Poet revives garífuna language through verse
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Wingston González of Livingston, Guatemala, began writing poetry as a way to reconnect with the Garífuna language, which he stopped speaking at age five.
González belongs to a generation facing the potential loss of their native tongue, and he found that poetry provided a bridge back to it. He initially drew inspiration from Spanish poetry and family storytelling, then from the work of Belizean poet Marcella Lewis, which showed him the existence of Garífuna poetry.
González describes the Garífuna language as an Arawak language with African phonetic influences, spoken in Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and by the Garífuna diaspora. He explains that for Garífuna people, the concept of diaspora is complex because their culture is inherently one of movement and mixing. His award-winning poetry collection, Yágütaguarügü/Un poquito más allá, directly incorporates the Garífuna language and explores Garífuna mythology.
The poet created the bilingual collection after reflecting on the meaning of a Garífuna word that signifies something “just beyond” reach, not far enough to be unknown, but not close enough to be familiar. González views himself as an Indigenous writer, emphasizing that Garífuna identity encompasses both Indigenous and African heritage, and that the Garífuna community represents one of the largest mixtures of African and American Indigenous peoples. He prioritizes identifying as Garífuna above all else.
