(I need more blinkies … If anyone can give me a – super cute – contribution, I’ll be grateful! ^^)
How’s life, dear reader?! How did you spend the weekend? Did you have a good time? I hope so. I’m fine, working, writing, doing my workout, knitting, listening to music, trying to find some nice subjects to write about on this blog and so on!
Do you like poetry? I do, sometimes. Poetry is something very complex. Some people say that it’s literature at its maximum. And I agree. I honestly prefer fiction and there are great fictionists all over the world, but poets are gifted. They are not talented. They are gifted! Literature, dear reader, is an art. No, there’s nothing boring or pretentious about it. It’s really an art! It’s relatively easy to write a blog, tell stories and write texts with tons of rhymes. Literature is art. Poets build up a whole universe with words! And they explore everything: sounds, images, meanings. It’s something really special! I thought I could write poems when I was a teenager. But I didn’t know that poems are not confessions or complaints full of rhymes. Real poems are not cheesy. Real poets have never made a lot of money! Poetry is not easy or immediate. You need privacy to read it. And if you read it loud it’s better, because you can feel its rhythm! Poems have different rhythms. Kids use to love them, especially those which play with words, sounds, meanings. They like to listen to the rhythm of the poems and repeat them (a thousand times). Poems are very very close to music! In the beginning (in western civilizations), the poems were recited loud and accompanied by musical instruments!
I learned to appreciate poetry properly at college. I had excellent teachers! They educated my sensibility. I realized that the poems I wrote in my teenage were terrible (it happens to the most of people) and started to write real poems. But mine were made for kids . I’m a very playful person, so, I like to play with words! Kids use to like my poems and it means that they are cool. Real kids are extremely honest. If they don’t like something made for them, it means that you better change your strategies to catch their attention! Anyways, I consider myself a (type of) fictionist. The Muses of Poetry like me, but they didn’t give me the gift of poetry! Only a few people received it. And one of them is a Brazilian woman called Cecília Meireles. I’m her fan. So, everything I’ll say about her will sound like a fan speech! She’s gifted, wonderful, awesome, divine and so on! She was born in Rio de Janeiro, on November 7, 1901 and died also in Rio on November 9, 1964. She was a multimaiden like me (poet, artist, teacher and journalist), but a little more talented … *lol* (Yes, I’m kidding! She is the greatest Brazilian female writer of all time!) Cecília was so damn gifted that she wrote not only poetry, but essays, articles, short stories and books for kids! She was a passionate elementary teacher like me and really believed in Education. Cecília is my inspiration! And she was so sweet, discrete, mystical! A great Brazilian female voice.
Cecília ^^. This is a very famous picture! She looks lovely, don’t you think?! I don’t remember exactly when did I fall in love with her poems, books and writings. Before college, I guess. Cecília wrote a lovely book for kids called “Ou Isto Ou Aquilo” (Or This Or That) and I had to read and study some poems for high school (I was studying to be an elementary teacher). I knew her other poems at college and fell in love immediately! There’s a huge identification between us, I mean, she could express many of my thoughts and feelings in a magical way! Cecília was a very spiritual person and many of her poems are about how brief is our life and how meaningless are our concerns (material goods, ambition, etc.). She was minimalist, she wrote about small things, ephemeral moments, brief scenes. She could describe the brief flight of two butterflies, or the ephemeral life of a rose in a very deep way! I’ll probably dedicate other posts to Cecília, since she’s my favorite Brazilian writer! But her poetry is about nature, spirituality and philosophy in the sense that she meditated about many subjects. She wrote a group of poems called “Romanceiro da Inconfidência”, about a very important episode of our History (I’ll talk about it in the right time). There are many things you can learn reading Cecília Meireles. Like:
- Life’s brief. You will die someday. So, why do you worry so much about meaningless and superficial things?
- We are not sure about anything. Set yourself free of the vanity to be right all the time!
- You can be much better than you are, if you open your mind and listen to your soul.
- Nature is absolutely beautiful, but its beauty is in the small things.
Every time I read her poems I feel and learn something new! And her poems are music! Cecília had a great talent to explore sounds, images and meanings! The Brazilian Portuguese is a beautiful language, so, it’s a pleasure to read loud poems by Cecília! Yes, I know, the most of you can’t speak Portuguese, so, I think I’ll record some poems and share with you guys, but not right now (I need to learn how to do it … *lol*). But I promise to recite them to you. I was always invited to recite poems and read tales at college, so, I have a little bit of … good fame . For now, I’ll show you three poems by Cecília. There’s something else I must say: she’s very melancholic, sometimes. I don’t mind because I’m very melancholic sometimes too, but … She rocks! These poems are classic and some of my favorites! Enjoy!
Lua Adversa (Cecília Meireles) Tenho fases, como a lua. Fases de andar escondida, fases de vir para a rua … Perdição da minha vida! Perdição da vida minha! Tenho fases de ser tua, tenho outras de ser sozinha … Fases que vão e que vêm, no secreto calendário que um astrólogo arbitrário inventou para meu uso. E roda a melancolia seu interminável fuso! Não me encontro com ninguém (tenho fases, como a lua …) No dia de alguém ser meu não é dia de eu ser sua … E quando chega esse dia, o outro desapareceu … | Adverse Moon |
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Motivo (Cecília Meireles) Eu canto porque o instante existe e a minha vida está completa. Não sou alegre, nem sou triste: sou poeta. Irmão das coisas fugidias, não sinto gozo nem tormento. Atravesso noites e dias no vento. Se desmorono ou se edifico, Se permaneço ou me desfaço, - não sei, não sei, não sei se fico ou passo. Sei que canto. E a canção é tudo. Tem sangue eterno a asa ritmada: E um dia sei que estarei mudo - mais nada. | Reason I sing because the moment exists and my life is complete. I’m not cheerful nor sad: I’m a poet. Brother of the fugitive things, I don’t feel pleasure nor anguish. I cross nights and days in the wind. If I destroy or build up, If I remain or vanish, - I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know if I stay or pass. I know I sing. And the song is everything. It has eternal blood the rhythmic wing. And one day I know I will be mute: - nothing else. |
This is my favorite poem ever!:
Epigrama # 7 (Cecília Meireles) A tua raça de aventura quis ter a terra, o céu, o mar. Na minha, há uma delícia obscura em não querer, em não ganhar … A tua raça quer partir guerrear, sofrer, vencer, voltar. A minha, não quer ir nem vir. A minha raça quer passar. | Epigram # 7 Your race of adventure wanted to have the land, the sky, the sea. In mine, there’s an obscure delight in not wanting, not winning … Your race wants to leave battle, suffer, win, come back. Mine, doesn’t want to come nor go. My race wants to pass. |
These are not literal translations and I don’t feel the need to transform them into poems in English! My goal is to help you to understand the essence of the poems. They are complete, in sounds, images and words in Portuguese only and it happens to all the writings of this planet! Translation helps you to understand writings, but will never replace the original ones! I’ve just translated the poems, I’m a little tired, so, I’m sure I can do something better in the future, but I hope you could have an idea of who’s Cecília Meireles! I promise to write more about her in the future!
That’s all for today. Stay tuned, other posts will come and have a nice week!
Luna
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