BØGER – Tell them
Af Hans Pedersen
(Artiklen er opdateret 21.08.17)
Nødråb fra Marshalløerne. Klimapoesi fra en øgruppe, der har klimaændringerne helt inde på livet.
Øriget med over tusinde separate øer, hvoraf langt de fleste ikke stiger mere end to meter over havet, er yderst udsatte i takt med at havet stiger som følge af den globale opvarmning.
Forfatteren og spoken-word performeren Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner, der er indfødt marshallaner, har for nylig udgivet sin første digtsamling under navnet ”Iep Jāltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter”, der i øvrigt også er den første digtsamling fra Marshall-øerne.
Om behovet for at skrive poesi i en tid præget og plaget af klimaændringer udtaler Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner:
“Art gives us the human face, the real emotion behind climate change. Poetry is art, and it does all of this as well. What I like about poetry is that it forces you to focus in on every word, every line. It forces you to slow down, focus on a moment. With an issue as big as climate change, it can be really easy to be overwhelmed. But poetry and art grounds us in the truth, in the humanity of the issue.”
Uddrag af “Poems from a Marshallese Daughter”:
tell them
we are afraid
tell them we don’t know
of the politics
or the science
but tell them we see
what is in our own backyard
tell them that some of us
are old fishermen who believe that God
made us a promise
some of us
are more skeptical of God
but most importantly tell them
we don’t want to leave
we’ve never wanted to leave
and that we
are nothing without our islands.
Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter

University of Arizona Press, 14.95$, 2017.