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.
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.