成人大片

Gourd


  1. g
  2. o
  3. gourd
  4. r
  5. d
  6. hollowed dried
  7. calabash humble took-took
  8. how simple you look. But what
  9. lies beneath that crusty exterior?
  10. Such stories they tell! They say O packy,
  11. in your youth (before history), as cosmic
  12. container, you ordered divination, ritual
  13. sounds, incantations, you were tomb, you were
  14. womb, you were heavenly home, the birthplace of
  15. life here on earth. Yet broken (they say) you
  16. caused the first Flood. Indiscretion could release
  17. from inside you again the scorpion of darkness that
  18. once covered the world. The cosmic snake (it is said)
  19. strains to hold you together for what chaos would ensue
  20. if heaven and earth parted! They say there are those
  21. who've been taught certain secrets: how to harness the
  22. power of your magical enclosure by the ordering of sound
  23. 鈥� a gift from orehu the spirit of water who brought the
  24. first calabash and the stones for the ritual, who taught
  25. how to fashion the heavenly rattle, the sacred 惭产补谤补办谩,
  26. that can summon the spirits and resound cross the abyss
  27. 鈥� like the houngan's asson or the shaman's maraka. Yet
  28. hollowed dried calabash, humble took-took, we've walked
  29. far from that water, from those mystical shores. If
  30. all we can manage is to rattle our stones, our
  31. beads or our bones in your dried-out container,
  32. in shak-shak or maracca, will our voices
  33. be heard? If we dance to your rhythm,
  34. knock-knock on your skin, will we
  35. hear from within, no matter
  36. how faintly, your
  37. wholeness
  38. resound?

  39. hollowed
  40. dried
  41. calabash
  42. humble
  43. took-took

  44. how simple

  45. you look

Annotations to the Poem

(prepared by Olive Senior)

1-5] The gourd here represents the ritual instrument that calls people together; hence, it is an invitation to the book of poems. The poem lists many of the myths and legends associated with the gourd throughout the Americas.
The gourd is the fruit of either the Calabash tree (Crescentia cujete), common in the Caribbean, or of a vine (Lagenaria siceraria) more common in Africa and elsewhere. The fruit of both the tree and the vine vary in size and shape, but may be used in similar ways as vessels. All gourds are prepared by hollowing out the inner flesh and seeds, leaving the skin. Once dried, the thick skin hardens, producing a sturdy vessel or container. A hollow gourd filled with seeds or small stones and fitted with a handle, sometimes decorated, becomes a percussive musical instrument used for both secular and religious purposes. 贬颈驳眉别谤补 or 闯颈驳眉别谤补, the name given to the calabash gourd in the Spanish Antilles, reflects the original Taino and Carib name of 驳眉颈谤补.

7] took-took: A medium-sized calabash gourd used to carry water. The gurgling chuckle of the water pouring out from the small opening gave rise to the name.

10] packy: Jamaican name for the calabash gourd; it is derived from the African (Twi) word apakyi.

23] Orehu: Female water spirit of Amerindian mythology.

27] houngan鈥檚 asson: In Haitian Krey貌l, the asson is the sacred gourd rattle of the Haitian Voudon priest or houngan.

27] shaman鈥檚 maraka: The sacred calabash rattle of the medicine man (shaman) of the Amerindians.

32] shak-shak: Musical instrument鈥攕mall calabash rattle filled with seeds or stones.

32] maracca: Musical instrument associated with Latin American music and dance; also used in Trinidadian carnival music.

Commentary

Written by H.M. Simpson

With 鈥淕ourd,鈥� Gardening in the Tropics begins on a dramatic note with a concrete poem that is visually arresting. Its shape not only mimics that of the fruit for which it is named, but also functions as a means of uncovering layers of meaning in this poem and the collection as a whole. For example, the gourd is described in lines 13-14 as both 鈥渨omb鈥� and 鈥渢omb,鈥� and the poem鈥檚 shape also mimics that of a uterus and a burial mound. Thus, the gourd is symbolic of beginnings and endings as it is the source, simultaneously, of life and death, of creation and destruction.

鈥淕ourd鈥� functions as the opening or the gateway to the rest of the collection. Significantly, it is the only poem that falls outside the four movements (Travellers鈥� Tales, Nature Studies, Gardening in the Tropics, and Mystery) which frame the collection. It therefore works in much the same way as an epigraph does in that it alerts the reader to the main ideas addressed in the collection. Indeed, the 鈥渟tories鈥� hidden beneath the gourd鈥檚 鈥渃rusty exterior鈥� (lines 9-10) are revealed in the other forty-nine poems. The gourd is also described as 鈥渢he birthplace of/ life here on earth鈥� (lines 14-15), which is a reference to the Taino creation story that identifies the gourd as the source of life1. Just as the gourd in Taino mythology is seen as the vessel in which life on Earth began, so too this poem can be read as embodying the creative power of the imagination that gave rise to Gardening in the Tropics. That poetic imagination presents the world it recreates through verse as a tropical garden, which Olive Senior explains is 鈥渢he New World . . .the Americas that was 鈥榙iscovered鈥� by Columbus in 1492 and exploited thereafter by Europe鈥� (On Gardens and Gardening). It is in 鈥淕ourd鈥� that the reader is introduced to the use of gardens and plants as the collection鈥檚 central metaphor for addressing issues of historical, political, and social significance for the cultures and peoples that comprise this world.

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The gourd is the first, and sacred, fruit in this tropical garden. It is significant that the poem identifies the gourd as the fruit of the tree of life and that Taino myth, not the Genesis story, provides the authoritative narrative of how this garden came to be. As Senior points out, Gardening in the Tropics 鈥渄oes not start with the European Garden of Eden, but with the native American, which grew from the tree of life鈥� (Aiyejina 37). Thus, the poet locates 鈥淕ourd鈥檚鈥� (and the collection鈥檚) spiritual and epistemological centre in the cultural knowledge of the tropical garden鈥檚 first peoples and those with whom (Africans transported to the New World) they intermingled culturally and formed alliances. Gardening in the Tropics therefore departs from a long and problematic tradition of fiction and non-fiction writing in which Afro-Amerindian cultures have been marginalized and invalidated. But here Senior does not adopt the polemical stance often ascribed to postcolonial writers. There is, for instance, no evidence in 鈥淕ourd,鈥� as June Turner-Piscitelli argues, that the poet shows 鈥渄isdain towards the story of creation as related in the Christian Bible鈥� (159). To use an idiom popular in postcolonial studies, Senior is not 鈥渨riting back to a Centre.鈥� Rather, she chooses to 鈥渇oreground those people who have been relegated to the background鈥� (Aiyejina 37) and to present the tropical garden from their perspective. It is their world, and the poet allows them to tell their own stories. It is not surprising, then, that poems such as "The Tree of Life," "Gardening on the Run," and the entire fourth movement, Mystery, reify Afro-Amerindian spiritualism and worldviews and offer these people鈥檚 myths, legends, and voices as viable vehicles for poetry.

鈥淕ourd鈥� reflects the duality inherent to Afro-Amerindian spiritualism and so the poem draws attention to both the creative and destructive forces contained in, and symbolized, by this sacred fruit. In Taino mythology, the same gourd that produced life poured out the flood waters that covered the Earth. The poem warns against the chaos that can result if the two sides of life represented by the gourd鈥攆or example, heaven and earth and light and dark鈥攁re not kept in balance. Such imbalance produces evil, which manifests in various forms including the social upheavals explored in "Brief Lives," the self-abnegation that reduces individuals and entire communities in "Hurricane Story, 1944" and "All Clear, 1928," the colonial violence of "Meditation on Yellow," and the political failures that cast people adrift in "Caribbean Basin Initiative." Knowing how to restore and maintain balance in the tropical garden is the overall message of 鈥淕ourd,鈥� and the poem informs the reader how this knowledge was, and can once again be, acquired. The poetic persona talks of those 鈥渨ho鈥檝e been taught certain secrets鈥� (line 21) and traces the source of this knowledge back to Orehu who gave the first shaman, Arawanili, the gift of divination in the form of a gourd (or 惭产补谤补办谩) filled with stones and taught him how to conquer the forces of darkness and save his people from the misfortunes visited upon them by the yauhahu2 or evil spirits. Gourd rattles have long been used as ritual instruments in African, Amerindian, and Caribbean cultures to summon the spirits and call people together. As indicated in the poem, the sacred gourd rattle (called the asson) is also used by the houngan in divination rites in Vodou, which provides evidence that African and Ameridian peoples in the New World are linked through their spiritual beliefs and practices.

Those who have been given the gift of divination also have the responsibility, like Arawanili, to act as oracles and as conduits for healing for their societies. In Amerindian and African traditions, the poet figure also shares this responsibility. In Gardening in the Tropics, 鈥淕ourd鈥� is Senior鈥檚 asson or 惭产补谤补办谩, and the forty-nine poems that comprise the remainder of the collection are the stones/beads/bones rattling in this first gourd poem, awaiting interpretation. The onomatopoeic sounds of 鈥渢ook-took,鈥� 鈥渟hak-shak,鈥� and 鈥渕aracca鈥� provide an auditory complement to the poem鈥檚 shape and so bring the gourd rattle to life on the page. The stones/beads/bones that reverberate in 鈥淕ourd鈥� turn up as literal and symbolic objects throughout the rest of the collection and the reader is invited to collaborate with the poet in divining their meaning wherever they appear. In 鈥�Finding Your Stone,鈥� for example, the poetic persona turns to digging up stones (rather than bones) in her garden. But these are no ordinary stones. Instead, they recall and become the zemi and 鈥減ower stones鈥� of Afro-Amerindian spiritualism3, thereby suggesting that the people who currently inhabit New World societies would do well to tap into their own cultural knowledge and traditions as a means of regaining their spiritual centre.

Such acts of reclaiming and recovery must be done seriously and with conviction if they are to be truly transformative, whether that transformation is to be spiritual, psychological, political, or social. The poetic persona in 鈥淕ourd鈥� makes this clear by voicing skepticism about those in contemporary New World societies who only pay lip service to their cultural knowledge and traditions. The poetic persona acknowledges that 鈥渨e鈥� (the people of the New World) have 鈥渨alked/ far from that water, from those mystical shores鈥� (lines 28-29) where the gift of divination and healing was first passed on to humans, and expresses doubts that using cultural traditions and knowledge simply as window dressing will have the required effect. 鈥淲e鈥� need to do more than simply 鈥渞attle our stones, our/ beads or our bones鈥� (lines 30-31) or 鈥渄ance to [the gourd鈥檚] rhythm鈥� (line 33) if the sacred fruit is to yield up the transformative knowledge that is the precursor to psychic and cultural wholeness.

The poem鈥檚 overall tone, however, is hopeful rather than doubtful. At the end it reaffirms the power of the 鈥渉umble鈥� and 鈥渟imple鈥� gourd. The shape of the final ten lines which narrow into a stem-like projection suggests that the gourd and the world it contains can still be anchored in that original tree of life from which Yaya and Orehu plucked their cosmic containers. This reading is borne out by the poems in the final movement, Mystery, where the African gods of the New World are remembered, summoned, and also speak. By ending with the orishas, Gardening in the Tropics provides an answer to the questions posed in lines 29-38 of 鈥淕ourd鈥�: the people鈥檚 voices will be heard, and they will hear the words of the gods if they learn how to honor the spirits and ancestors. Indeed, the arrangement of the poem鈥檚 title and opening word at the top of the poem foreshadows and echoes 鈥�骋耻茅诲茅,鈥� the final poem in the collection that invokes the African god of the crossroads. Like the gourd which is tomb and womb, 骋耻茅诲茅, Lord of the Dead, is the keeper of the cemetery and of life and death in Haitian Vodou. Crossroads are sacred place, the point at which the world of the dead and the ancestors connects with that of the living. The collection鈥檚 beginning is its end, and its end is its beginning. The past can revitalize the present, and the present can help illuminate the past. Hence, influenced by the spherical shape of the gourd, the narrative pattern throughout Gardening in the Tropics is cyclical rather than linear; its poems cycle through different historical moments, in the process layering the present with the past. The permeable borders between past and present, the living and the dead, allow the poet to juxtapose pre-Columbian narratives with those that reflect twentieth-century life and point to the links and reverberations across time and space. The 鈥渉umble鈥� and 鈥渟imple鈥� gourd, which existed 鈥渂efore history鈥� (line 11) is the repository of the New World鈥檚 cultural memory and history.

Notes

1 As Phillip Wilkinson recounts, Taino mythology explains the creation of the world in (slightly varied versions of) the following story: 鈥淸T]he son of the supreme god Yaya rebelled against his father, and Yaya killed him. The great god placed his son鈥檚 bones in a huge gourd that he hung up in his house. A few days later, Yaya looked in the gourd and found that the bones had turned into fish swimming in water. Yaya鈥檚 wife took some of the fish and cooked them, and the pair relished the meal. One day, the gourd broke open鈥攕ome say it was done by visitors to Yaya鈥檚 house鈥攁nd the water poured over the Earth, forming the ocean that surrounds the Caribbean islands.鈥� (See page 306 of Wilkinson鈥檚 Myths and Legends: An Illustrated Guide to Their Origins and Meanings. New York: DK Publishing, 2009.)

2 An early written record in English of the story of Orehu and Arawanilli is provided by William Henry Brett in his Indian Missions in Guiana (London: George Bell, 1851). Brett, who was in Guiana as a missionary for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, tells of how he prevailed upon a native informant to tell him the story of Orehu, Arawanili, and the calabash. The English translation of the version told to him by the native informant is given on pages 249-250.

An extended version of the tale is provided on pages 105-107 of Odeen Ishmael鈥檚 Guyana Legends: Folktales of the Indigenous Amerindians (Xlibris Corporation, 2011).

3 Numerous scholarly sources on the Tainos and Vodou have pointed to the cross-fertilization between Taino and New World African spiritual systems. One very accessible guide for readers new to the subject is Shannon R. Turlington鈥檚 The complete idiot鈥檚 guide to voodoo (Alpha Books, 2001). On page 25, Turlington notes : 鈥淭he Taino believed that the souls of their ancestors lived in rocks called thunderstones, which they called zemi, the Taino word for 鈥榮oul.鈥� Practitioners of Vodou adopted both the stones and the word. In Vodou, zemi are stones and other objects that have great magical power.鈥�

Works Cited

Aiyejina, Funso. 鈥淥live Senior.鈥� Self-Portraits: Interviews with Ten West Indian Writers
and Two Critics. St. Augustine, Trinidad: University of the West Indies Press,
2003. 23-39. Print.

Brett, William Henry. Indian Missions in Guiana. London: George Bell, 1851. Print.

Ishmael, Odeen. Guyana Legends: Folktales of the Indigenous Amerindians.Xlibris
Corporation, 2011. 105-107. Print.

On Gardens and Gardening. Prod. Hyacinth M. Simpson. Perf. Olive Senior. Toronto:
Ryerson University, 2012. Video.

Turlington, Shannon R. The complete idiot鈥檚 guide to voodoo. Alpha Books, 2001. Print.

Turner-Piscitelli, June. 鈥淭he Gourd of Unity.鈥� Mango Season: Caribbean Women鈥檚
Writing. 13.2 (2001): 154-165. Print.

Wilkinson, Phillip. Myths and Legends: An Illustrated Guide to their Origins and
Meanings. New York: DK Publishing, 2009. 306. Print.