BØGER – Tell them

(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