WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.035 align:middle line:90% 00:00:01.035 --> 00:00:01.535 align:middle line:90% ALISON HATHORNE DEMING: And welcome. 00:00:01.535 --> 00:00:04.940 align:middle line:90% 00:00:04.940 --> 00:00:09.620 align:middle line:84% Many of you already know, and a few of you don't yet know, 00:00:09.620 --> 00:00:14.150 align:middle line:84% that the sad news is that, because of health problems, 00:00:14.150 --> 00:00:17.480 align:middle line:84% Adélia Prado has been unable to travel up here from Brazil 00:00:17.480 --> 00:00:21.450 align:middle line:84% for tonight's reading and the other events this week. 00:00:21.450 --> 00:00:24.980 align:middle line:84% Nevertheless, her translator Ellen Watson is here. 00:00:24.980 --> 00:00:27.710 align:middle line:84% And we intend to make this a night 00:00:27.710 --> 00:00:31.850 align:middle line:84% and a week of celebration and homage to Prado's work. 00:00:31.850 --> 00:00:33.560 align:middle line:84% And I hope that we can all manage 00:00:33.560 --> 00:00:37.130 align:middle line:84% to send collective wishes for her good health 00:00:37.130 --> 00:00:40.490 align:middle line:90% and many new poems. 00:00:40.490 --> 00:00:43.220 align:middle line:84% We will be able to bring her voice to you 00:00:43.220 --> 00:00:45.890 align:middle line:84% through a little audio technology. 00:00:45.890 --> 00:00:51.140 align:middle line:84% Ellen's brought a tape that has a few poems read by Adélia 00:00:51.140 --> 00:00:53.990 align:middle line:84% and, I think, a few other comments by her, 00:00:53.990 --> 00:00:56.300 align:middle line:84% so that you'll get a sense of her voice, 00:00:56.300 --> 00:00:58.760 align:middle line:84% the music of the Portuguese, and, hopefully, 00:00:58.760 --> 00:01:02.840 align:middle line:84% a sense of her spirit from hearing her voice. 00:01:02.840 --> 00:01:04.778 align:middle line:84% I'd like to make a couple of announcements 00:01:04.778 --> 00:01:06.320 align:middle line:84% about other events that are happening 00:01:06.320 --> 00:01:10.250 align:middle line:84% in the community in the next couple of weeks. 00:01:10.250 --> 00:01:13.040 align:middle line:84% Many of you would be interested to know that Chax Press has 00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:15.410 align:middle line:84% started a new reading series called Here 00:01:15.410 --> 00:01:20.510 align:middle line:84% and Now, which will be holding readings at the Tucson Museum 00:01:20.510 --> 00:01:21.470 align:middle line:90% of Art. 00:01:21.470 --> 00:01:25.640 align:middle line:84% The first will be Friday, October 23, at 8 o'clock. 00:01:25.640 --> 00:01:30.842 align:middle line:84% And it will be a reading by Tom Mandel and Beth Baruch Joselow. 00:01:30.842 --> 00:01:32.300 align:middle line:84% I hope I pronounced her name right. 00:01:32.300 --> 00:01:34.430 align:middle line:90% I'm not sure that I have. 00:01:34.430 --> 00:01:39.710 align:middle line:84% And on Sunday, November 1, at 7 o'clock, 00:01:39.710 --> 00:01:42.290 align:middle line:84% the Lamplight Reading Series, which 00:01:42.290 --> 00:01:45.380 align:middle line:84% meets downtown at Bentley's, will be sponsoring a reading 00:01:45.380 --> 00:01:48.170 align:middle line:84% by Charles Alexander of Chax Press, 00:01:48.170 --> 00:01:50.705 align:middle line:90% and yours truly, Alison Deming. 00:01:50.705 --> 00:01:55.100 align:middle line:90% 00:01:55.100 --> 00:01:59.270 align:middle line:84% Also, finally, in the way of announcements, 00:01:59.270 --> 00:02:04.670 align:middle line:84% we do have The Alphabet in the Park, Ellen Watson's really 00:02:04.670 --> 00:02:07.190 align:middle line:84% marvelous translations of Prado's work, 00:02:07.190 --> 00:02:09.949 align:middle line:90% for sale after the reading. 00:02:09.949 --> 00:02:14.330 align:middle line:84% And if you do not know, there will be a symposium on Friday 00:02:14.330 --> 00:02:18.440 align:middle line:84% and Saturday, organized by Maria José Barbosa, 00:02:18.440 --> 00:02:23.840 align:middle line:84% on the work of Prado and other Luso-African-Brazilian poetry. 00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:26.280 align:middle line:84% That symposium is open to the public. 00:02:26.280 --> 00:02:29.180 align:middle line:84% So if any of you are interested and you don't know about it, 00:02:29.180 --> 00:02:32.505 align:middle line:84% please see me or Isla or Maria José or Ellen after 00:02:32.505 --> 00:02:34.880 align:middle line:84% the reading, and we'll give you more information on that. 00:02:34.880 --> 00:02:38.300 align:middle line:90% 00:02:38.300 --> 00:02:41.060 align:middle line:84% A lot of people have helped plan this week. 00:02:41.060 --> 00:02:43.880 align:middle line:84% And even though we don't have Adélia with us, 00:02:43.880 --> 00:02:47.360 align:middle line:84% I'd like to thank people who've put in a particular effort 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:52.650 align:middle line:84% and vision to put together this celebration of her work. 00:02:52.650 --> 00:02:54.500 align:middle line:84% The Faculty of Humanities, the Department 00:02:54.500 --> 00:02:58.430 align:middle line:84% of Spanish and Portuguese, Tucson Pima Arts Council, 00:02:58.430 --> 00:03:02.000 align:middle line:84% the Latin American Studies Center, and the Women's Studies 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:03.440 align:middle line:90% program. 00:03:03.440 --> 00:03:06.830 align:middle line:84% One woman in particular, for her love of poetry, 00:03:06.830 --> 00:03:10.970 align:middle line:84% particularly of Prado's, and her hard work and vision in putting 00:03:10.970 --> 00:03:15.200 align:middle line:84% together this celebration of work, is Maria José Barbosa, 00:03:15.200 --> 00:03:18.440 align:middle line:84% of the Department of Portuguese and Spanish. 00:03:18.440 --> 00:03:21.170 align:middle line:84% Even when we learned the unfortunate news that Adélia 00:03:21.170 --> 00:03:24.290 align:middle line:84% couldn't be with us, Maria José found words from another 00:03:24.290 --> 00:03:27.650 align:middle line:84% Brazilian poet to keep us in the mood to celebrate. 00:03:27.650 --> 00:03:29.600 align:middle line:84% And I'll share those words with you. 00:03:29.600 --> 00:03:35.990 align:middle line:84% "We have lost our wings but not our desire to fly." 00:03:35.990 --> 00:03:38.960 align:middle line:84% As you know, Prado is among Brazil's most distinguished 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:39.560 align:middle line:90% poets. 00:03:39.560 --> 00:03:43.490 align:middle line:84% She's written five books of poetry and poetic prose. 00:03:43.490 --> 00:03:46.550 align:middle line:84% Ellen Watson described her work this afternoon 00:03:46.550 --> 00:03:51.200 align:middle line:84% as work in which there are arms that refuse nothing. 00:03:51.200 --> 00:03:54.620 align:middle line:84% She's both sensual and a poet of the mind, 00:03:54.620 --> 00:03:57.560 align:middle line:90% idiomatic and disconcerting. 00:03:57.560 --> 00:04:02.060 align:middle line:84% Many of you know that her countryman, Carlos Drummond de 00:04:02.060 --> 00:04:06.560 align:middle line:84% Andrade, announced her arrival as a poet of importance 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:08.930 align:middle line:84% in Brazil in his newspaper column 00:04:08.930 --> 00:04:13.790 align:middle line:84% by saying that there was a poet in Minas Gerais who was taking 00:04:13.790 --> 00:04:17.670 align:middle line:90% dictation from St. Francis. 00:04:17.670 --> 00:04:21.149 align:middle line:84% In our country, where the erotic and the spiritual 00:04:21.149 --> 00:04:24.630 align:middle line:84% are fiercely and politically polarized, 00:04:24.630 --> 00:04:28.140 align:middle line:90% Prado's is a poetry we need. 00:04:28.140 --> 00:04:32.190 align:middle line:84% And we can thank, in particular, Ellen Watson. 00:04:32.190 --> 00:04:34.800 align:middle line:84% The work of the translator, as she says, 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:36.990 align:middle line:90% is so often invisible. 00:04:36.990 --> 00:04:40.080 align:middle line:84% But tonight we celebrate her, as well, 00:04:40.080 --> 00:04:45.330 align:middle line:84% for bringing this work to us, passionate and quirky poems 00:04:45.330 --> 00:04:48.000 align:middle line:84% that can feed all of our spirits. 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:49.740 align:middle line:90% Please welcome, Ellen Watson. [APPLAUSE] 00:04:49.740 --> 00:05:02.160 align:middle line:90% 00:05:02.160 --> 00:05:07.570 align:middle line:84% ELLEN DORÉ WATSON: This is intimidating, I'm very happy to be here. 00:05:07.570 --> 00:05:12.390 align:middle line:84% I'm very sad not to be here standing next to Adélia. 00:05:12.390 --> 00:05:15.690 align:middle line:84% Some 4 and 1/2 years ago, when my daughter, 00:05:15.690 --> 00:05:17.310 align:middle line:90% who was named after Adélia-- 00:05:17.310 --> 00:05:20.520 align:middle line:90% Adélia is her godmother-- 00:05:20.520 --> 00:05:23.010 align:middle line:84% was only eight weeks old, Adélia came to this country 00:05:23.010 --> 00:05:24.040 align:middle line:90% for the first time. 00:05:24.040 --> 00:05:26.430 align:middle line:84% And we did a reading tour through New England 00:05:26.430 --> 00:05:27.840 align:middle line:90% and New York City. 00:05:27.840 --> 00:05:31.380 align:middle line:84% And it was truly exciting to stand side by side with her 00:05:31.380 --> 00:05:32.460 align:middle line:90% and celebrate the poetry. 00:05:32.460 --> 00:05:35.370 align:middle line:84% So I'd like to feel like she's with us tonight. 00:05:35.370 --> 00:05:38.360 align:middle line:90% 00:05:38.360 --> 00:05:41.900 align:middle line:84% The Alphabet in the Park is made up of selections from 00:05:41.900 --> 00:05:44.835 align:middle line:84% Adélia's first three books of poetry. 00:05:44.835 --> 00:05:46.460 align:middle line:84% And I'm going to begin with three poems 00:05:46.460 --> 00:05:48.200 align:middle line:84% from the first book, which is called 00:05:48.200 --> 00:05:50.270 align:middle line:90% Bagagem, which means baggage. 00:05:50.270 --> 00:05:55.790 align:middle line:90% 00:05:55.790 --> 00:05:58.160 align:middle line:90% "Seduction" 00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:00.920 align:middle line:84% "Poetry catches me with her toothed wheel 00:06:00.920 --> 00:06:04.430 align:middle line:84% and forces me to listen, stock-still, 00:06:04.430 --> 00:06:07.070 align:middle line:90% to her extravagant discourse. 00:06:07.070 --> 00:06:09.890 align:middle line:84% Poetry embraces me behind the garden wall. 00:06:09.890 --> 00:06:14.660 align:middle line:84% She picks up her skirt and lets me see, loving and loony. 00:06:14.660 --> 00:06:16.760 align:middle line:90% Bad things happen, I tell her. 00:06:16.760 --> 00:06:18.830 align:middle line:90% I too am a child of God. 00:06:18.830 --> 00:06:21.380 align:middle line:90% Allow me my despair. 00:06:21.380 --> 00:06:25.410 align:middle line:84% Her answer is to draw her hot tongue across my neck. 00:06:25.410 --> 00:06:28.000 align:middle line:90% She says "rod" to calm me. 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:31.290 align:middle line:90% She says "stone," "geometry." 00:06:31.290 --> 00:06:33.870 align:middle line:84% She gets careless and turns tender. 00:06:33.870 --> 00:06:37.010 align:middle line:90% I take advantage and sneak off. 00:06:37.010 --> 00:06:39.040 align:middle line:90% I run and she runs faster. 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:43.630 align:middle line:84% I yell and she yells louder, seven demons stronger. 00:06:43.630 --> 00:06:44.980 align:middle line:90% She catches me. 00:06:44.980 --> 00:06:48.460 align:middle line:84% Making deep grooves from tip to toe, 00:06:48.460 --> 00:06:51.565 align:middle line:84% poetry's toothed wheel is made of steel." 00:06:51.565 --> 00:06:58.030 align:middle line:90% 00:06:58.030 --> 00:07:01.910 align:middle line:90% "Seductive Sadness Winks at Me." 00:07:01.910 --> 00:07:04.370 align:middle line:84% "I'm looking for the saddest thing which, 00:07:04.370 --> 00:07:08.600 align:middle line:84% once found, will never be lost again because it will follow 00:07:08.600 --> 00:07:12.770 align:middle line:84% me, more loyal than a dog, the ghost of a dog, 00:07:12.770 --> 00:07:15.850 align:middle line:90% sadness beyond words. 00:07:15.850 --> 00:07:17.560 align:middle line:90% I have three choices. 00:07:17.560 --> 00:07:22.470 align:middle line:84% The first, a man, still alive, calls me to his bedside 00:07:22.470 --> 00:07:27.780 align:middle line:84% and says, in his softest voice, pray for me to sleep, will you? 00:07:27.780 --> 00:07:30.060 align:middle line:84% Or I dream I'm beating a little boy. 00:07:30.060 --> 00:07:33.930 align:middle line:84% I beat him and beat him until my arm is decomposing 00:07:33.930 --> 00:07:35.370 align:middle line:90% and he's black and blue. 00:07:35.370 --> 00:07:39.180 align:middle line:84% I beat him some more, and he laughs without anger. 00:07:39.180 --> 00:07:42.090 align:middle line:90% He laughs at me who beat him. 00:07:42.090 --> 00:07:45.720 align:middle line:84% In the last, and I personally create this horror, 00:07:45.720 --> 00:07:50.220 align:middle line:84% the siren shrieks, calling a man who's already dead, and keeps 00:07:50.220 --> 00:07:53.400 align:middle line:84% shrieking through the night till dawn and he doesn't return. 00:07:53.400 --> 00:07:55.140 align:middle line:90% And the siren insists. 00:07:55.140 --> 00:07:57.750 align:middle line:90% And her voice is human. 00:07:57.750 --> 00:08:00.420 align:middle line:90% If that's not enough, try this. 00:08:00.420 --> 00:08:03.690 align:middle line:84% I lift my son by his sensitive organs 00:08:03.690 --> 00:08:05.445 align:middle line:90% and he kisses me on the face." 00:08:05.445 --> 00:08:10.580 align:middle line:90% 00:08:10.580 --> 00:08:13.190 align:middle line:90% "Two Ways" 00:08:13.190 --> 00:08:18.320 align:middle line:84% "From inside geometry, God looks at me and I am terrified. 00:08:18.320 --> 00:08:21.000 align:middle line:84% He makes the incubus descend on me. 00:08:21.000 --> 00:08:22.280 align:middle line:90% I yell for Mama. 00:08:22.280 --> 00:08:26.150 align:middle line:84% I hide behind the door where Papa hangs his dirty shirt. 00:08:26.150 --> 00:08:28.640 align:middle line:84% They give me sugar water to calm me. 00:08:28.640 --> 00:08:31.220 align:middle line:90% I speak the words of prayers. 00:08:31.220 --> 00:08:33.360 align:middle line:90% But there's another way. 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:36.059 align:middle line:84% If I sense he's peeking at me, I think 00:08:36.059 --> 00:08:38.039 align:middle line:90% about brands of cigarettes. 00:08:38.039 --> 00:08:40.919 align:middle line:84% I think about a man in a red cape going out 00:08:40.919 --> 00:08:44.340 align:middle line:84% in the middle of the night to worship the blessed sacrament. 00:08:44.340 --> 00:08:48.360 align:middle line:84% I think about hand-rolled tobacco, train whistles, 00:08:48.360 --> 00:08:51.480 align:middle line:84% a farm woman with a basket of pequi fruit, 00:08:51.480 --> 00:08:54.070 align:middle line:90% all aroma and yellow. 00:08:54.070 --> 00:08:57.160 align:middle line:84% Before he knows it, there I am in his lap. 00:08:57.160 --> 00:08:59.680 align:middle line:90% I pull on his white beard. 00:08:59.680 --> 00:09:02.990 align:middle line:84% He throws me the ball of the world. 00:09:02.990 --> 00:09:03.910 align:middle line:90% I throw it back." 00:09:03.910 --> 00:09:10.970 align:middle line:90% 00:09:10.970 --> 00:09:13.220 align:middle line:84% I'm going to read two more poems. 00:09:13.220 --> 00:09:15.710 align:middle line:84% And after each reading of the English, 00:09:15.710 --> 00:09:18.605 align:middle line:84% I'm going to hope the tape works and play Adélia reading 00:09:18.605 --> 00:09:19.550 align:middle line:90% the Portuguese. 00:09:19.550 --> 00:09:23.000 align:middle line:90% 00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:26.740 align:middle line:84% This is called "Successive Deaths." 00:09:26.740 --> 00:09:29.800 align:middle line:84% "When my sister died, I cried a great deal 00:09:29.800 --> 00:09:31.990 align:middle line:90% and was quickly consoled. 00:09:31.990 --> 00:09:35.260 align:middle line:84% There was a new dress and a thicket in the backyard 00:09:35.260 --> 00:09:37.530 align:middle line:90% where I could exist. 00:09:37.530 --> 00:09:41.340 align:middle line:84% When my mother died, I was consoled more slowly. 00:09:41.340 --> 00:09:43.980 align:middle line:90% There was a newfound uneasiness. 00:09:43.980 --> 00:09:49.150 align:middle line:84% My breasts were shaped like two hillocks and I was quite naked. 00:09:49.150 --> 00:09:52.480 align:middle line:84% I crossed my arms over them when I cried. 00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:56.620 align:middle line:84% When my father died, I was never again consoled. 00:09:56.620 --> 00:09:58.990 align:middle line:84% I hunted up old pictures, visited 00:09:58.990 --> 00:10:02.140 align:middle line:84% acquaintances, relatives who would remind me 00:10:02.140 --> 00:10:05.170 align:middle line:84% of how he talked, his way of pursing his lips 00:10:05.170 --> 00:10:07.400 align:middle line:90% and of being certain. 00:10:07.400 --> 00:10:11.120 align:middle line:84% I imitated the way his body curled in his last sleep 00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:15.050 align:middle line:84% and repeated the words he said when I touched his feet. 00:10:15.050 --> 00:10:18.430 align:middle line:90% Never mind, they're all right. 00:10:18.430 --> 00:10:20.600 align:middle line:90% Who will console me? 00:10:20.600 --> 00:10:23.120 align:middle line:84% My breasts fulfilled their promise 00:10:23.120 --> 00:10:26.780 align:middle line:84% and the thicket where I exist is the genuine burning 00:10:26.780 --> 00:10:27.980 align:middle line:90% bush of memory." 00:10:27.980 --> 00:10:39.923 align:middle line:90% 00:10:39.923 --> 00:10:40.590 align:middle line:90% [AUDIO PLAYBACK] 00:10:40.810 --> 00:10:42.726 align:middle line:90% As Mortes Sucessivas. 00:10:43.135 --> 00:10:47.633 align:middle line:84% Quando minha irmã morreu eu chorei muito e me consolei depressa. 00:10:48.202 --> 00:10:52.379 align:middle line:84% Tinha um vestido novo e moitas no quintal aonde eu ia existir. 00:10:53.426 --> 00:10:56.545 align:middle line:84% Quando minha mãe morreu, me consolei mais lento. 00:10:56.836 --> 00:10:59.246 align:middle line:90% Tinha uma perturbação recém-achada: 00:10:59.734 --> 00:11:03.926 align:middle line:84% meus seios conformavam dois montículos e eu fiquei muito nua. 00:11:04.425 --> 00:11:07.265 align:middle line:84% Cruzando os braços sobre eles é que eu chorava. 00:11:08.109 --> 00:11:11.072 align:middle line:84% Quando meu pai morreu, nunca mais me consolei. 00:11:11.432 --> 00:11:14.536 align:middle line:90% Busquei retratos, procurei conhecidos, 00:11:14.536 --> 00:11:17.136 align:middle line:90% parentes, que me lembrassem sua fala, 00:11:17.561 --> 00:11:20.465 align:middle line:84% seu modo de apertar os lábios e ter certeza. 00:11:21.069 --> 00:11:24.860 align:middle line:84% Reproduzi o encolhido do seu corpo em seu último sono 00:11:24.860 --> 00:11:28.684 align:middle line:84% e repeti as palavras que ele disse quando toquei seus pés: 00:11:28.684 --> 00:11:30.353 align:middle line:90% "Deixa, tá bom assim." 00:11:30.691 --> 00:11:33.177 align:middle line:90% Quem me consolará desta lembrança? 00:11:33.696 --> 00:11:35.573 align:middle line:90% Meus seios se cumpriram 00:11:35.782 --> 00:11:40.551 align:middle line:84% e as moitas onde existo são pura sarça ardente de memória. [END PLAYBACK] 00:11:42.518 --> 00:11:45.010 align:middle line:90% 00:11:45.010 --> 00:11:46.638 align:middle line:84% Sorry for the quality of the tape. 00:11:46.638 --> 00:11:47.680 align:middle line:90% There's a little buzzing. 00:11:47.680 --> 00:11:52.420 align:middle line:84% But it was not made, really, to be reproduced. 00:11:52.420 --> 00:11:54.130 align:middle line:84% This is called "Concerted Effort." 00:11:54.130 --> 00:11:58.270 align:middle line:90% 00:11:58.270 --> 00:12:02.390 align:middle line:84% "The flat iron was invented because of eternal life. 00:12:02.390 --> 00:12:04.940 align:middle line:84% Or else, why bother to crease the trousers, 00:12:04.940 --> 00:12:07.280 align:middle line:84% if every ending is worm-eaten wood, 00:12:07.280 --> 00:12:11.220 align:middle line:84% bones so clean there's no need for nausea? 00:12:11.220 --> 00:12:14.790 align:middle line:84% Which is also why many physicians hatch soliloquies, 00:12:14.790 --> 00:12:17.070 align:middle line:84% good governments govern with justice, 00:12:17.070 --> 00:12:19.960 align:middle line:90% and I'm wearing a low-cut dress. 00:12:19.960 --> 00:12:22.900 align:middle line:84% My desire for the handsome young man lives on. 00:12:22.900 --> 00:12:27.640 align:middle line:84% It's written on my fingernails and grows with their roots. 00:12:27.640 --> 00:12:30.820 align:middle line:90% Can a woman have 20 orgasms? 00:12:30.820 --> 00:12:33.190 align:middle line:84% I don't worry about such details. 00:12:33.190 --> 00:12:35.890 align:middle line:90% I want love, superior love. 00:12:35.890 --> 00:12:38.530 align:middle line:84% I can tolerate only seven sorrows. 00:12:38.530 --> 00:12:42.770 align:middle line:84% One more and I go numb playing my guitar. 00:12:42.770 --> 00:12:45.090 align:middle line:90% Cemeteries are holy ground. 00:12:45.090 --> 00:12:47.450 align:middle line:84% That's why they attract me, after I 00:12:47.450 --> 00:12:50.140 align:middle line:90% get over being repelled. 00:12:50.140 --> 00:12:52.810 align:middle line:84% Even if people insist, look, there where 00:12:52.810 --> 00:12:56.590 align:middle line:84% your father was, a splinter of rotting wood, ribbons 00:12:56.590 --> 00:12:58.920 align:middle line:90% of cloth and dust. 00:12:58.920 --> 00:13:00.750 align:middle line:90% He's crossed over, I say. 00:13:00.750 --> 00:13:04.140 align:middle line:84% This silence is a trick, sheer expectation. 00:13:04.140 --> 00:13:08.680 align:middle line:84% It's exactly what hope is when it doesn't rattle. 00:13:08.680 --> 00:13:12.910 align:middle line:84% I know all about the burial, the lapse, the autopsy. 00:13:12.910 --> 00:13:15.790 align:middle line:84% I realize there are drowning victims, chopping 00:13:15.790 --> 00:13:18.670 align:middle line:90% blocks, forged signatures. 00:13:18.670 --> 00:13:22.120 align:middle line:84% But why do you think pendulums swing? 00:13:22.120 --> 00:13:26.260 align:middle line:84% After the grave, the clock goes on ticking. 00:13:26.260 --> 00:13:27.880 align:middle line:90% Someone makes coffee. 00:13:27.880 --> 00:13:30.200 align:middle line:90% Everybody drinks it. 00:13:30.200 --> 00:13:31.760 align:middle line:90% The boy went blind. 00:13:31.760 --> 00:13:35.960 align:middle line:84% His mother went crazy the day after, silly the second. 00:13:35.960 --> 00:13:38.330 align:middle line:84% And by the third, was on the front porch 00:13:38.330 --> 00:13:40.130 align:middle line:84% leafing through a fashion magazine 00:13:40.130 --> 00:13:44.170 align:middle line:84% because she wants a cool dress to scare off the heat. 00:13:44.170 --> 00:13:48.180 align:middle line:84% I had intended to whine, to throw up my arms, tempted 00:13:48.180 --> 00:13:50.610 align:middle line:90% to sin against the Holy Spirit. 00:13:50.610 --> 00:13:52.440 align:middle line:90% But life won't let me. 00:13:52.440 --> 00:13:55.725 align:middle line:84% And what I say ends up brimming with joy." 00:13:55.725 --> 00:14:01.440 align:middle line:90% 00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:03.130 align:middle line:84% Now we've moved into the second book, 00:14:03.130 --> 00:14:06.900 align:middle line:84% which is entitled O Coracao Disparado, 00:14:06.900 --> 00:14:11.280 align:middle line:84% which I sort of loosely translated when I used it 00:14:11.280 --> 00:14:14.760 align:middle line:84% for a title of a bilingual chap book that Livingston University 00:14:14.760 --> 00:14:19.650 align:middle line:84% Press put out previous to this book, as The Headlong Heart, 00:14:19.650 --> 00:14:23.400 align:middle line:84% which I almost wish I had saved for this book because it really 00:14:23.400 --> 00:14:27.630 align:middle line:84% does capture for me a lot about Adélia's headlong-ness and her 00:14:27.630 --> 00:14:28.860 align:middle line:90% very, very large heart. 00:14:28.860 --> 00:14:32.130 align:middle line:90% 00:14:32.130 --> 00:14:37.080 align:middle line:84% This poem is a poem about writer's block and a very large 00:14:37.080 --> 00:14:38.010 align:middle line:90% dry spell. 00:14:38.010 --> 00:14:42.090 align:middle line:84% And one of the wonderful things that happens sometimes, 00:14:42.090 --> 00:14:45.210 align:middle line:84% if you're very lucky, you end up writing a poem about how 00:14:45.210 --> 00:14:48.250 align:middle line:90% you can't write a poem. 00:14:48.250 --> 00:14:52.070 align:middle line:84% It's called "Not Even One Line in December." 00:14:52.070 --> 00:14:55.820 align:middle line:84% "I never want to desire death unless out of holiness, 00:14:55.820 --> 00:14:59.910 align:middle line:84% calling it 'sister,' as Saint Francis did. 00:14:59.910 --> 00:15:03.480 align:middle line:84% Almost the 25th and not one line. 00:15:03.480 --> 00:15:06.720 align:middle line:84% My hips moving back and forth, and me not 00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:09.150 align:middle line:90% trying to contain the wiggle. 00:15:09.150 --> 00:15:11.590 align:middle line:84% I should have walked like this my whole life 00:15:11.590 --> 00:15:14.500 align:middle line:84% if I wanted to conquer the world. 00:15:14.500 --> 00:15:19.600 align:middle line:84% Dusky butterflies, trash, pebbles, soapy water seeping 00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:22.780 align:middle line:84% from the wall, things offer themselves up to me 00:15:22.780 --> 00:15:25.210 align:middle line:90% as I roam the neighborhood. 00:15:25.210 --> 00:15:28.690 align:middle line:84% A little girl watches from her tiled porch, and not 00:15:28.690 --> 00:15:30.760 align:middle line:90% even a line. 00:15:30.760 --> 00:15:35.270 align:middle line:84% My work is important because it's all I have. 00:15:35.270 --> 00:15:38.480 align:middle line:84% In a three-bedroom house with a tired backyard, 00:15:38.480 --> 00:15:42.410 align:middle line:84% the soul keeps moaning, ah, life. 00:15:42.410 --> 00:15:47.420 align:middle line:84% The idea of suicide appears and floats past the TV antenna 00:15:47.420 --> 00:15:51.740 align:middle line:84% but keeps coming back, and not even a line. 00:15:51.740 --> 00:15:54.260 align:middle line:84% I need to confess to a man of God. 00:15:54.260 --> 00:15:55.670 align:middle line:90% I committed gluttony. 00:15:55.670 --> 00:15:58.970 align:middle line:84% I craved the details of other people's frailties. 00:15:58.970 --> 00:16:00.830 align:middle line:84% And, even though I have a husband, 00:16:00.830 --> 00:16:03.350 align:middle line:90% I explored my own body. 00:16:03.350 --> 00:16:07.970 align:middle line:84% Not even one line in December, and I was born for this. 00:16:07.970 --> 00:16:11.060 align:middle line:90% My soul longs to copulate. 00:16:11.060 --> 00:16:13.310 align:middle line:90% The wise men rush past me. 00:16:13.310 --> 00:16:15.140 align:middle line:90% The star is in hiding. 00:16:15.140 --> 00:16:17.375 align:middle line:84% It's raining torrents in Brazil." 00:16:17.375 --> 00:16:19.980 align:middle line:90% 00:16:19.980 --> 00:16:23.490 align:middle line:84% I don't think I ever played the second poem that Adélia was 00:16:23.490 --> 00:16:29.520 align:middle line:84% supposed to read, which was "Concerted Effort," 00:16:29.520 --> 00:16:32.040 align:middle line:84% the one that starts with the flat iron that was invented 00:16:32.040 --> 00:16:35.880 align:middle line:84% for eternal life and ends with "what I say ends up brimming 00:16:35.880 --> 00:16:36.390 align:middle line:90% with joy." 00:16:36.390 --> 00:16:37.530 align:middle line:90% So I'll play that now. 00:16:37.530 --> 00:16:41.120 align:middle line:90% 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:41.787 align:middle line:90% [AUDIO PLAYBACK] 00:16:42.016 --> 00:16:43.536 align:middle line:90% O Alfabeto no Parque. 00:16:43.536 --> 00:16:46.000 align:middle line:90% Eu sei escrever. Escrevo... 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:47.000 align:middle line:90% [END PLAYBACK] 00:16:47.140 --> 00:16:49.500 align:middle line:90% I did play it? 00:16:49.000 --> 00:16:52.750 align:middle line:90% 00:16:52.750 --> 00:16:56.380 align:middle line:84% I didn't read "The Alphabet in the Park" is what happened. 00:16:56.380 --> 00:16:59.448 align:middle line:84% Excuse me, I can't read my own notes. 00:16:59.448 --> 00:17:01.240 align:middle line:84% I will now read "The Alphabet in the Park," 00:17:01.240 --> 00:17:05.740 align:middle line:84% and then Adélia will read "The Alphabet in the Park." 00:17:05.740 --> 00:17:07.240 align:middle line:90% "I know how to write. 00:17:07.240 --> 00:17:11.500 align:middle line:84% I write letters, shopping lists, school compositions 00:17:11.500 --> 00:17:13.720 align:middle line:84% about the lovely walk to grandmother's farm 00:17:13.720 --> 00:17:17.410 align:middle line:84% which never existed because she was poor as Job. 00:17:17.410 --> 00:17:20.290 align:middle line:84% But I write inexplicable things too. 00:17:20.290 --> 00:17:21.790 align:middle line:90% I want to be happy. 00:17:21.790 --> 00:17:23.170 align:middle line:90% That's yellow. 00:17:23.170 --> 00:17:24.430 align:middle line:90% And I'm not. 00:17:24.430 --> 00:17:26.170 align:middle line:90% That's pain. 00:17:26.170 --> 00:17:29.350 align:middle line:84% Get away from me, sadness, stammering bell, 00:17:29.350 --> 00:17:33.980 align:middle line:84% people saying between sobs, I can't take it anymore. 00:17:33.980 --> 00:17:37.450 align:middle line:84% I live on something called the terrestrial globe, where 00:17:37.450 --> 00:17:40.270 align:middle line:84% we cry more than the volume of waters called 00:17:40.270 --> 00:17:43.450 align:middle line:84% the sea, which is where each river carries 00:17:43.450 --> 00:17:45.530 align:middle line:90% its batch of tears. 00:17:45.530 --> 00:17:49.300 align:middle line:84% People go hungry here, hate each other. 00:17:49.300 --> 00:17:51.460 align:middle line:84% People are happy here, surrounded 00:17:51.460 --> 00:17:54.250 align:middle line:90% by miraculous inventions. 00:17:54.250 --> 00:17:58.270 align:middle line:84% Imagine a certain Ferris wheel whose ride makes you dizzy, 00:17:58.270 --> 00:18:01.510 align:middle line:84% lights, music, lovers in ecstasy. 00:18:01.510 --> 00:18:02.770 align:middle line:90% It's terrific. 00:18:02.770 --> 00:18:06.250 align:middle line:84% On one side the boys, on the other the girls. 00:18:06.250 --> 00:18:08.560 align:middle line:84% Me, crazy to get married and sleep 00:18:08.560 --> 00:18:11.710 align:middle line:84% with my husband in our little bedroom in an old house 00:18:11.710 --> 00:18:13.750 align:middle line:90% with a wood floor. 00:18:13.750 --> 00:18:15.880 align:middle line:84% There's no way not to think about death 00:18:15.880 --> 00:18:20.260 align:middle line:84% among so much deliciousness and want to be eternal. 00:18:20.260 --> 00:18:24.050 align:middle line:84% I'm happy and I'm sad, half and half. 00:18:24.050 --> 00:18:26.500 align:middle line:84% You take everything too seriously, said mother. 00:18:26.500 --> 00:18:27.530 align:middle line:90% Go for a walk. 00:18:27.530 --> 00:18:28.510 align:middle line:90% Enjoy yourself. 00:18:28.510 --> 00:18:30.510 align:middle line:90% Take in a movie. 00:18:30.510 --> 00:18:33.210 align:middle line:84% Mother doesn't realize that movies are like grandfather 00:18:33.210 --> 00:18:35.610 align:middle line:90% said, just people going by. 00:18:35.610 --> 00:18:38.880 align:middle line:84% If you've seen one, you've seen them all. 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:42.780 align:middle line:84% Excuse the expression, but I want to fall in life. 00:18:42.780 --> 00:18:46.620 align:middle line:84% I want to stay in the park, the singer's voice sweetening 00:18:46.620 --> 00:18:48.070 align:middle line:90% the afternoon. 00:18:48.070 --> 00:18:50.760 align:middle line:90% So I write afternoon. 00:18:50.760 --> 00:18:54.423 align:middle line:90% Not the word, the thing." 00:18:54.423 --> 00:18:55.090 align:middle line:90% [AUDIO PLAYBACK] 00:18:55.241 --> 00:18:58.131 align:middle line:90% -- cartas, bilhetes, lista de compras, 00:18:58.524 --> 00:19:01.165 align:middle line:84% composição escolar narrando o belo passeio 00:19:01.165 --> 00:19:05.029 align:middle line:84% à fazenda de vovó que nunca existiu porque ela era pobre como Jó. 00:19:05.677 --> 00:19:11.671 align:middle line:84% Mas escrevo também coisas inexplicáveis: quero ser feliz, isto é amarelo. 00:19:12.139 --> 00:19:14.962 align:middle line:90% E não consigo, isto é dor. 00:19:15.817 --> 00:19:18.795 align:middle line:90% Vai-te de mim, tristeza, sino gago, 00:19:18.949 --> 00:19:22.950 align:middle line:84% pessoas dizendo entre soluços: "Não aguento mais." 00:19:23.399 --> 00:19:26.567 align:middle line:84% Moro num lugar chamado globo terrestre onde se chora mais 00:19:26.567 --> 00:19:29.358 align:middle line:84% que o volume das águas denominadas mar, 00:19:29.939 --> 00:19:32.965 align:middle line:84% para onde levam os rios outro tanto de lágrimas. 00:19:32.965 --> 00:19:36.249 align:middle line:90% Aqui se passa fome. Aqui se odeia. 00:19:36.680 --> 00:19:40.883 align:middle line:84% Aqui se é feliz, no meio de invenções miraculosas. 00:19:41.228 --> 00:19:43.922 align:middle line:90% Imagine que uma dita roda-gigante 00:19:43.922 --> 00:19:50.857 align:middle line:84% propicia passeios e vertigens entre luzes, música, namorados em êxtase. 00:19:51.418 --> 00:19:54.999 align:middle line:84% Como é bom! De um lado os rapazes, do outro lado as moças, 00:19:54.999 --> 00:19:57.692 align:middle line:84% eu louca pra casar e dormir com meu marido 00:19:57.692 --> 00:20:01.176 align:middle line:84% no quartinho de uma casa antiga com soalho de tábua. 00:20:02.113 --> 00:20:07.554 align:middle line:84% Não há como não pensar na morte, entre tantas delícias, querer ser eterno. 00:20:07.789 --> 00:20:10.540 align:middle line:90% Sou alegre e sou triste, meio a meio. 00:20:10.941 --> 00:20:16.075 align:middle line:84% Levas tudo a peito, diz minha mãe, dá uma volta, distrai-te, vai ao cinema. 00:20:16.636 --> 00:20:19.580 align:middle line:84% A mãe não sabe, cinema é como dizia o avô: 00:20:19.580 --> 00:20:23.091 align:middle line:84% "Cinema é gente passando. Viu uma vez, viu todas." 00:20:23.828 --> 00:20:26.296 align:middle line:84% Com perdão da palavra, quero cair na vida. 00:20:26.493 --> 00:20:31.046 align:middle line:84% Quero ficar no parque, a voz do cantor açucarando a tarde… 00:20:31.216 --> 00:20:36.203 align:middle line:84% Assim escrevo: tarde. Não a palavra. A coisa. 00:20:36.775 --> 00:20:38.000 align:middle line:90% [END PLAYBACK] 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:43.880 align:middle line:90% 00:20:43.880 --> 00:20:47.650 align:middle line:90% "A Man Inhabited a House" 00:20:47.650 --> 00:20:52.090 align:middle line:84% Death's charm, its disastrous spell, is due to life, 00:20:52.090 --> 00:20:55.120 align:middle line:84% because heaven is to the west of my father's house, 00:20:55.120 --> 00:20:59.860 align:middle line:84% where reside all the riches of the world and my soul. 00:20:59.860 --> 00:21:01.840 align:middle line:84% There's a corner of the room where 00:21:01.840 --> 00:21:05.140 align:middle line:84% I go to eat secretly, plate in hand, 00:21:05.140 --> 00:21:08.920 align:middle line:84% from whence I see Jerusalem, its sparkling domes, 00:21:08.920 --> 00:21:11.770 align:middle line:90% the rows of Jericho in bloom. 00:21:11.770 --> 00:21:15.700 align:middle line:84% From that perspective, grave diseases look tame, 00:21:15.700 --> 00:21:18.250 align:middle line:84% my cousin and her five bastard children 00:21:18.250 --> 00:21:23.950 align:middle line:84% innocent, gun shots, alcohol, carelessness, 00:21:23.950 --> 00:21:28.900 align:middle line:84% even fear settle in a cup of tea and sink to the bottom, 00:21:28.900 --> 00:21:34.560 align:middle line:84% thick with compassion and sugar, indefatigable patience. 00:21:34.560 --> 00:21:37.500 align:middle line:84% The bruised medicinal herbs add an aroma 00:21:37.500 --> 00:21:41.520 align:middle line:84% to the holiness of the struggle to repeat oh, god, yes. 00:21:41.520 --> 00:21:43.530 align:middle line:90% Yes, my body is weak. 00:21:43.530 --> 00:21:47.460 align:middle line:84% Yes, I miss my bicycle, the way I would dash off 00:21:47.460 --> 00:21:50.550 align:middle line:84% into the street, flaunting my invincible dominion 00:21:50.550 --> 00:21:52.590 align:middle line:90% over gullies and stones. 00:21:52.590 --> 00:21:55.470 align:middle line:90% Yes, youth affects me this much. 00:21:55.470 --> 00:21:57.870 align:middle line:84% Yes, and my weariness, which is nothing 00:21:57.870 --> 00:22:00.480 align:middle line:84% at all compared to what you suffered for me, 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:02.700 align:middle line:90% oh father on the cross. 00:22:02.700 --> 00:22:05.320 align:middle line:90% Does the body feel pain? 00:22:05.320 --> 00:22:07.060 align:middle line:90% This is what I ate. 00:22:07.060 --> 00:22:11.230 align:middle line:84% Plain rice, beans, and raw onion. 00:22:11.230 --> 00:22:13.900 align:middle line:84% But the plate had a painted border. 00:22:13.900 --> 00:22:17.620 align:middle line:84% The spoon was tarnishing, but there were forget-me-nots 00:22:17.620 --> 00:22:19.720 align:middle line:90% engraved on the handle. 00:22:19.720 --> 00:22:22.060 align:middle line:90% The body experiences joy. 00:22:22.060 --> 00:22:28.360 align:middle line:84% The tongue eats it, bright, hot, unquestionable as suns. 00:22:28.360 --> 00:22:30.130 align:middle line:90% Do we die? 00:22:30.130 --> 00:22:32.260 align:middle line:84% I understand mathematics better." 00:22:32.260 --> 00:22:36.850 align:middle line:90% 00:22:36.850 --> 00:22:41.110 align:middle line:84% Adélia is a wonderful person of appetite for lots and lots 00:22:41.110 --> 00:22:41.810 align:middle line:90% of things. 00:22:41.810 --> 00:22:43.870 align:middle line:84% And one of the things I think maybe 00:22:43.870 --> 00:22:46.030 align:middle line:84% that I start the introduction in this book 00:22:46.030 --> 00:22:49.970 align:middle line:84% was my first moment of meeting her. 00:22:49.970 --> 00:22:51.820 align:middle line:84% I had gotten a grant to go to Brazil 00:22:51.820 --> 00:22:54.400 align:middle line:84% and bring my collected versions of her poems 00:22:54.400 --> 00:22:56.260 align:middle line:90% and talk to her about them. 00:22:56.260 --> 00:23:01.180 align:middle line:84% And I flew to Belo Horizonte and took a bus to Divínopolis, 00:23:01.180 --> 00:23:04.240 align:middle line:84% where she lives, and took a cab to her house. 00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:08.590 align:middle line:84% And I was tired and dusty and exhausted, and nervous as hell. 00:23:08.590 --> 00:23:11.650 align:middle line:90% And she opened the door. 00:23:11.650 --> 00:23:14.350 align:middle line:84% And in my total nervousness, I walked in and said, 00:23:14.350 --> 00:23:17.380 align:middle line:90% I'm starving. 00:23:17.380 --> 00:23:21.070 align:middle line:84% And as soon as it was out of my mouth, I was totally mortified. 00:23:21.070 --> 00:23:22.750 align:middle line:84% And I couldn't believe I had just 00:23:22.750 --> 00:23:26.050 align:middle line:84% met this person I had wanted to meet for five years. 00:23:26.050 --> 00:23:28.750 align:middle line:84% And it was the best thing I could possibly have done. 00:23:28.750 --> 00:23:30.550 align:middle line:90% She said, come on in! 00:23:30.550 --> 00:23:34.300 align:middle line:84% And there was always beans and rice in the oven to put on top 00:23:34.300 --> 00:23:34.870 align:middle line:90% and heat up. 00:23:34.870 --> 00:23:37.870 align:middle line:84% And she said, the only other gringa I ever met 00:23:37.870 --> 00:23:40.990 align:middle line:84% was taking Pepto-Bismol all the time 00:23:40.990 --> 00:23:42.890 align:middle line:84% and wouldn't eat any Brazilian food. 00:23:42.890 --> 00:23:44.980 align:middle line:84% And I sat down and ate a humongous plate 00:23:44.980 --> 00:23:45.730 align:middle line:90% of rice and beans. 00:23:45.730 --> 00:23:48.550 align:middle line:84% And she said, I know we're going to get along just fine. 00:23:48.550 --> 00:23:56.640 align:middle line:90% 00:23:56.640 --> 00:23:58.830 align:middle line:90% This is called "Neighborhood." 00:23:58.830 --> 00:24:02.160 align:middle line:84% There's a little food in here too. 00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:04.140 align:middle line:90% "Neighborhood." 00:24:04.140 --> 00:24:06.000 align:middle line:84% "The young man has finished his lunch 00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:08.910 align:middle line:84% and is picking his teeth behind his hand. 00:24:08.910 --> 00:24:12.540 align:middle line:84% The bird scratches in the cage, showering him with canary seed 00:24:12.540 --> 00:24:14.930 align:middle line:90% and bird droppings. 00:24:14.930 --> 00:24:18.140 align:middle line:84% I consider picking one's teeth unsightly. 00:24:18.140 --> 00:24:21.440 align:middle line:84% He only went to primary school and his bad grammar grates 00:24:21.440 --> 00:24:22.490 align:middle line:90% on me. 00:24:22.490 --> 00:24:26.450 align:middle line:84% But he's got a man's rump so seductive I fall desperately 00:24:26.450 --> 00:24:28.340 align:middle line:90% in love with him. 00:24:28.340 --> 00:24:31.160 align:middle line:84% Young men like him like to wolf their food. 00:24:31.160 --> 00:24:33.290 align:middle line:84% Beef and rice, a slice of tomato, 00:24:33.290 --> 00:24:35.930 align:middle line:84% and off to the movies with that face of invincible 00:24:35.930 --> 00:24:38.540 align:middle line:90% weakness for capital sins. 00:24:38.540 --> 00:24:42.410 align:middle line:84% I feel so intimate, simple, so touchable 00:24:42.410 --> 00:24:46.250 align:middle line:84% because of love, a slow samba, because of the fact 00:24:46.250 --> 00:24:48.860 align:middle line:84% that we're going to die and a refrigerator 00:24:48.860 --> 00:24:50.600 align:middle line:90% is a wonderful thing. 00:24:50.600 --> 00:24:53.240 align:middle line:84% And the crucifix his mother gave him, 00:24:53.240 --> 00:24:56.660 align:middle line:84% its gold chain against that frail chest, 00:24:56.660 --> 00:24:59.510 align:middle line:84% he scrapes at his teeth with the toothpick. 00:24:59.510 --> 00:25:01.805 align:middle line:84% He scrapes at my strumpet heart." 00:25:01.805 --> 00:25:07.600 align:middle line:90% 00:25:07.600 --> 00:25:16.150 align:middle line:84% Now I'll break from the poems that are in this collection 00:25:16.150 --> 00:25:19.000 align:middle line:84% and read just a little sampling, just three poems 00:25:19.000 --> 00:25:24.440 align:middle line:84% from books that came out after I compiled the selection. 00:25:24.440 --> 00:25:27.860 align:middle line:84% This is from a book called O Pelicano, The Pelican. 00:25:27.860 --> 00:25:29.860 align:middle line:84% And it's called "The Transcription of the Body." 00:25:29.860 --> 00:25:32.710 align:middle line:90% 00:25:32.710 --> 00:25:35.440 align:middle line:84% "I was in love with love and waited for it 00:25:35.440 --> 00:25:38.620 align:middle line:84% under the trees, a virgin among the lilies. 00:25:38.620 --> 00:25:40.630 align:middle line:90% I held fast. 00:25:40.630 --> 00:25:44.170 align:middle line:84% Now I see it was a dubious fire I endured, 00:25:44.170 --> 00:25:48.310 align:middle line:84% the same one endured by the tough women who came before me. 00:25:48.310 --> 00:25:51.610 align:middle line:84% And it wasn't demons who placed a halo over my head 00:25:51.610 --> 00:25:55.480 align:middle line:84% and infuriated my mother, my mother long dead, 00:25:55.480 --> 00:25:59.620 align:middle line:84% my poor mother, her wedding dress a shroud. 00:25:59.620 --> 00:26:02.290 align:middle line:84% And it wasn't necessary to be so pale. 00:26:02.290 --> 00:26:05.560 align:middle line:84% And it didn't save her to be so temperate. 00:26:05.560 --> 00:26:10.090 align:middle line:84% It was all a mistake, ash hawked as treasure. 00:26:10.090 --> 00:26:12.940 align:middle line:90% What was in the box was nothing. 00:26:12.940 --> 00:26:17.320 align:middle line:84% The soul, yes, was murky and no one could see it." 00:26:17.320 --> 00:26:20.520 align:middle line:90% 00:26:20.520 --> 00:26:24.630 align:middle line:84% "Forms," this is from a book called A Faca no Peito, 00:26:24.630 --> 00:26:29.160 align:middle line:84% Knife in the Breast, or Knife in the Chest. 00:26:29.160 --> 00:26:31.600 align:middle line:84% "There's only one way to say to someone, 00:26:31.600 --> 00:26:34.290 align:middle line:90% I can't get you out of my head. 00:26:34.290 --> 00:26:37.170 align:middle line:84% The cello string vibrates all by itself 00:26:37.170 --> 00:26:38.820 align:middle line:90% beneath an invisible bow. 00:26:38.820 --> 00:26:43.480 align:middle line:84% And sins disappear like mice caught in the act. 00:26:43.480 --> 00:26:45.700 align:middle line:84% My heart is astounding because it 00:26:45.700 --> 00:26:50.290 align:middle line:84% beats and is filled with blood and is going to stop someday. 00:26:50.290 --> 00:26:52.210 align:middle line:84% And because it becomes a pathetic 00:26:52.210 --> 00:26:57.670 align:middle line:84% drum when you whisper in my ear, I can't get you out of my head. 00:26:57.670 --> 00:27:01.600 align:middle line:84% Splotches of light on the wall, a small vase with three 00:27:01.600 --> 00:27:05.770 align:middle line:84% plastic roses, everything in the world is perfect, 00:27:05.770 --> 00:27:07.090 align:middle line:90% and death is love." 00:27:07.090 --> 00:27:12.820 align:middle line:90% 00:27:12.820 --> 00:27:15.970 align:middle line:84% And the last one of this group, also from A Faca no Peito 00:27:15.970 --> 00:27:18.745 align:middle line:84% is called "The Tenacious Devil Who Doesn't Exist." 00:27:18.745 --> 00:27:22.850 align:middle line:90% 00:27:22.850 --> 00:27:26.720 align:middle line:84% "God's glory is greater than this plane in the sky. 00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:30.410 align:middle line:84% And his love, which is where my fear comes from, 00:27:30.410 --> 00:27:34.640 align:middle line:84% that sea of delights where airplanes crash and ships are 00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:37.260 align:middle line:90% wrecked, oh, I know so well. 00:27:37.260 --> 00:27:39.410 align:middle line:84% And I also know what a disastrous thing it 00:27:39.410 --> 00:27:45.910 align:middle line:84% is to be the body of time, to exist, the intermittent terror. 00:27:45.910 --> 00:27:50.710 align:middle line:84% Jonathan, if death is love, then why, if I'm so sure, 00:27:50.710 --> 00:27:52.990 align:middle line:90% am I still afraid? 00:27:52.990 --> 00:27:56.730 align:middle line:84% How can a fish be happy when I'm not? 00:27:56.730 --> 00:28:00.150 align:middle line:84% Strange, this business of being human. 00:28:00.150 --> 00:28:03.540 align:middle line:84% I opened the door one evening and there was a toad, 00:28:03.540 --> 00:28:06.900 align:middle line:84% with his throbbing gullet, a gentle toad. 00:28:06.900 --> 00:28:11.280 align:middle line:84% And I thought, it's Jonathan in disguise, come to visit me. 00:28:11.280 --> 00:28:13.470 align:middle line:84% Even so, I shooed him away with a broom 00:28:13.470 --> 00:28:16.570 align:middle line:90% and went to watch television. 00:28:16.570 --> 00:28:19.590 align:middle line:84% I want to be holy like Agnes, who flies on the wings 00:28:19.590 --> 00:28:23.910 align:middle line:84% of beetles, singing to soothe me with her little girl's voice, 00:28:23.910 --> 00:28:26.340 align:middle line:84% 'Cast off the chains around your neck, 00:28:26.340 --> 00:28:29.340 align:middle line:90% oh captive daughter of Zion.' 00:28:29.340 --> 00:28:33.420 align:middle line:84% Airplanes are scary because God is in them. 00:28:33.420 --> 00:28:36.540 align:middle line:84% Embrace me, God, with your flesh and blood arm. 00:28:36.540 --> 00:28:39.390 align:middle line:84% Sing with your mouth to keep me innocent." 00:28:39.390 --> 00:28:47.800 align:middle line:90% 00:28:47.800 --> 00:28:51.110 align:middle line:84% Finally, some poems from the third book represented here, 00:28:51.110 --> 00:28:53.890 align:middle line:84% which is called "Terra de Santa Cruz," which 00:28:53.890 --> 00:28:55.630 align:middle line:84% is "The Land of the Holy Cross," which 00:28:55.630 --> 00:28:59.280 align:middle line:84% was an early name for the country of Brazil. 00:28:59.280 --> 00:29:01.350 align:middle line:84% And if I can get it straight, I'm 00:29:01.350 --> 00:29:05.920 align:middle line:84% going to do these two bilingually. 00:29:05.920 --> 00:29:10.060 align:middle line:84% The first one is called "Legend with the Word 'Map.'" And it 00:29:10.060 --> 00:29:14.290 align:middle line:84% has a sort of a story that really tickles Adélia. 00:29:14.290 --> 00:29:16.603 align:middle line:90% I think this was in a-- 00:29:16.603 --> 00:29:18.520 align:middle line:84% it came out in English in a literary magazine. 00:29:18.520 --> 00:29:20.260 align:middle line:90% I think it was APR. 00:29:20.260 --> 00:29:24.530 align:middle line:84% And a letter came to APR to Adélia and was forwarded-- 00:29:24.530 --> 00:29:26.780 align:middle line:84% without my knowledge because it was addressed to her-- 00:29:26.780 --> 00:29:28.660 align:middle line:90% was forwarded to Brazil. 00:29:28.660 --> 00:29:32.810 align:middle line:84% And she got this letter from an unknown fan in the United 00:29:32.810 --> 00:29:34.373 align:middle line:90% States, which was in English. 00:29:34.373 --> 00:29:36.040 align:middle line:84% And she had to look all over Divinopolis 00:29:36.040 --> 00:29:37.900 align:middle line:84% to find someone who could translate it for her. 00:29:37.900 --> 00:29:38.900 align:middle line:90% And she had this letter. 00:29:38.900 --> 00:29:40.570 align:middle line:84% She wanted to know what was in it 00:29:40.570 --> 00:29:44.710 align:middle line:84% And it was from this guy who was a map freak. 00:29:44.710 --> 00:29:47.740 align:middle line:84% And he wrote this incredible letter about how astounded 00:29:47.740 --> 00:29:50.230 align:middle line:84% he was to find that there was someone way down in Brazil 00:29:50.230 --> 00:29:54.010 align:middle line:84% writing a poem about how she felt about maps. 00:29:54.010 --> 00:29:56.260 align:middle line:84% And Adélia was so incredibly thrilled with this that 00:29:56.260 --> 00:29:58.840 align:middle line:84% everywhere we went in the US, this had to be on the list 00:29:58.840 --> 00:30:01.180 align:middle line:90% of the poems that we would read. 00:30:01.180 --> 00:30:01.930 align:middle line:90% I do like it. 00:30:01.930 --> 00:30:04.360 align:middle line:90% It was particularly fun for her. 00:30:04.360 --> 00:30:07.140 align:middle line:84% It's called "Legend with the Word Map." 00:30:07.140 --> 00:30:12.750 align:middle line:84% "Thebes, Midian, Mount Horeb, Sphinx-like names. 00:30:12.750 --> 00:30:17.580 align:middle line:84% Idumea, Ephraim, Gilead, stories that don't 00:30:17.580 --> 00:30:20.670 align:middle line:90% demand my undivided attention. 00:30:20.670 --> 00:30:24.450 align:middle line:84% Maps relax me, the deserts more than the oceans 00:30:24.450 --> 00:30:27.480 align:middle line:84% I don't dive into because, even on maps, they're 00:30:27.480 --> 00:30:31.200 align:middle line:90% deep, voracious, untamed. 00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:34.050 align:middle line:90% How can we conceive of a map? 00:30:34.050 --> 00:30:36.780 align:middle line:84% Here rivers, here mountains, ridges, 00:30:36.780 --> 00:30:41.090 align:middle line:84% gulfs, or woodlands as scary as the sea. 00:30:41.090 --> 00:30:43.610 align:middle line:84% The legends of maps are so beautiful they 00:30:43.610 --> 00:30:45.950 align:middle line:90% make travel superfluous. 00:30:45.950 --> 00:30:47.480 align:middle line:90% You're crazy, they tell me. 00:30:47.480 --> 00:30:49.490 align:middle line:90% A map is a map. 00:30:49.490 --> 00:30:51.350 align:middle line:90% I'm not, I reply. 00:30:51.350 --> 00:30:55.280 align:middle line:84% A map is the certainty that the place exists. 00:30:55.280 --> 00:30:59.270 align:middle line:90% Maps contain blood and treasure. 00:30:59.270 --> 00:31:02.915 align:middle line:84% God talks to us in the map, in his geographic voice." 00:31:05.218 --> 00:31:09.938 align:middle line:90% [AUDIO PLAYBACK] 00:31:10.479 --> 00:31:13.424 align:middle line:90% ... se chama "Legenda com a Palavra Mapa". 00:31:14.542 --> 00:31:19.050 align:middle line:84% Tebas, Madian, Monte Hor, esfingéticos nomes. 00:31:19.743 --> 00:31:24.706 align:middle line:84% Iduméia, Efraim, Gilead, histórias que dispensam meu concurso. 00:31:25.291 --> 00:31:27.041 align:middle line:90% Os mapas me descansam, 00:31:27.830 --> 00:31:30.547 align:middle line:84% mais em seus desertos que em seus mares, 00:31:30.547 --> 00:31:35.195 align:middle line:84% onde não mergulho porque mesmo nos mapas são profundos, 00:31:35.195 --> 00:31:38.603 align:middle line:90% voraginosos, indomesticáveis. 00:31:39.086 --> 00:31:41.806 align:middle line:90% Como pode o homem conceber o mapa? 00:31:41.806 --> 00:31:48.212 align:middle line:84% Aqui rios, aqui montanhas, cordilheiras, golfos, aqui florestas, 00:31:48.212 --> 00:31:50.561 align:middle line:90% tão assustadoras quanto os mares. 00:31:50.917 --> 00:31:55.436 align:middle line:84% As legendas dos mapas são tão belas que dispensam as viagens. 00:31:56.164 --> 00:31:59.858 align:middle line:84% Você está louca, dizem-me, um mapa é um mapa. 00:31:59.858 --> 00:32:01.894 align:middle line:90% Não estou, respondo. 00:32:01.894 --> 00:32:05.534 align:middle line:84% O mapa é a certeza de que existe o lugar, 00:32:05.883 --> 00:32:08.790 align:middle line:90% o mapa guarda sangue e tesouros. 00:32:08.963 --> 00:32:13.016 align:middle line:84% Deus nos fala no mapa com sua voz geógrafa. 00:32:13.938 --> 00:32:14.890 align:middle line:90% [END PLAYBACK] 00:32:14.890 --> 00:32:18.700 align:middle line:90% 00:32:18.700 --> 00:32:21.640 align:middle line:84% And this is the title poem of that volume, 00:32:21.640 --> 00:32:25.080 align:middle line:90% "The Land of the Holy Cross." 00:32:25.080 --> 00:32:27.270 align:middle line:84% "At my golden wedding anniversary, 00:32:27.270 --> 00:32:31.110 align:middle line:84% greedy as the grandchildren, I'm going to eat sweets. 00:32:31.110 --> 00:32:33.810 align:middle line:84% I will not look serene, like portraits 00:32:33.810 --> 00:32:36.720 align:middle line:84% of women who ate and spoke little 00:32:36.720 --> 00:32:39.180 align:middle line:84% because the monk killed himself in the thicket 00:32:39.180 --> 00:32:41.280 align:middle line:90% outside the abbey. 00:32:41.280 --> 00:32:44.910 align:middle line:84% It's been said before, there will be no consolation. 00:32:44.910 --> 00:32:51.300 align:middle line:84% And there was, music, poetry, strolls. 00:32:51.300 --> 00:32:53.310 align:middle line:84% Love has rhythms which are not those 00:32:53.310 --> 00:32:59.020 align:middle line:84% of sadness, the shape of waves, impulse, running water. 00:32:59.020 --> 00:33:02.620 align:middle line:84% Well then, what do I say to the man, to the train, 00:33:02.620 --> 00:33:04.630 align:middle line:84% to the little boy waiting for me, 00:33:04.630 --> 00:33:08.070 align:middle line:84% to the myrtle tree blooming out of season? 00:33:08.070 --> 00:33:12.130 align:middle line:84% Contemplating the impossible makes you crazy. 00:33:12.130 --> 00:33:15.300 align:middle line:84% I'm a lowly tapeworm in God's intestine. 00:33:15.300 --> 00:33:16.590 align:middle line:90% Well then. 00:33:16.590 --> 00:33:18.150 align:middle line:90% Well then. 00:33:18.150 --> 00:33:19.680 align:middle line:90% Well then? 00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:23.730 align:middle line:84% Where were the custodian, the steward, the gatekeeper? 00:33:23.730 --> 00:33:25.800 align:middle line:84% Where was the rest of the brotherhood 00:33:25.800 --> 00:33:28.350 align:middle line:84% when you went out, unlucky Brazilian boy, 00:33:28.350 --> 00:33:30.510 align:middle line:90% to meet that tree? 00:33:30.510 --> 00:33:32.610 align:middle line:90% I am my own enemy. 00:33:32.610 --> 00:33:36.300 align:middle line:84% Torturers go crazy in the end, eat excrement, 00:33:36.300 --> 00:33:39.210 align:middle line:90% hate their own obscene gestures. 00:33:39.210 --> 00:33:42.210 align:middle line:90% Unjust regimes fester. 00:33:42.210 --> 00:33:45.570 align:middle line:84% While you were walking around in circles, divided soul, 00:33:45.570 --> 00:33:50.280 align:middle line:84% what was she doing, saint and sinner, our mother church? 00:33:50.280 --> 00:33:54.540 align:middle line:84% Promoting bingo, blessing new buildings, naturally. 00:33:54.540 --> 00:33:57.090 align:middle line:90% But still, she produced you. 00:33:57.090 --> 00:34:00.210 align:middle line:84% No one dares deny it, you and other saints 00:34:00.210 --> 00:34:03.510 align:middle line:90% who leave behind marked Bibles. 00:34:03.510 --> 00:34:06.750 align:middle line:84% We carry within us our own death sentence. 00:34:06.750 --> 00:34:08.790 align:middle line:90% Love one another. 00:34:08.790 --> 00:34:11.489 align:middle line:84% He who said whosoever believeth in me 00:34:11.489 --> 00:34:15.989 align:middle line:84% shall have everlasting life, he too swung from a piece of wood 00:34:15.989 --> 00:34:18.449 align:middle line:90% like a fruit of scorn. 00:34:18.449 --> 00:34:22.980 align:middle line:84% Nothing, nothing that is human is grand. 00:34:22.980 --> 00:34:26.070 align:middle line:84% A little girl interrupts, pounding at the door, 00:34:26.070 --> 00:34:28.320 align:middle line:90% asking for vine cuttings. 00:34:28.320 --> 00:34:30.840 align:middle line:90% My hair stands on end. 00:34:30.840 --> 00:34:34.469 align:middle line:84% Like a torturer, I yank out the cutting, the eyes, 00:34:34.469 --> 00:34:36.420 align:middle line:90% the entrails of the intruder. 00:34:36.420 --> 00:34:40.560 align:middle line:84% And no better than Job, I repent my nonsense. 00:34:40.560 --> 00:34:45.179 align:middle line:84% There's always someone to ask Judas which tree is best. 00:34:45.179 --> 00:34:50.760 align:middle line:84% Lucid mad men, mad saints, those to whom more was given, 00:34:50.760 --> 00:34:56.489 align:middle line:84% the almost sublime ones, my biggest grandeur is to ask, 00:34:56.489 --> 00:34:59.700 align:middle line:90% will there be consolation? 00:34:59.700 --> 00:35:01.650 align:middle line:90% These would fit in a thimble. 00:35:01.650 --> 00:35:05.190 align:middle line:84% My faith, my life, and my greatest fear, 00:35:05.190 --> 00:35:07.920 align:middle line:90% which is traveling by bus. 00:35:07.920 --> 00:35:12.180 align:middle line:84% Temptation tests me and almost makes me happy. 00:35:12.180 --> 00:35:14.760 align:middle line:84% It's good to ask help of our Lord 00:35:14.760 --> 00:35:18.720 align:middle line:84% God of the army, our God who is a big mother hen. 00:35:18.720 --> 00:35:22.320 align:middle line:84% He tucks us under his wing and warms us. 00:35:22.320 --> 00:35:25.570 align:middle line:84% But first, he leaves us helpless in the rain 00:35:25.570 --> 00:35:29.340 align:middle line:84% so we'll learn to trust in him and not in ourselves." 00:35:29.340 --> 00:35:34.893 align:middle line:90% 00:35:34.893 --> 00:35:35.560 align:middle line:90% [AUDIO PLAYBACK] 00:35:35.560 --> 00:35:36.954 align:middle line:90% Terra de Santa Cruz. 00:35:37.602 --> 00:35:42.566 align:middle line:84% Nas minhas bodas de ouro, esganada como os netos, vou comer os doces. 00:35:43.050 --> 00:35:47.616 align:middle line:84% Não terei a serenidade dos retratos de mulheres que pouco falaram ou comeram. 00:35:47.942 --> 00:35:51.884 align:middle line:84% Porque o frade se matou no pequeno bosque fora do seu convento. 00:35:52.406 --> 00:35:55.782 align:middle line:84% De outras vezes já disse: não haverá consolo. 00:35:55.782 --> 00:35:59.501 align:middle line:90% E houve: música, poema, passeatas. 00:35:59.945 --> 00:36:06.787 align:middle line:84% O amor tem ritmos que não são de tristeza: forma de ondas, ímpeto, água corrente. 00:36:07.058 --> 00:36:12.249 align:middle line:84% E agora? Que digo ao homem, ao trem, ao menino que me espera, 00:36:12.643 --> 00:36:15.095 align:middle line:90% à jabuticabeira em flores, temporã? 00:36:15.660 --> 00:36:18.275 align:middle line:90% Contemplar o impossível enlouquece. 00:36:18.275 --> 00:36:23.611 align:middle line:84% Sou uma tênia no epigastro de Deus: E agora? E agora? E agora? 00:36:23.974 --> 00:36:27.535 align:middle line:84% Onde estavam o guardião, o ecônomo, o porteiro, 00:36:27.535 --> 00:36:32.502 align:middle line:84% a fraternidade onde estava quando saíste, ó desgraçado moço da minha pátria, 00:36:32.502 --> 00:36:34.366 align:middle line:90% ao encontro desta árvore? 00:36:34.584 --> 00:36:36.452 align:middle line:90% Meu inimigo sou eu. 00:36:36.628 --> 00:36:39.721 align:middle line:90% Os torturadores todos enlouquecem ao fim, 00:36:39.721 --> 00:36:43.219 align:middle line:84% comem excrementos e odeiam seus próprios gestos obscenos, 00:36:43.406 --> 00:36:46.247 align:middle line:90% os regimes iníquos apodrecem. 00:36:46.809 --> 00:36:49.863 align:middle line:84% Quando andavas em círculos, a alma dividida, 00:36:49.863 --> 00:36:53.453 align:middle line:84% o que fazia, santa e pecadora, a nossa Mãe Igreja? 00:36:53.929 --> 00:36:58.122 align:middle line:84% Promovia tômbolas, é certo, benzia edifícios novos, 00:36:58.571 --> 00:37:01.681 align:middle line:84% mas também te gerava, quem ousará negar, 00:37:01.792 --> 00:37:05.632 align:middle line:84% a ti e a outros santos que deixam as bíblias marcadas: 00:37:06.620 --> 00:37:11.144 align:middle line:84% "Na verdade carregamos em nós mesmos nossa sentença de morte." 00:37:11.303 --> 00:37:13.427 align:middle line:90% "Amai vossos inimigos." 00:37:13.953 --> 00:37:16.574 align:middle line:84% O que disse: "Quem crer viverá para sempre", 00:37:16.574 --> 00:37:20.238 align:middle line:84% este também balouçou do madeiro como fruto de escárnio. 00:37:21.054 --> 00:37:24.776 align:middle line:90% Nada, nada que é humano é grandioso. 00:37:25.429 --> 00:37:29.576 align:middle line:84% Me interrompe da porta a mocinha boçal. Quer mudas de trepadeira. 00:37:29.678 --> 00:37:31.341 align:middle line:90% Meus cabelos levantam. 00:37:31.341 --> 00:37:34.232 align:middle line:84% Como um torturador eu piso e arranco a muda, 00:37:34.232 --> 00:37:36.369 align:middle line:90% os olhos, as entranhas da intrusa 00:37:36.776 --> 00:37:39.967 align:middle line:84% e não sendo melhor que Jó choro meus desatinos. 00:37:40.905 --> 00:37:44.324 align:middle line:84% Sempre há quem pergunte a Judas qual a melhor árvore: 00:37:44.831 --> 00:37:47.418 align:middle line:90% os loucos lúcidos, os santos loucos, 00:37:47.418 --> 00:37:50.645 align:middle line:84% aqueles a quem mais foi dado, os quase sublimes. 00:37:50.978 --> 00:37:54.291 align:middle line:84% Minha maior grandeza é perguntar: haverá consolo? 00:37:55.153 --> 00:38:01.000 align:middle line:84% Num dedal cabem minha fé, minha vida e meu medo maior que é viajar de ônibus. 00:38:01.644 --> 00:38:05.244 align:middle line:84% A tentação me tenta e eu fico quase alegre. 00:38:05.511 --> 00:38:08.911 align:middle line:84% É bom pedir socorro ao Senhor Deus dos Exércitos, 00:38:08.911 --> 00:38:12.022 align:middle line:90% ao nosso Deus que é uma galinha grande. 00:38:12.317 --> 00:38:14.835 align:middle line:90% Nos põe debaixo da asa e nos esquenta. 00:38:14.944 --> 00:38:17.944 align:middle line:90% Antes, nos deixa desvalidos na chuva, 00:38:17.944 --> 00:38:22.315 align:middle line:84% pra que aprendamos a ter confiança n'Ele e não em nós. 00:38:25.930 --> 00:38:31.590 align:middle line:90% [END PLAYBACK] 00:38:31.590 --> 00:38:33.240 align:middle line:90% A few more poems here. 00:38:33.240 --> 00:38:34.565 align:middle line:90% I don't know why this came. 00:38:34.565 --> 00:38:36.690 align:middle line:84% I was trying to think of something else to tell you 00:38:36.690 --> 00:38:38.700 align:middle line:84% a bit of more of what Adélia is like, 00:38:38.700 --> 00:38:40.830 align:middle line:90% since you don't have her here. 00:38:40.830 --> 00:38:44.128 align:middle line:84% And maybe it was the, "how can a fish be happy when I'm not?" 00:38:44.128 --> 00:38:44.670 align:middle line:90% I don't know. 00:38:44.670 --> 00:38:45.770 align:middle line:90% We had a lot of talking. 00:38:45.770 --> 00:38:50.080 align:middle line:84% Adélia doesn't speak English and loves trying to say the words 00:38:50.080 --> 00:38:50.580 align:middle line:90% of English. 00:38:50.580 --> 00:38:54.000 align:middle line:84% She told me when she first got the first poems that 00:38:54.000 --> 00:38:56.640 align:middle line:84% were published in APR, she read them out loud to herself, 00:38:56.640 --> 00:39:00.420 align:middle line:84% making up the phonetics as she went along. 00:39:00.420 --> 00:39:03.180 align:middle line:84% And then her nephew came, who knew some English, 00:39:03.180 --> 00:39:05.460 align:middle line:84% and was quite astounded at the funny way she 00:39:05.460 --> 00:39:06.780 align:middle line:90% was saying all the words. 00:39:06.780 --> 00:39:08.520 align:middle line:84% But I thought I'd just share with you one 00:39:08.520 --> 00:39:10.650 align:middle line:84% of her favorite two words in English, 00:39:10.650 --> 00:39:13.830 align:middle line:84% both for the way they sound and for the ridiculousness 00:39:13.830 --> 00:39:15.480 align:middle line:90% of the epithet. 00:39:15.480 --> 00:39:19.020 align:middle line:84% And that is holy mackerel, which is the way she says it. 00:39:19.020 --> 00:39:22.140 align:middle line:90% 00:39:22.140 --> 00:39:25.850 align:middle line:84% This is called "Pieces for a Stained Glass Window." 00:39:25.850 --> 00:39:28.370 align:middle line:90% "Does Japan really exist? 00:39:28.370 --> 00:39:33.050 align:middle line:84% Or any country I don't know, with its parched coastline? 00:39:33.050 --> 00:39:38.420 align:middle line:84% What's between the thighs is public, public and obvious. 00:39:38.420 --> 00:39:41.990 align:middle line:84% What I want is your heart, the depth of your eyes, 00:39:41.990 --> 00:39:44.390 align:middle line:90% which do everything but speak. 00:39:44.390 --> 00:39:47.390 align:middle line:84% If you look at me in Spanish, I'll snap my fingers 00:39:47.390 --> 00:39:50.180 align:middle line:84% and start dancing, dressed in red. 00:39:50.180 --> 00:39:52.610 align:middle line:84% When I closed my eyes to the sun, 00:39:52.610 --> 00:39:56.840 align:middle line:84% I saw a blueprint, perfection, for just a second 00:39:56.840 --> 00:39:58.880 align:middle line:90% and then forgot. 00:39:58.880 --> 00:40:01.940 align:middle line:84% Just as the saints exist, so does God, 00:40:01.940 --> 00:40:05.150 align:middle line:84% with his unspeakable seductive power. 00:40:05.150 --> 00:40:07.700 align:middle line:84% He's the one who made gold and gave us 00:40:07.700 --> 00:40:10.250 align:middle line:84% the discretion to invent necklaces to wear around 00:40:10.250 --> 00:40:11.570 align:middle line:90% our necks. 00:40:11.570 --> 00:40:13.880 align:middle line:84% Said like that it's so pure I hardly see 00:40:13.880 --> 00:40:16.610 align:middle line:90% the sin in buying one myself. 00:40:16.610 --> 00:40:19.580 align:middle line:84% I've got the same desires as 30 years ago, 00:40:19.580 --> 00:40:23.330 align:middle line:84% immutable as mosquitoes in the sun-drenched kitchen, 00:40:23.330 --> 00:40:27.095 align:middle line:84% my mother making coffee and my father seated, waiting." 00:40:27.095 --> 00:40:32.140 align:middle line:90% 00:40:32.140 --> 00:40:35.390 align:middle line:90% "Falsetto." 00:40:35.390 --> 00:40:37.700 align:middle line:84% "The authorities have bags under their eyes 00:40:37.700 --> 00:40:41.030 align:middle line:84% and practiced voices for communiques. 00:40:41.030 --> 00:40:44.580 align:middle line:84% We guarantee the best solution on the spot. 00:40:44.580 --> 00:40:45.650 align:middle line:90% Which spot? 00:40:45.650 --> 00:40:47.330 align:middle line:90% The pudendum? 00:40:47.330 --> 00:40:52.430 align:middle line:84% God already took care of that, covering it with hair. 00:40:52.430 --> 00:40:54.150 align:middle line:90% My son was a good boy. 00:40:54.150 --> 00:40:56.930 align:middle line:84% He would never have killed himself like the police said. 00:40:56.930 --> 00:40:58.370 align:middle line:90% I touched his head. 00:40:58.370 --> 00:41:02.180 align:middle line:84% It was all broken, a token of their guilt. 00:41:02.180 --> 00:41:05.990 align:middle line:84% The witnesses vanished, lost their teeth, their tongues, 00:41:05.990 --> 00:41:07.850 align:middle line:90% lost their memories. 00:41:07.850 --> 00:41:10.990 align:middle line:90% I lost my son. 00:41:10.990 --> 00:41:13.530 align:middle line:84% He greeted the rabble, speaking to them of the kingdom. 00:41:13.530 --> 00:41:16.950 align:middle line:84% To those in need of cure, he restored their health. 00:41:16.950 --> 00:41:20.280 align:middle line:84% Hard words only for liars, legalists 00:41:20.280 --> 00:41:22.230 align:middle line:84% who harness on others the heavy bundles 00:41:22.230 --> 00:41:25.410 align:middle line:84% they themselves would not so much as touch. 00:41:25.410 --> 00:41:28.140 align:middle line:84% Oh, great shriek that I long to shriek, 00:41:28.140 --> 00:41:34.500 align:middle line:84% hiss that would leave me empty, certain hues, tamed birds, 00:41:34.500 --> 00:41:38.550 align:middle line:84% a yellow house with a gate and flowers thrill me. 00:41:38.550 --> 00:41:40.350 align:middle line:90% But I can't enjoy them. 00:41:40.350 --> 00:41:43.110 align:middle line:90% I've got to preach the kingdom. 00:41:43.110 --> 00:41:46.380 align:middle line:84% I'd like a country place, a wisp of a farm. 00:41:46.380 --> 00:41:48.660 align:middle line:90% But Christianity won't let me. 00:41:48.660 --> 00:41:51.210 align:middle line:90% Marxism won't let me. 00:41:51.210 --> 00:41:55.770 align:middle line:84% Oh, great shriek in the face of palaces, churchly or otherwise, 00:41:55.770 --> 00:42:00.210 align:middle line:84% divided we fall, united we stand. 00:42:00.210 --> 00:42:03.480 align:middle line:84% My swimming pool is not for recreation, said the Pope. 00:42:03.480 --> 00:42:07.070 align:middle line:84% I have no intention of being a prophet, said the bishop. 00:42:07.070 --> 00:42:10.820 align:middle line:84% What thick rope, what a full pail, 00:42:10.820 --> 00:42:14.700 align:middle line:90% what a fat sheaf of bad things. 00:42:14.700 --> 00:42:20.000 align:middle line:84% What an incoherent life is mine, what dirty sand. 00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:23.210 align:middle line:84% I am an old woman with whom God toys. 00:42:23.210 --> 00:42:28.160 align:middle line:84% Along with rage and shame, my appetite remains unshakable. 00:42:28.160 --> 00:42:31.070 align:middle line:90% Fatty meats, anything flowery. 00:42:31.070 --> 00:42:35.120 align:middle line:84% I nibble vegetables as if they were carnal encounters. 00:42:35.120 --> 00:42:38.330 align:middle line:84% I'm afraid of death and think about it at great length, 00:42:38.330 --> 00:42:42.290 align:middle line:84% as if I were a respectable, serious, prudent, and frugal 00:42:42.290 --> 00:42:44.120 align:middle line:90% lady philosopher. 00:42:44.120 --> 00:42:47.390 align:middle line:84% If someone will join me, I'll found a political party. 00:42:47.390 --> 00:42:49.760 align:middle line:84% I'll overthrow the government, the papacy, 00:42:49.760 --> 00:42:54.640 align:middle line:84% bulldoze all the rectories and institute my dream. 00:42:54.640 --> 00:42:59.230 align:middle line:84% Across a plain, innumerable, the Friars descended in their hoods 00:42:59.230 --> 00:43:03.940 align:middle line:84% like brown birds, peacefully searching for a place. 00:43:03.940 --> 00:43:07.420 align:middle line:84% I walked with them until they came to a big house 00:43:07.420 --> 00:43:10.720 align:middle line:84% where they found a big stove, a big table. 00:43:10.720 --> 00:43:13.870 align:middle line:84% And they all went inside and made themselves at home, 00:43:13.870 --> 00:43:16.990 align:middle line:84% scattering about the house like true brothers." 00:43:16.990 --> 00:43:19.970 align:middle line:90% 00:43:19.970 --> 00:43:22.730 align:middle line:90% And two last poems here. 00:43:22.730 --> 00:43:25.900 align:middle line:90% 00:43:25.900 --> 00:43:27.820 align:middle line:84% This is "Consecration," and it has 00:43:27.820 --> 00:43:31.390 align:middle line:84% an epigraph from "Apocalypse, Come, I Will Show 00:43:31.390 --> 00:43:34.360 align:middle line:90% You the Bride." 00:43:34.360 --> 00:43:35.860 align:middle line:90% "It was at home. 00:43:35.860 --> 00:43:37.210 align:middle line:90% Mama was cooking. 00:43:37.210 --> 00:43:41.590 align:middle line:84% I was taking care of the baby, restless because of the boy 00:43:41.590 --> 00:43:43.480 align:middle line:90% who was waiting for me. 00:43:43.480 --> 00:43:45.040 align:middle line:90% The baby's wet, I called. 00:43:45.040 --> 00:43:47.050 align:middle line:90% I'm going to change him. 00:43:47.050 --> 00:43:48.340 align:middle line:90% Mama shot me a look. 00:43:48.340 --> 00:43:52.150 align:middle line:84% And I went to my room and tried on dresses to wear to the door 00:43:52.150 --> 00:43:54.280 align:middle line:84% and talk with the boy who whispered, 00:43:54.280 --> 00:43:57.250 align:middle line:84% I want to eat your legs, your belly, your breasts. 00:43:57.250 --> 00:43:59.230 align:middle line:90% I want to touch you. 00:43:59.230 --> 00:44:01.120 align:middle line:84% And he was, in fact, touching me, 00:44:01.120 --> 00:44:04.630 align:middle line:84% the way his soul shown through his eyes. 00:44:04.630 --> 00:44:06.550 align:middle line:90% Have you changed the baby? 00:44:06.550 --> 00:44:08.020 align:middle line:90% You're a strange one. 00:44:08.020 --> 00:44:11.140 align:middle line:84% Stop talking to your friends and listen. 00:44:11.140 --> 00:44:15.220 align:middle line:84% I began to cry, pleasure and embarrassment. 00:44:15.220 --> 00:44:18.250 align:middle line:84% He looked at my bare feet and laughed. 00:44:18.250 --> 00:44:21.250 align:middle line:84% The vibrations of the flesh sing hymns, 00:44:21.250 --> 00:44:24.040 align:middle line:90% even those we turn away from. 00:44:24.040 --> 00:44:26.860 align:middle line:90% Flatulence, he said in one ear. 00:44:26.860 --> 00:44:29.230 align:middle line:90% Yawns, he said in the other. 00:44:29.230 --> 00:44:31.330 align:middle line:90% The rhythm of pleasure. 00:44:31.330 --> 00:44:33.440 align:middle line:90% I was worried the whole time. 00:44:33.440 --> 00:44:36.400 align:middle line:84% And so naive and naked, he added. 00:44:36.400 --> 00:44:39.850 align:middle line:84% A voluptuous woman in her bed can praise God 00:44:39.850 --> 00:44:44.210 align:middle line:84% even if she is nothing but voluptuous and happy. 00:44:44.210 --> 00:44:46.040 align:middle line:90% Poor people understand that. 00:44:46.040 --> 00:44:50.480 align:middle line:84% Yes, like when they write on the walls, 'Us beggars salute you, 00:44:50.480 --> 00:44:52.170 align:middle line:90% oh, God.' 00:44:52.170 --> 00:44:55.470 align:middle line:84% He looked like an angel speaking of wisdom. 00:44:55.470 --> 00:44:58.620 align:middle line:84% Helios, I called him, you're that luminescent. 00:44:58.620 --> 00:45:01.470 align:middle line:84% Your body acting out your spirit. 00:45:01.470 --> 00:45:05.070 align:middle line:84% You learn fast, praise be our Lord Jesus Christ, 00:45:05.070 --> 00:45:07.860 align:middle line:84% he intoned from the bottom of his Christian soul, 00:45:07.860 --> 00:45:10.560 align:middle line:90% enticing me once and for all. 00:45:10.560 --> 00:45:11.760 align:middle line:90% Who is the Pope? 00:45:11.760 --> 00:45:14.700 align:middle line:84% I asked, anxious to receive the sacraments. 00:45:14.700 --> 00:45:16.770 align:middle line:90% Our father who blesses us. 00:45:16.770 --> 00:45:21.210 align:middle line:84% And he called me cow as if he were saying flower, saint, 00:45:21.210 --> 00:45:22.830 align:middle line:90% lucky prostitute." 00:45:22.830 --> 00:45:26.890 align:middle line:90% 00:45:26.890 --> 00:45:29.760 align:middle line:84% This last one is from the middle book of Coracao Disparado, 00:45:29.760 --> 00:45:33.020 align:middle line:90% and it's one of my favorites. 00:45:33.020 --> 00:45:34.445 align:middle line:90% Called "Denouement." 00:45:34.445 --> 00:45:39.890 align:middle line:90% 00:45:39.890 --> 00:45:43.130 align:middle line:90% I can get through it. 00:45:43.130 --> 00:45:45.950 align:middle line:84% "I have great admiration for ships 00:45:45.950 --> 00:45:48.140 align:middle line:84% and for certain people's handwriting, which 00:45:48.140 --> 00:45:51.190 align:middle line:90% I attempt to imitate. 00:45:51.190 --> 00:45:53.860 align:middle line:84% Of my entire family, I'm the only one 00:45:53.860 --> 00:45:55.900 align:middle line:90% who has seen the ocean. 00:45:55.900 --> 00:45:58.970 align:middle line:90% I describe it over and over. 00:45:58.970 --> 00:46:01.850 align:middle line:84% They say hmm and continue circling the chicken coop 00:46:01.850 --> 00:46:02.350 align:middle line:90% with wire. 00:46:02.350 --> 00:46:05.240 align:middle line:90% 00:46:05.240 --> 00:46:07.880 align:middle line:84% See, that's where we'll put in a garden. 00:46:07.880 --> 00:46:10.930 align:middle line:90% So what do I do with the coast? 00:46:10.930 --> 00:46:12.580 align:middle line:84% It was a pretty afternoon, the day 00:46:12.580 --> 00:46:15.700 align:middle line:84% I planted myself in the window between uncles 00:46:15.700 --> 00:46:18.010 align:middle line:84% and saw the man with his fly open, 00:46:18.010 --> 00:46:21.470 align:middle line:90% the trellis angry with roses. 00:46:21.470 --> 00:46:25.160 align:middle line:84% Hours and hours we talked unconsciously in Portuguese, 00:46:25.160 --> 00:46:29.090 align:middle line:84% as if it were the only language in the world. 00:46:29.090 --> 00:46:34.890 align:middle line:84% Faith or no, I ask, where are my people who are gone? 00:46:34.890 --> 00:46:37.500 align:middle line:84% Because I'm human, I zealously cover 00:46:37.500 --> 00:46:40.230 align:middle line:90% the pan of leftover sauce. 00:46:40.230 --> 00:46:42.720 align:middle line:84% How could we know how to live a better 00:46:42.720 --> 00:46:45.450 align:middle line:84% life than this when, even weeping, 00:46:45.450 --> 00:46:48.530 align:middle line:90% it feels so good to be together? 00:46:48.530 --> 00:46:52.070 align:middle line:84% Suffering belongs to no language. 00:46:52.070 --> 00:46:55.220 align:middle line:84% I suffered and I suffer, both in Minas Gerais 00:46:55.220 --> 00:46:57.680 align:middle line:90% and at the edge of the ocean. 00:46:57.680 --> 00:47:01.340 align:middle line:90% I stand in awe of being alive. 00:47:01.340 --> 00:47:04.550 align:middle line:84% Oh moon over the back lands, oh forests 00:47:04.550 --> 00:47:07.820 align:middle line:84% I don't need to see to get lost in, 00:47:07.820 --> 00:47:10.250 align:middle line:84% oh great cities and states of Brazil 00:47:10.250 --> 00:47:15.920 align:middle line:84% that I love as if I had invented them, being Brazilian places 00:47:15.920 --> 00:47:18.290 align:middle line:90% me in a way I find moving. 00:47:18.290 --> 00:47:22.730 align:middle line:84% And this which, without sinning, I can call fate, 00:47:22.730 --> 00:47:25.520 align:middle line:90% gives my desire a rest. 00:47:25.520 --> 00:47:28.790 align:middle line:84% Taken all at once, it's far too intelligible. 00:47:28.790 --> 00:47:30.710 align:middle line:90% I can't take it. 00:47:30.710 --> 00:47:35.870 align:middle line:84% Night, make yourself useful and cover me with sleep. 00:47:35.870 --> 00:47:41.310 align:middle line:84% Me and the thought of death just can't get used to each other. 00:47:41.310 --> 00:47:44.310 align:middle line:84% I'll tremble with fear till the end. 00:47:44.310 --> 00:47:48.330 align:middle line:84% And meanwhile, everything is so small. 00:47:48.330 --> 00:47:53.370 align:middle line:84% Compared to my heart's desire, the sea is a drop." 00:47:53.370 --> 00:47:54.270 align:middle line:90% [WHISTLE] 00:47:54.270 --> 00:47:57.620 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:47:57.620 --> 00:48:07.000 align:middle line:90%