poetry in action features work by poets from around the world, translated into English.

It has three rallying cries:

Poets of the world, unite and take over!

Resist the oppressive constraints of good, publishable poetry established by mainstream literary venues!

Only poetry in translation, all the time!

Coming at you on the 20th of each month.

 

 

 

Roça

 

Perguntam os mortos:

Porque brotam raízes dos nossos pés?

Porque teimam em sangrar
em nossas unhas
as pétalas dos cacaueiros?

Que reino foi esse que plantámos?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plantation

  

The dead ask:

Why do roots sprout from our feet?

Why do the petals of the cacao trees
insist on bleeding
on our nails?

What was this kingdom that we planted?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Proposta

 

Apaguem os canaviais, os cacauzais, os cafezais
Rasurem as roças e a usura de seus inventores
Extirpem a paisagem da verde dor de sua íris
E eu vos darei uma narrativa obliterada
Uma esparsa nomenclatura sedenta de heróis

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Proposal

 

Efface the cane plantations, the coffee and cacao plantations
Scour them and the usury of their inventors
Eradicate the landscape of green pain from your iris
And I will share an obliterated narrative
A sparse nomenclature parched for heroes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

O Vendedor

  

Os olhos vagalumem como pirilampos
no encalço dos fregueses.

Do fio que é a mão
esvoaçam sacos de plástico
precários, multicores balōes.

A Feira do Ponto é o seu pátio.

Ao fim do dia, parcimonioso,
devolve a bolsa das moedas a um adulto
e recupera a idade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Vendor

 

His eyes flicker like fireflies
in pursuit of customers.

Precarious plastic sacks
flutter from the string that is his hand,
colorful balloons.

Ponto Market is his patio.

At the end of the day, austere,
he returns the bag of coins to an adult
and becomes his age again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Herança

                                               À Pépé e ao Rufino

 

Sei que buscas ainda
o secreto fulgor os dias
anunciados.
Nada do que te recusam
devora em ti
a memória dos passos calcinados.
É tua casa este exílio
este assombro esta ira.
Tuas as horas dissipadas
o hostil presságio
a herança saqueada.
Quase nada.
Mas quando direito e lúgubre
marchas ao longo da Baía
um clamor antigo
um rumor de promessa
atormenta a Cidade.
A mesma praia te aguarda
com seu ventre de fruta e de carícia
seu silêncio de espanto e de carência.
Começarás de novo, insone
com mãos de húmus e basalto
como quem reescreve uma longa profecia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inheritance

                                               To Pépé and to Rufino

 

I know that you still seek
the secret glow the days
proclaimed.
Nothing they refuse you
devours
the memory of your calcined steps.
It’s your house this exile
this wonder this rage.
Yours the squandered hours
the hostile omen
the plundered inheritance.
Almost nothing.
But when you march
straight and bleak
the length of the Bay
an ancient clamor
the rumor of a promise
torments the City.
The same beach awaits you
with its womb of fruit and fondling
its silence of awe and want.
You will begin again, sleepless
hands made of humus and basalt
like one who rewrites a vast prophecy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conceiçao Lima was born in 1961 in the island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe, where she resides today. She studied journalism in Portugal and attended graduate school in London, where she later worked as a producer at the BBC’s Portuguese Language Service. She has published four books of poetry: O Útero da Casa (The Home’s Womb) in 2004, A Dolorosa Raiz do Micondó (The Painful Root of Micondó) in 2006, O País de Akendenguê (The Country of Akendenguê) in 2011, and Quando Florirem Salambás no Tecto do Pico (When Velvet Tamarinds Bloom on the Pico’s Roof) in 2015. Her work in David Shook’s translation has appeared in The Literary Review, Jai-Alai, The Missing Slate, and World Literature Today.

David Shook’s recent translations include Mario Bellatin’s Beauty Salon (Deep Vellum, 2021) and Jorge Eduardo Eielson’s Room in Rome (Cardboard House Press), a finalist for both the 2020 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation and National Translation Award. Twitter: @yearofpoetry | Instagram: @dogamongmen

poetry in action is an Action Books blog feature curated and edited by Katherine M. Hedeen (@kmhedeen) with web editing by Paul Cunningham