FIRST CHICO BUARQUE is out.

ALL POETRY is out.

DESIGNS (my book of poetry) is OUT,.

See  my page at Amazon books.

 The Fate of Chosen Garb  (per the theme SANTA CRUZ WEIRD)

 

The array of human figures in the environs surrounding 

the municipal wharf is verging on the astounding

Fully bald emboldened gurus bounding forth

Nearly deaf musicians sounding tunes out

Square accountants rounding numbers loudly up

Padres in fresh robes founding new missions

Gardeners grounding wheat on planks of stone

Parents hounding their poorly entertained children

Resounding stellar shapes confounding dumbfounding

Frustrated astrologers left holding bags and pounding

on the lone fisherman's sweater

 The Poet Makes it to Seventy

 

Adriano Espínola

 

translation by Charles A. Perrone

 

For Paulo Henriques Britto, Geraldo Carneiro and Antonio Carlos Secchin

 

 

 

Somewhat nonchalantly

do I turn the corner,

a bit more inclined,

of 70.

 

(Feast of wild wolves, 

of crazy years gone by 

spent quietly on the sly).

 

Someone soon draws closer

and presses on my chest;

an other from me 

comes loose to stay silent.

 

Who are they, I inquire,

my body right next

to the blank wall and spire,

who divide me 

thusly in two,

between dreams of what I was and

the unforeseeable awakened state 

of what comes later?

 

And now I know: 

old friends' shades, hello!

do come light up 

my ancient

temples

and the gestures and signals

that I emit in passage!

 

I exclaim, expectant,

without nostalgia or grief,

upon safe arrival

from the pandemic

and this voyage through time,

castaway from love 

and failures,

by the dock and reef

of my own step-filled mime.

 

 

 

 

Who, I go on to ask them,

invents me

every second

each and every day

upon turning the corner

of 70?

 

A sudden shade obstinately

comes forward to illuminate me.

And it is Nobody.

And it's Odysseus with his sword.

Portuguese explorer and native shaman

in combat on a beach

in the past, beyond reach.

 

Steel, stories, and struggles

in the preterite

(that belong to me as well)

now traversing me,

there by that wall

with the present's flat scrawl,

memory of the future.

 

And now I'm already myself,

I who am naught,

sad creature so content,

weaver of the art of deceit

(that is poetry, 

that strangest of arts

of prodigal amazements),

like a blind man

on a sidewalk,

touching aside apart,

where I am passing by

and where I shall always go.

 

And I arrive 

by dint of some

arcane mischief

at the corner of 

these unexpected years,

being what I am:

a common man,

spinning flesh and earth 

of fateful chance,

70 times in one.

 

 

 

 Two more book news items:  Bloomsbury (NY/London) has already listed my modest monograph FIRST CHICO BUARQUE, which is about his historic 1978 LP. Visuals and blurbs also at Amazon at my author page. The whole album can be heard on Youtube. //  New London Librarium will launch  ALL POETRY PAULO LEMINSKI, which I co-translated with Ivan Justen Santana. 630 poems and some front/back matter too. A real treat for any one who likes daring and varied poetry, and ace English versions. :).

 

 While I am here, let me remind the world that I am an occasional DJ on KSQD FM 90.7 in the Monterey Bay Area and ksqd.org streaming; the web site also has a two-week archive of past broadcasts. I sub for shows like Sounds of Brazil (Monday ten PM-midnite), Calamar en Salsa (Tuesday ten PM-midnite), Puro Pulpo (Thursday ten PM-midnite), Jazz Tracks (Thursday seven-ten PM), Border Free Radio (Sundays 3-5 PM), and ad hoc as needed.  The Squid is a great addition to the radio-wave-scape of our area and www.

 Hey y'all. To celebrate Poetry Month, April, I have published a book I assembled 20+ years ago. It is at Amazon, follow this link: https://www.amazon.com/BLUEPRINTS-FLOORPLANS-PROVISIONAL-RESIDENCE.  You can "Look Inside" at that page. Here is what the covers look like:

Fiz três versões do poema "L'être: avant la lettre" de Paulo Leminski, do livro La Vie en Close (1991).

In the future look for a long post regarding 18 versions in English. Por agora, agora é que são elas:

l’être avant la lettre         

 

   la vie en close                       

c’est une autre chose                

 

    c’est lui                                

          c’est moi                 

                c’est ça             

 

    c’est la vie des choses              

qui n’ont pas                       

             un autre choix

 

1. o ser: antes da letra 

 

     a vida em cerrada

é outra coisa

 

     êle tem

          sou eu

               ela vem

 

     é a vida das coisas

que ninguém

            escolheu

 

2. ser: avant la lettre

 

     vida a fechar

é outra coisa

 

     ele é

          meu par

               assim são

 

     a vida das coisas

que nem terão

          outra opção

 

3. o ser: avant la lettre

 

     la vie en close

é outra pose

 

     ele está

          eu estou

               até doze

 

     é a vida em folha

onde não há

          outra escolha

 

 

 

 Comentários:  charlesaperrone@gmail.com.  Merci.