verdeans writing about life in Cape Verde. But Claridade also taught us about Brazilian literature and the modernist movement that was sweeping through their culture. The interest in Cape Verdean literature that arose because of Claridade helped to spark my husband’s imagination and he began to focus much of his time on his writing.

It was around this time that I got pregnant with our first child. I never had to try wearing my husband’s shoes or jacket in order to conceive, but getting pregnant was something I wanted, something I had desired since I was a little girl (Parsons 6). I was told by the women in my family and those I talk to at the market that I was supposed to follow all of my cravings, no matter how ridiculous. I craved fresh fruit, something we luckily had an abundance of. However, my other craving was poetry. I could not stop reading it, I wrote lines down on any little scrap of paper I could find. I knew I would never be published, that my words would never grace the pages of Claridade, but they poured out of me. There was nothing I would do to stop them.

I resisted stopping my poetry because that is what Cape Verdeans do- we resist. We know that there is a lack of opportunity where we live. We are aware of the barrenness of our land. And yet, we stay. In fact, we resist being pulled under by these negatives by our celebrations. As some suggest, we “create wild music, dance until dawn, and write touching poetry,” all as acts of resistance to the hardships we face on the island (Carter 20). I believe this is true. Our culture seems to be stronger because we choose to live here, to remain where there is little, except the ocean. I agree with those who say that our food, music, and poetry are intimately tied to the ocean. The ocean represents our “isolation from the rest of the world, as well as a deep sad, longing—sodade—for family and friends” who have left the islands (Carter 32). But to me, the ocean represents more than an absence. It is a blanket that keeps us safe and sheltered. Because of the ocean we are able to resist some of the negatives from the outside world, to resist some change but to always remain Cape Verdean at heart.

Before our son was born, my husband’s poem was published in Claridade. I could not have been more proud of him. His poem was about brining new life to the island, just as I was about to with our child. My husband grew frustrated when his friends would leave Cape Verde for whatever reason—adventure, money, opportunity, a dream. We believed that we were placed on the island for a reason, and that the islands were where we belonged. Of course life was not always easy, and small droughts were frustrating, but for us, those were not reasons to leave our home. My husband and I knew that there were more important things in life than money or adventure. We have had fun and been successful, all while staying on in Cape Verde. We might live on an island, but our isolation is not a bad thing. It protects us and keeps life pure.

Our music, our holidays and festivals for Easter, Christmas and New Years, our religion, our traditions, and our beliefs are just a few of the reasons why I love this island. Life here has not been easy over the past seventy years, but my husband, our children and their children, are all lucky to live in Cape Verde. Thanks to men like Manuel Lopes, who worked to keep Claridade in print, we were inspired by the words of our islands (Parsons). Our poetry offers us hope, brings us healing, and expresses our joys. Like our mornas, poetry is able to capture one emotion that we know so well—sodade, or longing (Carter 140). While I was never published, my poetry lives on in my children, and the appreciation of Cape Verdean literature will live on in my grandchildren and their children for as long as there are people in Cape Verde. The poetry of the islands still expresses my full range of emotions, more than fifty years since it came into my life. The islands, the words, and my family are my loves.


Carter, Katherine, and Judy Aulette. Cape Verdean Women and Globalization: the Politics of Gender, Culture, and Resistance. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

Hamilton, Russell G. Voices from an Empire: a History of Afro-Portuguese Literature. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1975.

Parsons, Elsie Clews. “Folk-Lore of the Cape Verde Islanders.” The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 34, No. 131 (Jan. - Mar., 1921), pp. 89-109. American Folklore Society. http://www.jstor.org/stable/534936

Tenreiro and the Poetry of São Tomé and Príncipe

BLUES FRAGMENT
For Langston Hughes

Francisco José Tenreiro
(Trans. by Don Burness)

All the melancholy of nights in Georgia
comes to me
this stormy night in Europe
through the solitary voice of the trumpet:
Oh! mammy! oh! mammy
rock yo lil’ chil’
Oh! mammy, oh! mammy
look at de world stealin’ yo chil’.

Black woman – your sweet voice
reaches me in the sadness of my heart
which breaks at the sad sound of a piano
playing in Harlem:
- Oh! King Joe
King Joe!
Joe Louis beat Buddy Bear
and Harlem laughed its white toothed negro laugh.

In these stormy nights in Europe
Count Basie plays for me
and black rhythms from America
inundate my heart;
- ah! black rhythms from America
inundate my heart.

And if I still am sad
Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen
Come to me
singing the poem of a new day
- ai! The black man is not dead
nor will he ever die!

…By and by with them I want to sing
by and by with them I want to struggle
ai, the black man is not dead
nor will he ever die!

Tenreiro and The Poetry of São Tomé and Príncipe
The poetry of São Tomé and Príncipe comes from a unique perspective, one filled with their racial, social, cultural, and political background that has been influenced by both history, the landscape, and outside forces. The works by both Donald Burness and Noel Ortega point out the Negritude that is evident in the poetry coming from São Tomé, especially after the 1940’s. Burness explains in the introduction to his collection of African Lusophone poetry and its English translation, A Horse of White Clouds, that the poetry from São Tomé and Príncipe is specifically important because they “were centers of exploitation, centers of racial cruelty” and that “voices from these twin islands have been less than meek” in voicing their opinions about their situation (Burness xviii). While many of the other African nations once colonized by Portugal share similar stories, those of São Tomé and Príncipe hold an important place in African Lusophone literature, one that Burness recognizes in his collection.

The pain and violence found on these islands is palpable in the lines of the poetry written by natives of São Tomé and Príncipe. Poets like Caetano da Costa Alegre, and Francisco Jose Tenreiro all share their opinions, emotions, and political beliefs. Tenreiro, for example, is able to identify with writers of the Harlem Renaissance in their empowering movement for African American writers and artists and so he references them in his poetry, even dedicating “Fragment de Blues” to Langston Hughes. His concluding stanza echoes something Hughes surely felt when he says:
“…By and by with them I want to sing
by and by with them I want to struggle
ai, the black man is not dead
nor will he ever die!...”.
Poetry and art become a way for poets to express their opinions, and while Tenreiro was not facing the oppression African Americans were in the United States, he and others from São Tomé and Príncipe were facing a government run by a dictatorship from Portugal, the scars of the slave trade, labor conflicts, and the effects of colonialism in the every day lives. Tenreiro alludes to the common ancestors that he and Hughes share, their roots from Africa, making this poem a multi-national poem about a shared culture. They do not share a language, or a common source of pain, but Tenreiro writes to Hughes and demonstrates the connection between them as poets and as black men. He is not meek about the racial struggles black men have faced in São Tomé when he says that no matter what “he will never die,” meaning he will never give in, go away, or be ignored.

In his essay “The Motherland in the Modern Poetry of S. Tomé and Príncipe” on modern poetry in São Tomé and Príncipe, Noel Ortega explores how the poetry of the islands has changed over the centuries. He shows how the concept of Negritude has become more pronounced in its literature and how poets like Antonio Luz and Tenreiro are critical of governmental policies, social convention and begin to express their feelings about their racial past and both the pride and disdain they feel with their country. Like many other nations, the literature of São Tomé and Príncipe undergoes changes as time progresses. Whether, like São Tomé and Príncipe, a colonizer leaves, a dictatorship crumbles, an independent nation is formed, or other traumatic and pivotal events occur, the voice of the poet is able to stand as a single perspective of a citizen of their country. The modern poetry of São Tomé and Príncipe has evolved to embody their complex and unique past and present in order to set it apart from other African Lusophone nations and their literature. Tenreiro and his poem “Fragmento de Blues” is only one example of this poetic perspective and its connection to the world.

Burness, Don, trans. A Horse of White Clouds: Poems from Lusophone Africa. Athens, OH: Center for International Studies, Ohio Univ., 1989.
Ortega, Noel. “The Motherland in the Modern Poetry of São Tomé e Príncipe” World Literature Today, Vol. 53, No. 1, The Three Worlds of Lusophone Literature (Winter, 1979), pp. 53-56 University of Oklahoma. <>.
Tenreiro, Francisco José. “Fragmento de Blues.” Burness, Don, trans. A Horse of White Clouds: Poems from Lusophone Africa. Athens, OH: Center for International Studies, Ohio Univ., 1989.

Poem of the Boy Who had been Torpedoed

Poem of the Boy who had been Torpedoed

This poem was written by Oswaldo Alcantara, a literary pseudonym for Baltasar Lopes de Silva. Before he began writing poetry, he was a Lawyer and philosopher. He was a co-founder of the magazine Claridade, which published local literature of Cape Verde that touched on social issues, cultural biases and local problems. Da Silva also published Chiquinho, The Creole of Cape Verde, and participated in the creation of the Anthology of contemporary Cape Verde fiction.

The poem starts out with the a feeling of hopelessness and an aimless journey with no food or water on the boat. It is through the torpedoed boy that the people in the boat find hope. Because the boy leaves his home and finds nothing, the people are reminded of wanderlust, the desire to stay in Cape Verde but also wanting to leave due to the problems of their home.

This poem was written in 1947, shortly after the end of World War II and is a representation of the idea that Cape Verde is a better place than other countries to live because they did not get caught up in the war. The “proud world” showing off its power is the direct reference to the war, and the they boy dieing because of his involvement symbolizes the idea that it is better to stay in Cape Verde than to leave.

Poetry Reflects Societal Values

Sao Tome and Principe have become a breeding ground for poetry and literature due to its unique culture and connections with both Portuguese and African roots that have produced multiple published authors. Because I did not have a poem to compare and contrast to, I will simply analyze the article and the differences between the authors and their purposes in writing their poems.

As the article by Noel Ortega states, there are two main types of literature that have come out of the Portuguese islands Sao Tome and Principe: literature written by white settlers and visitors, and literature written by natives dealing with social and racial protest. In “The Motherland in the Modern Poetry of Sao Tome and Principe” two major writers are discussed as being highly influential. Costa Alegre, the first of these writers, uses the sonnet and quatrain in a pessimistic form which describes the racial inferiority of blacks in his motherland. For example, his poem that describes blacks as rocks and whites as the tide foam presents the idea of power based on skin color. Alegre died before any of his poetry was published, but his work became famous immediately for its romantic style as well as important issues like racial inferiority and how beautiful his hometown is.

The white man saw Sao Tome and Principe a bit differently. Some authors portrayed the beauty the landscape of the islands, but other found it necessary to describe the people of the islands. This is where some turmoil gets mixed in with the literature because these people are not just Portuguese or African, causes slight confusion for the white writers. They still regard the natives as blacks, but do make notes that some have lighter skin and could even be considered a white man if not for the differences in hair and bone structure. Here is where Negritude and racism takes a part in the literature because there are so many different 'shades' of black that it formed a social hierarchy based on the color of one's skin.

Tenriero writes about his own heritage as well as focusing on injustices that are inflicting his people. One of his poems compares himself with a checkerboard, both white and black because he is a product of an interracial marriage, less heard of in the 1940's. He takes pride in his heritage and writing because he feels a racial superiority and blessing to have the advantages of both white and black. He also writes about how the white trade, while bringing goods and money, also caused problems for the natives because of the liquor they also brought to the islands. Tenriero writes a couple of poems about this problem, the first is about a white man's greed for power and money as he brings alcohol to a “thirsty island” - a great way to describe Sao Tome and Principe because of their arid dry weather and lack of alcoholic drinks. In another poem, Tenriero shows how alcohol can damage a family unit when a son drinks so much he goes to work at a winery just so he can drink more. This shows that the native people seem to not have much control when it comes to the influence of the white man on their culture and lives.

While Costa Alegre and Tenriero both write about their home in Sao Tome, their messages often coincide with each other on the issues of race and how the color of your skin is important indicator of success. In Alegre's “Maria” the speaker feels inferior due to his darker skin color. Similarly, Tenreiro's poem “The Ballad of Mista Silva Costa” describes the opposite side of the spectrum, where a white foreigner can come to Sao Tome with no money and become rich. This poem is fused with an ironic tone of voice making fun of the white man, but speaking a social truth as well. In conclusion, Alegre and Tenreiro both touch on the same social issues in their poems, but us different styles and ways of presenting their thoughts.

Bibliography

“Poems from Sao Tome and Principe”

Ortega, Noel. "The Motherland in the Modern Poetry of Sao Tome e Principe." World Literature Today, Vol. 53, No. 1, The Thre Worlds of Lusophone Literature (Winter, 1979), pp. 53-56. University of Oklahoma. Web.

Regresso- Return by Jorge Barbosa

Regresso (Return)

by Jorge Barbosa

Ship where are you going

lying on the sea?

Where are you going

carried by the wind?

What course is yours

ship of the broad sea?

That country perhaps

where life

is a great promise

and a great fascination!

Take me with you

ship.

But bring me back!

• Barbosa reflects on the continual invitation to escape that the sea offers to those in Cape Verde, while his situation and passion for the land forces him to stay.
• Although he wishes to be free, he feels compelled to eventually return- a need to be in Cape Verde.
• Having hardly left the islands, Cape Verdeans believe in hope and promise in other lands, but remain in allegiance to their homeland's beauty and majestic feel.

Jorge Barbosa:

• (25 May 1902- 6 January 1971)
• He was a Portuguese dialectologist and Cape Verdean poet/writer.
• He contributed to many Portuguese and Cape Verdean journals.
• He helped mark the beginning of Cape Verdean poetry with the publication of his poetry compilation Arquipelago (1935).
• He was one of the three founders of the literary journal Claridade ("Clarity") in 1936- this which distinguished the start of modern Cape Verdean literature.

Themes of Barbosa's Poetry:

• Flight- wanderlust, departing/staying, & narrow-mindedness
• Concerned less with leaving and more with "having" to stay- yet still affectionate for his homeland
• Believed in the existence of the common folk
• Escapism and hope
• Cape Verdeanness- sense of regionalism