Dialética by Vinicius de Moraes (with my rough translation)
É claro que a vida é boa
E a alegria, a única indizível emoção
É claro que te acho linda
Em ti bendigo o amor das coisas simples
É claro que te amo
E tenho tudo para ser feliz
Mas acontece que eu sou triste...
Of course life is good
And happiness, the only indescribable emotion
Of course I think you are beautiful
You bless me with the love of the little things
Of course I love you
And I have everything to be happy
But it happens that I am sad
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Brighter and Clearer by Ellen Kennedy
After I have an orgasm my body feels like a sombrero-shaped galaxy slowly expanding in the eyepiece of a 4th grader's telescope
After I watch a family of lions tear apart the body of a large deer on the Discovery Channel I feel a calming sense of inferiority
After I watch a horror movie I can't go to the bathroom without you holding my hand while I pee
After I take my vegan dietary supplement my piss is brighter and clearer
After I kiss your eyelids my lungs squeeze out through my ribs, then through my belly button and slowly fly to your face and push very lightly on your cheeks
After I forget something I said I would remember my brain becomes a roll of vegetable futomaki that an obese chinchilla is trying to eat all in one bite
After I make you cry one of my organs melts into a runny paste that trickles down the inside of my body and collects at the bottom of my feet
After I make you feel indifferent towards me my heart turns into a small desert hamster running very quickly on an exercise wheel and then tripping and then spinning around in distress until the wheel stops and the hamster can get up and try running again, but in a more conscious and concerned way
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Submitted by Vinny DaSilva... and some thoughts below
Vinicius de Moraes is a very well known Brazilian Poet and Composer - Probably best known for writing the original Portuguese lyrics to "Girl from Ipanema". To me, a lot of his poetry feels very magical and lovely, this one piece stuck out to me because it feels as if the poet wants to be in a positive state of enjoying all that love has to offer, but is hit with the realization that his deep and true emotion is not aligned with it.
Ellen Kennedy is a young American poet just starting her career. She just had her first book (Sometimes my Heart Pushes my Ribs) published this year via an independent publishing company, Muumuu House. Her poetry carries a certain amount of awkwardness or bareness that can be hard to find, yet it is always around us. I feel that sort of writing makes it so the reader can really relate to the emotions because the emotions are so "human"... it's not perfect and gracious, it's just raw and bare and I think that "Brighter and Clearer" is a great example of what I like about Kennedy's poetry... its personal, true, and does not try to be pretty with flowery words. I also enjoy how Kennedy goes through a range of emotions before landing on what it really is that she wants to express, tying in the entire poem into one coherant thought, when at first read the lines all seem to be sepperate and almost self-sufficient.
