A Daily Glance
Chris Daniels' translation of Paulo Leminski titled
Meta(/other) poems provides a brief but important look at Leminski's work. Unfortunately, the Brazilian writer is not translated frequently in English, but this chapbook definitely shows that his work is valuable. To me, he seems like the Brazilian version of Anselm Hollo; in other words, he is a translator/linguist/poet/writer with a sense of humor. In the introduction, we're told that he knew Greek, Latin, French, English, Japanese, and Russian and that he translated myriad writers. The poems in the collection are playful but open to deeper contemplation. Leminski has a good sense of the contingent nature of life, yet he accepts it in stride and even pokes fun at himself:
every village has an idiot
it treats with sympathy
in a little while i know
they'll be treating me
The only problem with the collection is that it is too short. It leaves me wanting more. I want to read his poetry and his novels, but they have not been translated into English (outside of a few pieces here and there). Really, it gives me just one more reason to keep studying Portuguese (I've only just begun).
Comments