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بستنة في المنطقة الاستوائية
ديوان شعر
220 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
12 people are currently reading
271 people want to read
About the author
Olive Senior
43 books107 followersOlive Senior was born and brought up in Jamaica in 1941 and educated in Jamaica and Canada. She is a graduate of Montego Bay High School and Carleton University, Ottawa.
She is one of Canada's most internationally recognized and acclaimed writers having left Jamaica in 1989, spending some years in Europe and since 1993 being based in Toronto.
Among her many awards and honours she has won the Commonwealth Writers Prize and F.G. Bressani Literary Prize, was nominated for a Governor-General’s Literary Award, and was runner up for the Casa de Las Americas Prize and the Pat Lowther Award. In 2003, she received the Norman Washington Manley Foundation Award for Excellence (preservation of cultural heritage – Jamaica). Her body of published work includes four books of poetry, three collections of short stories and several award-winning non-fiction works on Caribbean culture.
She is one of Canada's most internationally recognized and acclaimed writers having left Jamaica in 1989, spending some years in Europe and since 1993 being based in Toronto.
Among her many awards and honours she has won the Commonwealth Writers Prize and F.G. Bressani Literary Prize, was nominated for a Governor-General’s Literary Award, and was runner up for the Casa de Las Americas Prize and the Pat Lowther Award. In 2003, she received the Norman Washington Manley Foundation Award for Excellence (preservation of cultural heritage – Jamaica). Her body of published work includes four books of poetry, three collections of short stories and several award-winning non-fiction works on Caribbean culture.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
September 25, 2017
مجموعة من القصائد المفعمة بروح الكاريبي لم تخلو من النقد السياسي تارة و إحياء تراث السكان الأصليين تارة أخرى...مازلت عند رأيي من الشعر المترجم (إلى حد الآن على الأقل) و لكن المحتوى كان مقبولا في مجمله
:مما جاء في هذا الديوان الشعري
عندما يسألون عن سرَي
أبتسم و أقول لهم: عيشوا جيدا
و افعلوا الصواب. ذلك صحيح
فالعالم في الخارج مليء بالكائنات
الشيطانية, تهدد بتقويضك
كما تفعل الديدان القارضة و النمل
*****************
سنظل دائما هناك
كلطخة سوداء
في يومياتك و دفاتر ملاحظاتك
,في رسائلك و سجل محاكمك
و كتب قانونك. كما لو أننا
أوقعنا بقلمك. اليوم لدي
الوقت للقراءة (و البستنة), أنا التي
قضيت سنين عدة في إضطراب
,أعيش الخوف من الإكتشاف
,عجبت أن أكتشف, أيها المستعمر
أنك أنت من يخاف مني. أو
بالأحرى. من جسارتي. حتى الآن
لم أعرف أبدا إلى أي مدى
,أقلقت مضجعك, يا فارض النظام
,يا مروض الأراضي و المتوحشين
يا قامع المشاعر, و حائز
الجثث. لم يكن لك من خيار
سوى أن تلحقني
و تعيد استعبادي, لأنك تراني
هناك كنفسك غير
المراقبة, تركض حرَة
************
كلنا نعيش في ندم أننا لا نستطيع
أن نهش الذباب دون علمه
************
كبرياء الجبل
مثل كبرياء الجبل
كل سبتمبر
اندفع هاويا من الأجراف الصخرية
هاويا من الأجراف الصخرية مرة أخرى
*************
مهاجر غير شرعي
لو لم أنجح أبدا في قطع هذا المعبر
المجهول
بطريقة أو بأخرى, لا تخبر
أولادي أبدا
أن عيونهم المدقعة دفعتني
للإبحار
للوصول, ليس بمحيط أكثر اتساعا
من الوثبة
و لا أغوار أكثر عمقا من أن
تسبر
لا أحد يعدم حيلة لأن يتكيف مع
هذا القارب الخشبي
*************
أردت الشعور
برغم امتلاكك
أوعية الشاي الفضية
و سفرة العشاء
بأنك لم تعد
تملك هذا المدار الإستوائي
أردت الشعور
بأنك لن تستطيع انتزاع
الشمس الزائرة كل يوم
من أجل محادثة قصيرة
أردت الشعور
بأنك لن تستطيع أن توقف
تفجر رمال الماكا الصفراء
التربة تذكرنا
بما دفن هنا
لا يمكنك أن توقف
فتيات الشوارع
هؤولاء المستهترات
و شجر الحمام الذهبي
و هن يتبخترن في كل مكان
أردت أن أشعر بأنه...
لا يمكنك تمزيق الأغنية من حنجرتي
لا يمكنك محو ذكرى قصتي
لا يمكنك أن تدرك
سحر الأناكوندا التي تتحول إلى أنهار
مثل الأمازون
البوا العاصرة و هي ترقص في حديقتي
منقوسة إلى قوس قزح
(و أنا بلا قطرة من شراب بعد)
لا يمكنك أن تزيل
نغمة بوب مارلي
التي تجعلني شاعرا
ببهجة تامة
في ذلك الإصفرار
عند الساعة الثالثة
في أي لحظة
تمت
21/09/2017
August 31, 2020
4.5 stars
Reading these poems make me feel as if I am sitting at the feet of our great storyteller, our griot, who maps our history, our stories, in bite size verses, with the leaf, the tree, the wind, and sand; with all the people who have roamed our island, leaving pieces of themselves for us to find, for us to know and remember.
hollowed dried Calabash humble took-took
how simple you look- taken from gourd
Another stellar collection of poetry where Senior beguiles and ensnares her readers while weaving stories that are rooted in time, experiences, people and their connections to the land, and each other.
The way these poems are written, the way the message reaches me is as if Senior had intimate conversations with each of her subjects, as if she inhabited, body, leaf, colour, stem, wind, rain, and sea. Because only from a deep well of connection could such wealth have been put to paper.
As we read poem after poem, Senior is plumbing the depths of our shared history, the relationships that mold us, the disasters we have weathered, the prejudices held in our society, the legacies left behind by both our pale colonizers and our strong Black ancestors.
Each poem is rife with meaning and when you share a personal link to the landscape that is being portrayed, your mind is opened and the picture couldn't be clearer.
you cannot tear my song
from my throat
you cannot erase the memory
of my story
you cannot catch
my rhythm
(for you have to born
with that)
-excerpt from Meditation on Yellow
Reading these poems make me feel as if I am sitting at the feet of our great storyteller, our griot, who maps our history, our stories, in bite size verses, with the leaf, the tree, the wind, and sand; with all the people who have roamed our island, leaving pieces of themselves for us to find, for us to know and remember.
hollowed dried Calabash humble took-took
how simple you look- taken from gourd
Another stellar collection of poetry where Senior beguiles and ensnares her readers while weaving stories that are rooted in time, experiences, people and their connections to the land, and each other.
The way these poems are written, the way the message reaches me is as if Senior had intimate conversations with each of her subjects, as if she inhabited, body, leaf, colour, stem, wind, rain, and sea. Because only from a deep well of connection could such wealth have been put to paper.
As we read poem after poem, Senior is plumbing the depths of our shared history, the relationships that mold us, the disasters we have weathered, the prejudices held in our society, the legacies left behind by both our pale colonizers and our strong Black ancestors.
Each poem is rife with meaning and when you share a personal link to the landscape that is being portrayed, your mind is opened and the picture couldn't be clearer.
you cannot tear my song
from my throat
you cannot erase the memory
of my story
you cannot catch
my rhythm
(for you have to born
with that)
-excerpt from Meditation on Yellow
July 3, 2017
Loved the last two sections!
The first poem in the collections is definitely a favourite as well.
The first poem in the collections is definitely a favourite as well.
March 18, 2019
What a beautiful and powerful collection of poems. Gardening is used as a metaphor for living in the tropics (as well as colonization) and it was done so, so well here. The poems are divided into Traveler’s Tales, Nature Studies, Gardening in the Tropics, and Mystery (African Gods in the New World). I found her poetry rife with double entendres and enjoyed the wordplay a lot, especially in The Immovable Tenant. Anyone else think of the Caribbean’s big, deep-pocketed, unscrupulous neighbor to the north during those lines? I sure did.
November 8, 2018
Meditation on yellow
Meditation on red
All clear
Plants
Mountain pride
Bamboo
The whole of gardening in the tropics tbh - especially: colours of the birds, seeing the light, tropical love, the immovable tenant, amazon women, the knot garden
Meditation on red
All clear
Plants
Mountain pride
Bamboo
The whole of gardening in the tropics tbh - especially: colours of the birds, seeing the light, tropical love, the immovable tenant, amazon women, the knot garden
September 11, 2018
كيف تكتب شعرًا عن الطبيعة الحية، وتمتدح ما فيها من زرع وفاكهة وجمال دائم؟
أوليف سينيور الشاعرة والكاتبة الكاريبية تجيب عن هذا، في ديوانها (بستنة في المنطقة الاستوائية) وتعطيك جرعة كبيرة من الألوان، والمناظر الطبيعية الخلابة،وتترك لحاسة الشم الخاصة بك أن تذهب للمناطق الاستوائية بما فيها من غابات عامرة.
الديوان عظيم، وتقسيمه وترجمته عظيمة، وعرضه لما تفعله الولايات المتحدة من قديم الأزل في الدول الضعيفة ونهب ثراواتها يصل لك في الحال.
أوليف سينيور كما تستخدم الميثولوجيا والأساطير الخاصة بدول البحر الكاريبي في شعرها، تستخدم كذلك الأساطير الأفريقية.
أوليف سينيور الشاعرة والكاتبة الكاريبية تجيب عن هذا، في ديوانها (بستنة في المنطقة الاستوائية) وتعطيك جرعة كبيرة من الألوان، والمناظر الطبيعية الخلابة،وتترك لحاسة الشم الخاصة بك أن تذهب للمناطق الاستوائية بما فيها من غابات عامرة.
الديوان عظيم، وتقسيمه وترجمته عظيمة، وعرضه لما تفعله الولايات المتحدة من قديم الأزل في الدول الضعيفة ونهب ثراواتها يصل لك في الحال.
أوليف سينيور كما تستخدم الميثولوجيا والأساطير الخاصة بدول البحر الكاريبي في شعرها، تستخدم كذلك الأساطير الأفريقية.
July 21, 2011
A collection of poems by the Jamaican poet, Olive Senior, who vividly illustrates the various changes Jamaica has gone through. As she gardens through the land of her birth, she reveals the lifestyles of the various generations and demonstrates how great her world has changed.
August 18, 2018
الكتاب جيد
والتشبيهات جيدة
وتوظيف الاساطير كان مكثف
والاسلوب جميل
واللغة واضحة
وتحدثت عن قضايا محورية : النظرة العنصرية وقضية البيئة
والتشبيهات جيدة
وتوظيف الاساطير كان مكثف
والاسلوب جميل
واللغة واضحة
وتحدثت عن قضايا محورية : النظرة العنصرية وقضية البيئة
June 3, 2019
The value I find in this collection of poems is that is focuses on the land. Usually when I think of what I love about the Caribbean, I think about the people and my life experiences. However, it’s true that the land itself adds to the uniqueness of the Caribbean experience and nothing would be the same without the rivers, the exotic fruits, the hills and the agriculture.
That being said, poetry is an art form that could never bring as much pleasure to its receiver as it does to its creator. Poetry is so much more cryptic, telling more than the reader could ever truly understand and it either resonates with you or it doesn’t. I would say that after reading short stories by this author, I’m used to experiencing a wave of intense emotions that I just didn’t find here. Perhaps on a second reading at some point in the future.
That being said, poetry is an art form that could never bring as much pleasure to its receiver as it does to its creator. Poetry is so much more cryptic, telling more than the reader could ever truly understand and it either resonates with you or it doesn’t. I would say that after reading short stories by this author, I’m used to experiencing a wave of intense emotions that I just didn’t find here. Perhaps on a second reading at some point in the future.
May 11, 2021
Everytime I read this collection I fall in love all over again. I feel as though these poems have a special place in my heart that remains unmatched. Olive Senior writes about the Caribbean experience authentically in such exquisite lines and beautiful images that move you. I also appreciate that this collection features mythology and aspects of Caribbean culture that feature less frequently in Caribbean Literature. Would definitely recommend reading!
November 3, 2022
salvation army find. why isn’t this more well-known??? i’ve never cried at a book of poetry before, but olive senior renders the immigrant experience so heartbreakingly i couldn’t help it. there’s love and anger and regret and joy in turns.
November 25, 2019
One of the very few poets that knows how to go beyond writing in a self-conscious poetic language. I like her powerful & vivid imagery.
January 6, 2021
Amazing and super interesting to read. Highly recommend.
May 11, 2023
A whole lot more enjoyable when you're not being forced to look for themes and ideas.
August 31, 2023
~2.25
July 15, 2022
“I don’t worry about bad-eye and / jealousy for I have nutmeg in / my mouth; in my pocket, rosemary. / When they ask me for my tips, / I take a deep breath and come / right out and say: Just Live Right / and Do Good, my way.” — from “Advice and Devices”
TITLE—Gardening In the Tropics
AUTHOR—Olive Senior
PUBLISHED—2005
GENRE—poetry
SETTING—Jamaica/the Caribbean
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—Nature, heritage, perspective, ancient & traditional spirituality, colonialism, living mythology, self identity
WRITING STYLE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
CHARACTERS—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
STORYTELLING—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
BONUS ELEMENT/S—I loved how this collection felt like Nature poetry but folded in such a way to tell deeper, human stories
PHILOSOPHY—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“And as we put our lives back together / I too young to be schooled yet on disaster… / …dying to be the first to see the strange bird fated / to be born out of that great storm.” — from “Hurricane Story, 1903”
I found in these poems a really tender and sinuous use of language that simultaneously contrasts with and emphasizes the emotional complexity of the poems’ themes & subjects. I love poetry with vivid characters and Senior’s characterization are so vivid and startling in their completeness for such economy of language.
I also felt a lot of ancestor voices coming through her work—a sort of preservation of the connections to the past (for good and ill). The wry Biblical references. The confidence and pride in the insurperable beauty and magic of the natural Caribbean world and its people—the untouchable soul of the Earth and those who love the Earth. I also especially loved the flexibility of the “gold” metaphor that is established in “Meditations On Yellow” and repeated throughout the collection.
Though I loved all the poems in this collection, my especial favorites were “Meditation on Red” (with its Jean Rhys/Bertha Rochester allusions), “Pineapple”, “Mountain Pride”, “The Colours of Birds”, “Seeing the Light”, “Gardening on the Run”, and “Advice and Devices”. Very much looking forward to reading more of Senior’s work!
“Terrible Goddess, / no need to show your face. / As long as we breathe / we know you are there.” — from “Oya: Goddess of the Wind”
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
TW // coloniaism, slavery (Please feel free to DM me for more specifics!)
Further Reading—
- more Olive Senior
- Everyone Knows I Am A Haunting, by Shivanee Ramlochan
- I, Tituba, by Maryse Condé—especially for the philosophical parallels
- BLUE, by Emmelie Prophète
TITLE—Gardening In the Tropics
AUTHOR—Olive Senior
PUBLISHED—2005
GENRE—poetry
SETTING—Jamaica/the Caribbean
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—Nature, heritage, perspective, ancient & traditional spirituality, colonialism, living mythology, self identity
WRITING STYLE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
CHARACTERS—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
STORYTELLING—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
BONUS ELEMENT/S—I loved how this collection felt like Nature poetry but folded in such a way to tell deeper, human stories
PHILOSOPHY—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“And as we put our lives back together / I too young to be schooled yet on disaster… / …dying to be the first to see the strange bird fated / to be born out of that great storm.” — from “Hurricane Story, 1903”
I found in these poems a really tender and sinuous use of language that simultaneously contrasts with and emphasizes the emotional complexity of the poems’ themes & subjects. I love poetry with vivid characters and Senior’s characterization are so vivid and startling in their completeness for such economy of language.
I also felt a lot of ancestor voices coming through her work—a sort of preservation of the connections to the past (for good and ill). The wry Biblical references. The confidence and pride in the insurperable beauty and magic of the natural Caribbean world and its people—the untouchable soul of the Earth and those who love the Earth. I also especially loved the flexibility of the “gold” metaphor that is established in “Meditations On Yellow” and repeated throughout the collection.
Though I loved all the poems in this collection, my especial favorites were “Meditation on Red” (with its Jean Rhys/Bertha Rochester allusions), “Pineapple”, “Mountain Pride”, “The Colours of Birds”, “Seeing the Light”, “Gardening on the Run”, and “Advice and Devices”. Very much looking forward to reading more of Senior’s work!
“Terrible Goddess, / no need to show your face. / As long as we breathe / we know you are there.” — from “Oya: Goddess of the Wind”
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
TW // coloniaism, slavery (Please feel free to DM me for more specifics!)
Further Reading—
- more Olive Senior
- Everyone Knows I Am A Haunting, by Shivanee Ramlochan
- I, Tituba, by Maryse Condé—especially for the philosophical parallels
- BLUE, by Emmelie Prophète
February 8, 2019
Honest and relevant depiction of the imposing and deep-rooted consequences of Colonisation in the Caribbean.
August 15, 2014
Did some of Senior's poems for my literature class and I loved it. One of my favourites would be The Knot Garden. Loved her exploration of Caribbean themes and the symbolism that travels through the collection of poems.
March 26, 2019
حميمة، عميقة، مذهلة، تُقرأ ملطخة بالأسى والدمع والحنين. لمثل هذا خُلق الشِّعر. ولولا هِنات في الترجمة، وقصور عن بلوغ القصيدة الأصل؛ كما ينبان واضحًا للقاريء، لوجب تقييمها بالاكتمال المحض.
May 5, 2023
i think everyone should read this, it's so beautiful🌺
June 14, 2014
My favourite composition of interesting and historical poems from one poet.
March 7, 2017
this...was perfect.
November 3, 2017
"إذا ولدت لتشنق
فلن تتمكن من الغرق"
فلن تتمكن من الغرق"
January 13, 2018
A "Secret Santa" gift I received recently that I'm most grateful for. Will be looking to discover more about this poet and her work.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews