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Linda Gabriel

My First Housemate

  • 1 Mad Slam but not war
  • 2 RWANGU RUFU
  • 3 I COULD HAVE MARRIED YOU MALAWI
  • 4 Would you wake up to go vote?
  • 5 They were Silent
  • 6 TSAMBA
  • 7 Mai Tino
  • 8 My First Housemate | Translations: tr
  • 9 SINS OF OUR MOTHERS
Language: english
Translations: turkish (İlk Ev Arkadaşım)
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My First Housemate

When he moved in
I had never expected him to stay
I believed he had read the desperation painted in my eyes
That erupted like volcanoes from deep within me
He felt the need to, maybe just a little adventure
Yet some of his close friends assured me that he would stay
This season felt different to them
He would linger on like sweet scent of burning essence
They told me of his previous attempts of freeing himself from being mama’s
boy
But this time proved unique


The idea of him staying was dew which disappears without a trace
My people behaved funny
He never got around understanding them
Patience was far from his doors
In the mornings in his tranquil moments of deep thoughts and silence
My people annoyed him by their laughter, praises and chants

In those instances when he would have loved to be left alone
My people’s toddlers bustled and bundled themselves, clinging on him
In their ragged, filthy, scruffy clothes
With mucus running down their nose into their mouths

My people were not learned like him
Neither did they read huge books
They were simple, he was complicated
They had no worries, he had projects and deadlines
They chewed their pride, his ego could not be joked with
They were older, he was young
They were not civilised and were far from being sophisticated

One morning having had enough
I still in my sleep
He packed everything of his
Asked me if I wanted to keep some things
He handed me all the bills he had settled whilst i was away
He explained changes I had to deal with immediately


I asked him why run away
My people were liars; they had insulted him and called him names
I gave him a lecture, which I regret because he wasn’t my student
I took side and stood for my people, who are commoners
My grandmother who raised me was a commoner so i have got little understanding
of my people
He wasn’t a bad young man, not at all
He said it wasn’t because of me but of my people
So he moved out
And we didn’t kiss goodbye

© Linda Gabriel
Audio production: Literaturwerkstatt Berlin 2014
Categories: spoken word / Rap

Translations:

Language: turkish

İlk Ev Arkadaşım

Geldiğinde kalacağını düşünmemiştim
Gözlerimden çaresizliğimi okumuş olmalı
Adeta içimde derin volkanlar patlıyordu
Ona ihtiyacım olduğunu hissetti belki küçük bir macera olarak düşündü
Ama arkadaşları bana kalacağını söylüyordu
Bu sefer onlara da farklı geliyordu
Yanmış bir tütsü kokusu gibi yayılıyordu
Bana daha önce annesinin kanatları altından kurtulma uğraşlarını anlattılar
Ama bu seferkinin farklı olduğu belliydi

Bir gün tamamen yok olacakmış gibi düşüktü onun kalma ihtimali
Arkadaşlarım gülünç davranıyordu
Hiçbir zaman onlara anlayış göstermedi
Sabır onun için uzak bir olguydu
Sabahları derin düşünce ve sessizliğe daldığı sakin zamanlarında
Arkadaşlarım kahkaha dolu şamatalarıyla onu rahatsız etti

Yalnız kalmak istediği bu vakitlerde
Arkadaşlarımın çocukları birbirlerinin peşinde koşuştururken kirlenmiş eski püskü kıyafetleri ve burunlarından ağızlarına kadar akmış sümükleriyle onun üzerine atlıyorlardı

Benim arkadaşlarım onun gibi yetiştirilmemişti
Kalın kitaplar da okumamıştı
Onlar sadeliğinin yanında o karmakarışıktı
Onların hiçbir kaygısı yokken onun yetişmesi gereken işleri vardı
Onlar gurur nedir bilmezdi ama onun egosuyla dalga bile geçilemezdi
Onlar yaşlıyken o gençti
Onlar medeniyetten ve bilgelikten uzaktı

Bir sabah ben hala uyurken
O çoktan kalkmış ve bütün eşyalarını toplamıştı
Bende kalmasını istediğim şeyler olup olmadığını sordu
Ben yokken ödediği bütün faturaları verdi
Derhal ilgilenmem gereken noktaları tek tek anlattı

Ona neden gittiğini sordum
Benim arkadaşlarım yalancıydı,
Ona hakaret etmiş iftira atmışlardı
O benim öğrencim değildi ama ona bir ders vermeliydim
Tarafımı seçtim ve halktan olanların yanında kaldım
Beni büyüten ninem de halktan bir insandı
Bu yüzden onları biraz anlayabiliyordum
O genç adam kötü biri değildi, hem de hiç
Benim değil onların yüzünden olduğunu söyledi
Ve bana bir veda öpücüğü bırakmadan gitti

Çeviri: Ece Attila
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Linda Gabriel

photo © private
* 02.09.1985, Chegutu, Zimbabwe
lives in: Johannesburg, South Africa

Linda Gabriel, born in 1985, is one of the crop of exciting female performance poets to emerge out of Zimbabwe. Bilingual, her linguistic versatility is forged into brilliant poems written in either English or Shona, depending on which language effectively expresses what issue. She is a powerful orator who has been hooked on performance poetry since high school in 2001 and has since participated in major literary events in Zimbabwe, the rest of southern Africa and Europe. Mostly her work celebrates womanhood and its challenges. She uses the stage to tell untold stories and address taboo matters.

 photo © private

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