Marcos Freitas [Brazil]

 

Eternal Return
 
poetry blossoms
without an appointment
without time commitment

poetry sometimes
delays
even if it´s planted
with a shovel, with a hoe
 
poetry doesn´t always
sprout
even if it´s watered
with too much water or wine
 
poetry
however
always returns
and it fills me
with joy
 
(Translated by the author)
 
 
Outcrops
 
current leakage?
who knows?
my heart
has no voltmeter
 
sudden?
who knows?
my trapeze
has no tarp
 
will it rain?
who knows?
my wish
has no rehearsal
 
rave?
who knows?
my sidewalk
has no curb
 
(Translated by the author)
 
 
Nectary
 
I make my abundant
sap
move around –
just like a
parenchyma
grove
(chromoplasts memories)
and from my stem apex
I give birth to the phloem, to the xylem
and to the poem
 
(Translated by the author)

 
 
In The Coming Afternoon
 
Let's be eternal, my dear,
even in the fullness of our wrath.
Enough of our ready-made speeches,
we can´t stand waiting for the end of summer.
We silently suspect of the elders’ advice.
We have tried, ruthlessly, to reread the old newspapers;
What do we look for in the shabby pages?
The landscape becomes thicker in the streets’ geography
of our unknown city.
Let us immerse ourselves in the astonishment of our desire;
the most pure and clear word is always possible, my dear,
even out of our dictionary.
The smell of the beans, in an iron pan,
rekindles the wood fire of the imagination: the morning clock.
Heirs of our own memory,
we perceive the street of our weakness and absence, in the coming afternoon.
The dry bed of the river awaits the rainy season at their headwaters;
so let us lay up delicacies and provisions in the ebb of our hours.
Let's be eternal, my dear,
even in the finitude of our day.
 
(Translated by the author)
 
 

Author’s Bionote: 

*Marcos Freitas (b. 1963, Teresina, Piauí, Brazil) is a Brazilian poet, lyricist, editor and composer. He is a civil engineer, university professor and federal civil servant. He has published over a hundred technical and scientific articles in Brazilian and international journals and symposium proceedings, as well as over 70 technical and literary books. Member of UBC (Brazilian Union of Composers), National Writers´ Association (ANE) and National Writers´ Union (UBE). He is the current president of the Academia de Letras do Brasil (ALB) and co-chair of the BRICS Literature Network. Received the Friends of NWASA Award and the “Voice Across Languages Award 2026” (The Rhythm of Vietnam International Translation Day Award 2026).