The biTTersweeT syllable Poems

BRAZILIAN LITERATURE IN TRANSLATION #4
BRAZILIAN LITERATURE IN TRANSLATION #4
The biTTersweeT
syllable
The Poems
biTTersweeT
Marcelo Mirisola
syllable
CARLITO AZEVEDO
Marcelo Mirisola
Poems
CARLITO AZEVEDO
Translated by Sarah Rebecca Kersley
EMBLEMS (extract)
An immigrant
takes photos sprawled
against the awning
of a newstand
the crowd screams
outside the Bank
a Malabar appears
a shepherd appears
images of utter
disconnection
the mountains appear
lilacs from the Caucasus
but in the photo sought
there’s just the image
of the little girl
with her rabbit
soft toy
its folds
rust-colored
against the light
ON DOORS
“Passing through populous cities
(as said Walt Whitman, translated by Konrad Tom)” CZESLAW MILOSZ
When this Goya-like world
(as said Lawrence Ferlinghetti, translated by Leminski)
dissolves who knows what impure matter from the thickest depths
of its incandescent centre, then lifts itself, slamming them, the iron doors,
against our faces and democratic pretensions, not one cloud will fail to fall
from the sky like a rainbowed snake of gas, not one star will fail
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to trace a gesture of retention of its own light, but all
we see, all we are able to see behind
our humble post-metaphysical desk, is the hesitation
of the plumber and the panther at the parallel
doors, displacing each other in the game
of nightclub mirrors with their
seraphic arrows of Ladies
and of Gentlemen.
THE BOXING ANGEL TRIES TO DESCRIBE A SCENE
1.
A young man makes circles
with the smoke from his cigarette
and is lying
on the floor
reading a book
Opposite him is another young man
also making circles with the smoke
from his cigarette
and also lying
on the floor
reading a book
The first man has his knees bent upwards
and between his knees
in the air
he holds the front wheel of a bicycle
The second man also has his knees bent upwards
and between his knees
in the air
he holds the back wheel of a bicycle
While microscopic life
revolves however it can
according to its own laws
the two young men
continue to read
and make circles
with the smoke
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from their cigarettes
which nonetheless
hardly disguises
the not small effort
of holding a bicycle
between their knees
2.
Even more so because
sitting on the bicycle
suspended in the air
pedalling
overcome with enthusiasm
is a girl
aged eight
running away from home
with all her simplicity
and all her delight
running away from home
with all her sex
and all the tomorrows
running away from home
with all her strength
and all the mountains
3.
Here we add
that the room in which
this scene occurs is entirely black
with the thick bituminous darkness
of tar
giving the smoke circles
produced by the two young men
lying there
a luminous effect
not as luminous
however
as the face
of the girl
who whilst
overcome with frenetic
enthusiasm
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pedals
and talks
without stopping
pedals
in standstill
and without stopping
4.
At this moment
the boxing angel
stops describing
the scene he
is watching
and thinks that if something of us
survives to the end
of the line
with thought
a remote hypothesis
yes
but still a hypothesis
but still remote
then the boxing angel
promises himself
in this improbable
hypothesis
to use all
possibilities
of smuggling in
at the time of death
and into death
duping
the brainwash
of heaven
something
some
slightest
thing
of this girl
her smile
the colour of her eyes
the shape of
her little boots
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LAKE
Sitting backwards
(like wings you think the afternoon
can fold and open) to the coppered dorsum
of the mountain and the copper mirrored in the lake,
the girl with the cat translates, to higher
than perfection,
the deep, invisible, subterranean veins,
uniting us to those we love, and when he
stretches on her lap his pointed claws,
she, so as not to wake him, makes even
her gaze walk on tiptoes.
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Poems | CARLITO AZEVEDO
The book
Monodrama & Sublunar
Carlito Azevedo
• Original titles + ISBN:
Monodrama
(978-85-7577-625-4)
Sob a Noite Física
(9788585625788)
Sublunar
(85-7388-277-8)
(2ª ediçao 978-85-7577-715-2 )
• Publication year:
2009 (Monodrama)
1996 (Sob a noite física)
• Original publishing house: 7Letras
• Number of pages:
Monodrama: 156
Sublunar: 104
Sob a Noite Física: 61
• Total printing in Brazil:
Monodrama: 15.000 copies
Sublunar: 2.000 copies
Sob a Noite Física: 1.000 copies
Synopsis
Monodrama is the most recent
collection by Carlito Azevedo, one of
the most prominent poets in Brazil
today. The poems in this collection
evoke Brazil’s most iconic city, Rio de
Janeiro, with motifs of terror, political
demonstration, social desolation,
and artistic intervention, alongside
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sharp, ironic examinations of the
human condition, including intensely
autobiographical poems, such as the
powerful series “H. , about the death of
the poet’s mother. Whilst the collection
contains a multitude of characters,
from the immigrant, to the protester, to
the writer himself, the title of the book
also infers the drama and humanity of
the city itself.
Sublunar, now in its second edition,
is a collection of poems from Carlito
Azevedo’s first four books, originally
published in small print runs. Sublunar
contains poems from the books:
Collapsus Linguae (winner of the 1991
Jabuti Award), As banhistas, Sob a
noite física and Versos de circunstância.
Translations
PORTUGUESE (PORTUGAL)
SOB A NOITE FÍSICA - Lisboa, Cotovia,
2001, PORTUGAL
MONODRAMA - Livros Cotovia,
Lisbon, 2010, PORTUGAL.
SPANISH
SUBLUNAR - (bilingual edition,
selected and translated by Aníbal
Cristobo and Reynaldo Jiménez). Tsé
Tsé, Buenos Aires, 2002, ARGENTINA.
MONODRAMA - (bilingual edition).
2011, Ediciones Corregidor, Buenos
Aires, ARGENTINA.
Awards
Brazilian National Library Foundation
Alphonsus de Guimarães Prize 2001:
SUBLUNAR - 2001, RIO DE JANEIRO,
RJ, BRAZIL
Portugal Telecom Prize 2010
(SHORTLIST) MONODRAMA - 2009.
Press Reviews
“...out of the banal comes the most
terrible and the most beautiful.... (Rio)
is a better place with these poems. It
feels good to live in the same country
and speak the same language as a
poet like this one.”
Review of Monodrama in Jornal Brasil
Econômico 2010
http://editora.cosacnaify.com.br/
blog/?p=1606
“A book of bright fragments, populated
by terrorists, the smell of cheap
hotels, and disconcerting foreign girls,
Monodrama is – to steal a phrase from
one of its poems – a thwack of clarity.”
Jornal do Brasil, 2009:
http://www.jb.com.br/cultura/
noticias/2009/11/20/apos-13-anoscarlito-azevedo-publica-monodrama/
As Banhistas - Rio de Janeiro, Imago, 1993
Sob A Noite Física - Rio de Janeiro,
7Letras, 1996. (1.000)
Versos de circunstância, Rio de
Janeiro: Moby-Dick, 2001
Sublunar (anthology, 1991-2001) - Rio
de Janeiro: 7Letras, 2001 (2.000)
Monodrama - Rio de Janeiro, 7Letras,
2009 (15.000)
• Author’s webpage: https://
www.7letras.com.br/autor?id=243
The translator
The author
Carlos Eduardo Barbosa de Azevedo
• Pen name: Carlito Azevedo
• Other books:
Poetry
Collapsus Linguae - Rio de Janeiro,
Editora LYNX, 1991
Publication Rights
Carlito Azevedo
a/c Editora 7Letras
Rua Visconde de Pirajá, 580 Loja 320,
Ipanema
Rio de Janeiro
RJ. CEP: 22410-902
[email protected]
Tel: (21) 2540-0076
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Sarah Rebecca Kersley
Sarah Rebecca Kersley is a British
translator and writer based in Brazil.
Her translations of Brazilian poetry
have appeared in journals in Brazil and
the USA.