Obtain Immediately Blues In Schwarz Weiss Scripted By May Ayim Supplied As Hardbound
on Blues In Schwarz Weiss
May Ayim
must have been a great woman, Toll! Ich bin eigentlich kein LyrikFan aber hab May Ayims Gedichte in diesem Band geliebt, Eventuell überdenke ich meine Haltung zu Lyrik daher nochmal,
Besonders freue ich mich darauf einige von May Ayims Gedichten später auch im Deutschunterricht mit meinen Schülerinnen behandeln zu dürfen, Nicht nur Literatur von alten weißen Männern zu lesen sollte gerade in der Schule zu einer Selbstverständlichkeit gehören, magistral.
mots choisis et engagés,
une claque.
redécouverte d'une Allemagne postnd gM qui est en proie à un passé qui ne passe pas,
plus qu'heureuse d'avoir fait la connaissance de la voie de May Ayim,
un recueil à lire et à relire Read as part of my German lit course,
So powerful and moving, uff this is to good like i cant really explain it i havent got the words, Way better than the English translation edition which has a whole bunch of essays thatmake me think Ayim was more motivated by race and less by passion andseem to jump all over the place.
sitelinkWeitergehen Gedichte by May Ayim was one of my top favorite books of last year, It is rare for a poetry collection to hit me as hard as that one did, The book was republished last year and collects the two poetry collections available from May Ayim,
Over the fall and winter season, I came back to these poems time and time again, that I knew a full reread had to be coming soon, This time around, I decided to rate and review the two collections sitelinkBlues In Schwarz Weiss and sitelinknachtgesang separately, in order for them to get more recognition and talk about the individual highlights of these works.
für YoliswaBlues in schwarz weiss is definitely my favorite of the two, and also ranks among my favorite poetry collections of alltime.
und die vielen die oft
alleine kämpfen
und unbemerkt
sterben
die selten gefeiert werden
und doch unvergesslich bleiben
During my reread, I was truly able to savour in May's words and marvel at her brilliant wordplay and her ability to get to the bottom of racism within German society and what it means to live in a Black body in our country.
One thing that I researched upon my reread were the meanings of the ADINKRA symbols that accompanied each chapter and the title page of her poetry collections, In case you don't know, Adinkra are symbols from Ghana that represent concepts or aphorisms, These symbols are often used in fabrics, logos and pottery, Each Adinkra symbol represents a word from the Ashanti language, a phrase, a historically significant event, a proverb, or animals or plants,
Even the cover illustration of the bindup edition Weitergehen evokes an Adinkra symbol, namely WUO ATWEDEE “the ladder of death” which signifies the certainty and universality of death.
It might seem like a weird choice but I find it hauntingly fitting, especially if we remind ourselves that May Ayim committed suicide at age,
The title page of blues in schwarz weiss and nachtgesang showcases the SANKOFA symbol “return and get it” which symbolises the importance of learning from the past.
As I read up on the meaning of the different symbols, I come to the conclusion that SANKOFA is truly the most fitting and perfect symbol to represent not only May's poetry, in which she makes clear that she is standing on the shoulders of the brothers and sisters that came before her, but also May's work and legacy.
May is, for us, from the past, Yet, her work has such magnitude and relevance that we still turn to her for advise, support and love today, We are learning so much from her, We will forever be indebted to her work and her sacrifices, Learning from the past is essential if we want to break the vicious cycle of history and keep from committing the same mistakes over and over again, I couldn't have thought for a more perfect symbol for May's poetry and life,
The other Adinkra symbols that came before every chapter symbolise bravery, harmony, warning against deception and hypocrisy, nurturing, wisdom, unity, endurance and perseverance, All of these virtues and signs align perfectly with May's life, goal and struggle as well, May Ayim is one of the bravest activist that I ever learned of, and with her endurance and wisdom she paved the way for so many Black Germans that came after her, she made our load so much lighter.
die zeit danach Gedicht in Erinnerung an Martin Luther KingI also really liked the symbol of KRAMO BONE “warning against deception and hypocrisy” because it is kind of the odd one out but very evocative of May's pleas and warnings throughout the collection.
denn
reden hilft kaum noch, Bruder
sie nennen das meinungsfreiheit
und auch demonstrationen und protestmärsche
die brauchen sie
für ihre demokratie
und machen weiter und machen weiter und
machen weiter
sie haben deinen traum konserviert
konserviert und verkauft, Bruder
postkarten und poster
dreizeiler in einem geschichtsbuch
"I Have a Dream"
ein abgeschlossener roman
sie haben
vergangenheit daraus gemacht
weiß wie tränensalz
und da wo ich lebe
würden sie es "bewältigt" nennen, Bruder
May Ayim didn't believe in compromises what it came to basic human rights for Black people, She also saw through the shallowness and hypocrisy of white Germans, German media, education and politics, May Ayim didn't come to play,
In her introduction, Natasha A, Kelly wrote that "May Ayim has inspired Black people to tell the violent story of racism and to look at its deep tangles with German colonialism on different levels, " I couldn't agree more with that, May Ayim showed colonial continuities through her poetry and her work, She inspires us to do the same, These collections can be seen as her poetic legacy a legacy which can be carried on, passed on, and retold "to the very edge, "
Among my favorite poems are: "afrodeutsch I", "afrodeutsch II", "vertrauen", "die zeit danach", "soul sister", "grenzenlos und
unverschämt", "gegen leberwurstgrau für eine bunte republik", "exotik", "aus dem rahmen", "deutschland im herbst", "künstlerische freiheit", "blues in schwarz weiß", "zehntausendmal" and "nachtrag".
In "afrodeutsch I" and "afrodeutsch II", she was able to the ugly face of everyday racism and microaggression that Black people can't escape when they are among white Germans.
May Ayim chose to write from a white German's perspective, so that these poems basically consist of questions and statements that show the arrogant racist views that white Germans hold, e.
g. “Kannst ja froh sein, dass de keine Türkin bist, wa”, “Ich finde, man kann nicht alles / auf die Hautfarbe schieben, / und so schwarz bist du ja auch gar nicht.
” and “Wie, Sie waren noch nie in der Heimat vom Papa” These poems literally make me scream YEEEES from the top of my lungs because they reflect so many of my own traumatic experiences growing up and still living in Germany.
"Grenzenlos und unverschämt" is probably her most famous poem but in my humble opinion, deservedly so, It is so powerful. So empowering. And as a Black woman living in Germany, I get literal goosebumps when I read the words: "ich werde / noch einen schritt weitergehen / bis an den äussersten rand / wo meine schwestern sind / wo meine brüder stehen / wo / unsere / FREIHEIT / beginnt / und wiederkehren / wann / ich will / wenn / ich will / grenzenlos und unverschämt / bleiben.
" It shows that May Ayim took hold of her own destiny and determined the own borders of her being, her freedom and her right to belong in this country, on this Earth.
"Deutschland im herbst" is my favorite poem in this collection, It brings tears to my eyes every time I read it because it is brutally honest and as relevant as ever, In the poem, May Ayim links the November progroms and the subsequent death of Jewish and marginalised people at the hands of white Germans in Nazi Germany with the rise of farright fascism in Germany after the German reunification and the brutal killing of Amadeu António Kiowa, a migrant from Angola.
The entire poem brings chill to my spine but the opening line always gets me the most: "es ist nicht wahr / dass es nicht wahr ist / so war es / erst zuerst dann wieder" especially the part "erst zuerst dann wieder" resonates deeply with me on so many levels as many farright fascist attacks get swept under the rug in Germany and are viewed as "Einzelfälle" isolated cases.
There are also quite a few shorter poems, most notably "künstlerische freiheit" “alle worte in den mund nehmen / egal wo sie herkommen / und sie überall fallen lassen / ganz gleich wen es / trifft” and "vertrauen" “gelassen / wie ein spiegel / zeigen was ist / ohne angst zerschlagen zu werden / von dem was sichtbar wird / bevor was sichtbar wird”, that really spoke to me because May really managed to get to the bottom of the titular word and was able to define and describe it in a lyrical way so perfectly with so few words.
The last poem I want to highlight is "gegen leberwurstgrau für eine bunte republik" because, like many of her other poems, it captured so perfectly the political landscape and situation in Germany and is, sadly, still relevant as ever:
ganz bestimmt aberIn the poem, May speaks about how marginalised people are often tokenised and only heard when a specific event triggers their "necessity", e.
kurz vor den nächsten wahlen
wird man sich wieder an uns erinnern
müssen wir unbedingt wieder dabei sein
dürfen wir wieder betroffenheit bekunden
müssen es sogar
sollen sogar
forderungen formulieren
und so richtig auf die pauke hauen
oder wenigstens ein lied singen
gegen leberwurstgrau für eine bunte republik
jedoch
die "lieben ausländischen mitbürgerInnen"
obwohl oder weil
noch immer ohne bürgerrechte
schmücken sich für ihre eigenen feste
und auch die schwarzen
oder sonstige bindestrichdeutschen
kommen nicht mehr weil sie eingeladen werden
sondern nur noch
wenn sie selber wollen
sie werden langsam frech
so'n pech
ein glück!
g. before upcoming elections where their votes might matter or after a fascist attack so that white people can get their torture porn and marvel at Black pain, The reason why I love this poem so much is the empowering message of its last verse where May speaks of how marginalised groups have emancipated and empowered themselves and no longer wait to be invited, they simply celebrate their own festivities and only attend white events if they want to "sie werden langsam frech / so'n pech / ein glück!"
Overall, blues in schwarz weiss will always have a special place in my heart and is a poetry collection that I can turn to time and time again.
May Ayim's words are so powerful, I am so proud of her, I hope she is smiling down on us and is able to see all of her Black sisters and brothers taking up her burden and carrying her load, fighting the good fight and making good trouble.
REREAD: Felt like reading this poetry collection for the third time now, I read it every year since I discovered it in, May's voice is so important to me, Her poems give me strength and root me within myself, It's always a pleasure to return, .