RICARDO REIS (FERNANDO PESSOA) ~

 

O D E S (1914-1917)

107      [6 August 1923]

All I want of life is not to know it.

Anyone whom Fate has set down in life must accept

        The various successive forms

        Taken by substanceless life.

There is little point in believing to be eternal

The nothings with which, in our soul, we love

        Other poor nothings

        That [ . . . ]

Grateful to the gods, rather than for the uncertain

Possession of a certain Fantasy, let us take comfort

        In the fleeting energy

        Of instants that do not last.

_______________________

The Complete Works of Ricardo Reis

translated by Margaret Jull Costa & Patricio Ferrari

New Directions 2026

THE COMPLETE WORKS OF ALVARO DE CAMPOS (PESSOA) ~

 

Poems

190

I'm beginning to know myself. I don't exist.

I'm the interval between what I want to be and what others made of me,

Or half of that interval, because there's life too . . .

This, ultimately, is what I am . . .

Turn out the light, close the door, and wait for the sound of those

    slippered footsteps in the corridor to go away.

Let me stay in my room alone with just the great peace and quiet of my self.

A cheap universe.

Fernando Pessoa

The Complete Works of Alvaro de Campos

translated by  Margaret Jull Costa & Patricio Ferrari

New Directions, 2023

R E A D

Ana Luisa Amaral ~

  

The Call

"No" is the wildest word we consign to Language.

                EMILY DICKINSON

Come, I'll give you everything: every glory,

the rarest and most beautiful of seeds

so as to plant more glories, flowers

that will explode from those seeds

and then bloom, poisonous and sweet

with an aftertang of delight and loathing —

look at this one, so dull, and yet so bright.

Even the leaves that will at last

all fall, in the guise of leaves,

more cutting than piano wire,

cruel, piercing music, splint-

ers of gold and death — all yours.

Yes, all you need ( how easy! ) is to say yes.

_______________

Ana Luisa Amaral

WORLD

translated by Margaret Jull Costa

New Directions, 2023

PESSOA PESSOA PESSOA ~

[ LISTEN ] 

On of the great literary biographies

of recent times — even with

Ellmann's James Joyce and

nicely aligned in scope and

adventure with

Kenner's The Pound Era

Liveright, 2021