Issue Six Contents

Introduction
by Katherine Vaz
Within His Grasp
by Hélia Correia
from Our Joy Has Come
by Alexandra Lucas Coelho
four poems from POESIS
by Maria Teresa Horta
four poems from Jóquei
by Matilde Campilho
three poems
by Rosa Alice Branco
three poems
by Maria da Conceição Evaristo de Brito
two poems
by Simone de Andrade Neves
Depression Has Seven Floors and an Elevator
by Isabela Sancho
About a Book
by Laura Liuzzi
“there is …”
by Alice Sant’anna
copacabana
by Laura Assis
three poems
by Margarida Vale de Gato
Honeymoon
by Raquel Nobre Guerra
How to Write the Revolution
by Susana Moreira Marques
Diatribe of a Mute Eve
by Irene Marques
Frogpondia
Three poems
by Maria da Conceição Evaristo de Brito
Translated by Dean Thomas Ellis

Women-voices

I-Woman

Of Serenity and Silence

Maria da Conceição Evaristo de Brito was born in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, in 1946. In the 1980s, Evaristo became involved with the Quilombhoje group. She made her literary debut in 1990, appearing in Cadernos Negros, a series published by the organization. Her works, especially the novel Ponciá Vicêncio (2003), address themes such as racial, gender and class discrimination. This work was published in the United States in 2007. She currently teaches at UFMG (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais). Her novels include Ponciá Vicêncio (2003) and Becos da Memória (2006). Along with the poetry collection Poemas da recordação e outros movimentos (2008), her short story collections include Insubmissas lágrimas de mulheres (Nandyala, 2011) and Histórias de leves enganos e parecenças (Editora Malê, 2016). The Caribbean Philosophical Association awarded her its 2018 Nicolás Guillén Lifetime Achievement Award.  She also received, the same year, the Prêmio de Literatura do Governo de Minas Gerais for her lifetime of work.

Dean Thomas Ellis is a writer and translator living in New Orleans. His work has appeared in Bloodroot, Cosmonauts Avenue, Guernica, The New Orleans Review, The Puritan, Maple Leaf Rag, The Iron Lattice, Working Stiff (PBS.org), St. Petersburg Review, and the KGB Bar Lit Magazine. His translation (with Jaime Braz) of Jacinto Lucas Pires' novel The True Actor was published by Dzanc Books in November 2013.  He hosts the radio programs Tudo Bem and The Dean's List on WWOZ-FM 90.7 (wwoz.org) in New Orleans.

Women-voices

The voice of my great grandmother a child in the holds of a ship. Echoing laments of a lost childhood. The voice of my grandmother echoing deference to the white owners of everything. The voice of my mother echoing low insurrections from the depths of others’ kitchens beneath bundles of clothing coarse and unwashed along the dusty road to her favela. And still my voice echoes perplexed verses rhyming of hunger and blood.

I-Woman

A drop of milk trickles between my breasts. A spot of blood shimmers between my legs. A half-bitten word flees from my mouth. Hope imputed by vague desires. I-woman of red rivers launch this life. In low tones the world’s violent eardrums. I prophecy. I foretaste. The before-life The before-the now-the what comes. I woman-womb I-driving force I-woman shelter of seed motion-continuum of the earth.

Of Serenity and Silence

When I bite on
 a word,
 please, 
don’t rush me, 
I want to chew it awhile,
 tear it between my teeth,
 the skin, the bones, the marrow
 of the verb,
 so I can then make verse
 from the core of its parts. When my gaze
 fixates upon nothing,
 please, 
don’t revive me
 I want to retain
 in the depth of my iris
 the minimal shadow,
 of the tiniest movement. When my feet
 slacken in their stride 
please, 
don’t force me. 
Where am I heading? 
Leave me be,
 allow me the quiet, 
Of this illusive languor.
 Not all wayfarers
 stroll on highways,
 there are submerged worlds, 
that only the stillness
 of poetry can penetrate.
Maria da Conceição Evaristo de Brito was born in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, in 1946. In the 1980s, Evaristo became involved with the Quilombhoje group. She made her literary debut in 1990, appearing in Cadernos Negros, a series published by the organization. Her works, especially the novel Ponciá Vicêncio (2003), address themes such as racial, gender and class discrimination. This work was published in the United States in 2007. She currently teaches at UFMG (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais). Her novels include Ponciá Vicêncio (2003) and Becos da Memória (2006). Along with the poetry collection Poemas da recordação e outros movimentos (2008), her short story collections include Insubmissas lágrimas de mulheres (Nandyala, 2011) and Histórias de leves enganos e parecenças (Editora Malê, 2016). The Caribbean Philosophical Association awarded her its 2018 Nicolás Guillén Lifetime Achievement Award.  She also received, the same year, the Prêmio de Literatura do Governo de Minas Gerais for her lifetime of work.

Dean Thomas Ellis is a writer and translator living in New Orleans. His work has appeared in Bloodroot, Cosmonauts Avenue, Guernica, The New Orleans Review, The Puritan, Maple Leaf Rag, The Iron Lattice, Working Stiff (PBS.org), St. Petersburg Review, and the KGB Bar Lit Magazine. His translation (with Jaime Braz) of Jacinto Lucas Pires' novel The True Actor was published by Dzanc Books in November 2013.  He hosts the radio programs Tudo Bem and The Dean's List on WWOZ-FM 90.7 (wwoz.org) in New Orleans.