Is the curse on poetry, on translation, or both? In the introduction to the poetic anthologies she collected and transferred from Spanish to Arabic, the Jordanian-Palestinian writer and translator residing in Nicaragua, Ghadeer Abu Sneineh, explains how translation can be a curse ... a curse that builds bridges between cultures.

Titled "Malinche", a translation of anthology of Latin American poets was issued by Dar Khattat in Jordan, while the cover plate was designed by the Jordanian writer and artist Muhammad al-Amiri, bearing a picture of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, whose image was linked to the Malince image, to the influence that both of them had on Mexican culture.

In the introduction to the anthology, Ghadeer explained that the reason for choosing the strange title for the Arab reader is the symbolism that "Malince" carries in Latin American culture in general. She was famous for being the woman that her people gave to the Spanish colonialist Hernan Cortes to draw close to him and pass on his movements to her family, but she fell in love with him.

Instead of her people benefiting from her presence with him, Cortes used her as a concubine and translator of the languages ​​that were prevalent at that time, as she spoke Maya and Nahuatl languages ​​in addition to Spanish, which she quickly mastered, and the Malince turned into a curse for her people who considered her a traitor.

She herself was affected by that curse, as she was not able to defend herself in front of her people and justify her protection of Cortes out of love, even if he was a murderer and a colonizer, nor did this colonial exchange love with her or share her desire to bring peace between him and her people. What was only for him was to exploit her knowledge of the land and languages ​​to wipe out the peoples of that region and impose a new language and religion.

Ghadeer Abu Sneineh linked Ramziyya to the betrayal of the Malinche by the translation work. Translation is a betrayal of the original text, it is said. However, another thing Ghadeer refers to and connects the translator and Malinshi poets, which is that they are their children, as most of the peoples of the Latin continent belong to a new race, the "Mestiso," which is the fruit of European mixing with the indigenous people in Latin America. In the context of the legend, the first of these fruits is said to have been the daughter of Malince of Cortes.

Latin American Poets

The ontology included poets from Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Mexico, Argentina, Honduras, and others, and its sections were classified according to the names of those ancient countries, that is, as they were before the conquest, as it is not possible to understand the poetry of Latin America today and its general literature far from the history of the continent in which many cultures have fused, in violent ways Most likely, in addition to that some of the meanings of the original countries appear to be poetry, the River of Colorful Birds is Uruguay, and "Chile" is a name inspired by the sound of a bird known in Chile, and "Land of the Golden Legend" is Colombia known as the legend of the installation of the leader of the Muesca tribes in Holy Guatativa Lake.

As for the poems, they belong to the "prose poem", but the reader will notice the difference in the style of each poet and how each of them gives his poem a different character that distinguishes the poetic voice. And at the level of form, we will touch the renewal in the form and content of the poem, as if the saying spread in almost every country on the continent proves that everyone is a poet until proven otherwise.

Returning to the anthology title, the curse is related to the Malinsha, and the person who loves the occupied strangers in Mexico is described as afflicted with the Malince curse, and this description is still used today in the political context to describe the privatization processes, for example, and the US's control over some of the country's assets and its international policy, so people say that The government is afflicted with the malicious curse.

The curse was dropped from the title of the book, whose translator thought it had another curse that delayed its publication due to the complications of publishing in the Arab world. The book is 176 pages long and includes 15 female poets and poets.

Ironically, the first poem that the translator decided to top the anthology was the poem "Supermarket" by the Chilean poet "Javier Campo". And Chile, as its people say, is a country that cannot be a "transit" stop for airplanes, because its geographical location is always the last stop.

However, the poem "Supermarket" shows that poetry does not recognize geography. Campo wrote it directly while he watched former US President George W. Bush threatening to occupy Iraq in 2003, to fulfill his promise directly, the supermarket poem says:

Super Market

Today I am not going to talk about the invasion of Iraq, but about the supermarket full of foods of all kinds

Those that do not come to anyone's mind, some are necessary ... and some are not

Fruits that come from the farthest corners of the planet, rice of all sizes, white and many colors

What was produced by the indigenous people of North America

What the Chinese have been producing for thousands of years in Asia, and the Indians in their delicious spiced food because the whole world knows that the "kama sutra" was written after satiety

There live fragrant apples in their colors and flavors

Apples from the world are not seen as seen in this supermarket

What Cubans see are gold goods they have never grown, only the sweetness of sugarcane grew in Cuba and it is present in this market as well.

Chili grapes, pink, black, and white, are as great as Seville olives

Cheese from France, Germany and rainy Oregon

Vegetables come from China, Malaysia, Madagascar and Vietnam

And from Central America fragrant coriander or strong spicy oakaca pepper

Bologna beer, Russia and New York, Nicaraguan Rhone or the finest Cuban "Habana Club"

Spain and the Basque Country gumbon, Florida orange and huge Andalusian

Guadalajara tomatoes, Chilean onions for Peruvian ceviche, bread made with countless grains for a warm and cozy home scent

Daily bread is here hourly and always

Nobody goes hungry in this supermarket ...

Chilean wines, Argentina, Spain, Australia, Germany, Hungary and California are all in this garden

For our needs, needs that we do not need, and also the needs that we dream about here on the shelves that are reached by hand

The fruits of the universe are calm, gentle and available

People walking in this supermarket think that these places are everywhere in the world, even the most remote parts of Iraq

This place is the Garden of Eden because history says that the Garden of Eden is in Babylon, close to Baghdad, which was one of the most beautiful cities in the East with its hanging gardens, which made it one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Because Baghdad was the city that was able to inspire the stories of a thousand and one nights after lovers ate and drank, filling their hearts with pleasure and love

But there, in the south of Baghdad, was the city of Ur since 4000 BC, where the revered Prophet Abraham was born of Jews, Christians and Muslims.

However, no one thinks about the ancient market of Mesopotamia ("the cradle of the first human civilizations of the ancient world", as the British Encyclopedia itself says), where millions of bombs fall at these moments ...

But in this market also no one thinks of war or ancient Mesopotamia, nor the Prophet Abraham, nor the stories of a thousand and one nights, nor the nuclear bombs or the millions of dead who fall there as insects because of polluted air and smoke mixed with uranium bombs.

They pollute the water, the gardens, the fields, the valleys, the rivers, the bays, and all the seeds, in order to produce these beautiful products in this nice supermarket with its popular music, because the earth will be there for a long time in uranium particles or it will bathe billions of gallons of crude oil

In this gigantic horn of goats, no one knows what this war means because this word was never pronounced between vegetables and these delicious grains.

Thousands of bags with thousands of fragrant coffee beans, springs of full-fat or fat-free milk, varied meats, delicious fish from all rivers and seas of the universe, the pleasure of eating grapes in any season of the year, drinking delicious wine and then making love means living an ideal life

I do not want to talk about war at this moment but rather about this supermarket that I go to, to buy my basic necessities, happy and cheerful without ever mentioning the word "war".