Imagine opening the local newspaper and finding you and your friends splashed across the front page. You aren’t the top story because you have committed a crime; you’re receiving acclaim for creating art.
Yaoska Tijerino E. experienced this thrill in her hometown of Managua, Nicaragua. She is an accomplished poet, an enthusiastic student and a junior at Saint Louis University. Tijerino has a passion for the written word. Her writing reflects her intercultural experiences.
Groups of teens in the U.S. who need an outlet for their creativity frequently form garage bands. Heavy metal guitars are not the medium of choice, however, for Tijerino and her band of friends. She was one of the founding members of Macuta, a group of writers, painters and photographers who present their art as a group.
Tijerino’s poetry was published for the first time in a front-page newspaper article about Macuta. Since then, her work has been published in newspapers, magazines and anthologies.
Tijerino moved to the U.S. three years ago to attend college and learn to speak English. She believes that English is an important language for her to master because of its importance to relations between Central America and the U.S. She moved to St. Louis because of its central location and chose SLU because she wanted to study at a Jesuit University. An English and Communications major with a minor in Theology, Tijerino is a well-rounded student with exemplary gifts as a poet.
Her connection to poetry has roots both nationally and locally. Tijerino described Nicaragua as a country rich in poetry. She explained that Nicaraguans read local poets’ works, which creates support for the arts and also fosters competition among the poets for recognition. Flavio C?sar Tijerino, a poet and Tijerino’s uncle, helped guide her as her talent burgeoned, suggesting famous works she should study.
Tijerino believes that a true poet is a scholar of other poets’ works, as she exclaimed, “Read, read, read!” She believes that an uneducated mind cannot just spurt out worthwhile poetry on a whim. “Poetry is a decision,” she said. When asked about her favorite authors, Tijerino’s eyes sparkled as she gushed about T.S. Eliot, reciting lines from “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” She said that Eliot had the “spontaneity of an educated soul, spirit and mind.” She also cited legendary Nicaraguan poet Carlos Martinez Rivas as being an inspiration. Tijerino met him before his death two years ago and said their exchange influenced her greatly: “he was a friend.”
Her poetry is powerful, but it is difficult for someone who is not fluent in Spanish to understand the depth of her words. Tijerino has given some of her poems over to a SLU professor for translation. When asked why she would not attempt to translate them herself, she explained that “translation is an art.” Tijerino does not write poems in English. Though she speaks English almost flawlessly, she doesn’t believe she has mastered it to the extent that poetry demands.
The subjects of Tijerino’s poems are as varied as her experiences and interests. She said, “Poetry and life are inseparable, and the interacting of every point in my life comes out in my poetry.” She talked about the challenge of living on her own in the U.S. (she goes home twice a year), and how that has broadened her understanding of life. “I love it here, but sometimes it is like fighting a monster,” she said. Tijerino’s poems also deal with gender issues. “I’m not a feminist, I’m feminine. I believe in mutuality, not equality.”
When asked what the differences were between gender relations here and in Nicaragua, she commented that machismo exists in both places, but that “it is more hidden” in the U.S.
“College Church” is a poem about a place SLU students are familiar with. Although most SLU students don’t speak Spanish fluently, the power of Tijerino’s images is universal. It is worth the time of any student who understands Spanish to study the prose in order to discern the images woven into her poetry.
