Soobrayen

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poemsstrivingtosoundlikeMauritianCreolebutwithinthe lines of Englishwas a kindof tension, a stand-off between the English text and the structures of French. In keeping withits adaptable nature, the Creole spoken at home had re-aligneditself withtheacquiredcolloquial EnglishandtextbookFrenchandhadbecomebroken, vulnerableandopento change. TheCreole versions ofthepoems werewrittenwiththekind assistance of myparents. Neither of themhadwrittenmuch CreolebeforesothepoemsweregraftedfromtheEnglishand werereliant onthe layeringof oursharedoral understanding of Creoleimageryandrhythm. Thepoemsarefirmlyrootedina familysettingperhaps becauseof thelimitationof myCreole vocabulary andoften rely onfoodimagery as inthe poem ‘Couma ki piti zenfanguetter’, the makingof the ‘sauce ti malice’ (whichincidentally is only slightly less spicy than ‘saucegrandmalice’). AndagainakeyingredientinMauritian cuisineappearsinmypoem‘Moti Béébéé’:

Outsideof me, outsideofhouse, Endetoirmoi, endetoirlakaz, tosourir yousmileatbirds, attrees, atclouds. ekzoiseau, ekarbres, eknuages. Yourbodystill asgingerroot. Tolecorpraidcoumaunrazinezinzame.

BoththeMauritianlanguageandcuisinehavegonethrougha process of creolizationover twoandhalf centuries, absorbing the richflavours andspices fromthe manyarrivingcultures andincludingtheFrenchandtheDutchcontribution‘Piedde Cerf’: Javanesedeerfeet. Notsurprisingly, noingredientsfrom the Englishkitchenhave made anyimpact, but 150Creole wordsderivefromtheEnglishlanguage.