In the middle of winter, I discovered an invincible summer inside me.
-Albert Camus
(from Part III of “The Invention of Summer”)
My idea of homeland
is the slowly advancing poem
in the effort of pulses and stones
Like an overrun beach
under amplified sea sound
crater of wind
I say the weather of the green light of palms
and abundant
polished and hard as a diamond
the entire day rising in a buzz
After fire and the flash of weapons
and the ash-trail of words
muted
memory of knives that furrowed the night
hands
sinners of reality
like morning birds
announce the clarity
flat stone where the poem is built
alight and lucid archipelago of senses
and finally
come to rest on the page
to drink the sun
My idea of homeland
is the poem advancing slowly
in the effort of pulses and stones
the poem so close to the days
always advancing
each word greeting the sun
And the trees in the garden of the past
stretch towards autumn
the seesaw of childhood
and the house like an open name
the house and the child
always near the sea
the sea and the child within
and the ecstatic child
drinking the sun’s brilliance
hands in water
playing silence
O Ofício das Facas
Minha ideia de pátria
é o poema avançando lento
no esforço dos pulsos e das pedras
Como invadida praia
sob o ampliado som do mar
cratera de vento
eu digo o tempo da luz verde das palmeiras
e repleto
polido e duro como um diamante
o dia inteiro ascendendo num zumbido
E após o fogo e o clarão das armas
e o rasto de cinza das palavras
emudecidas
memória das facas que sulcaram a noite
as mãos que
transgressoras do real
como aves matutinas
anunciam a claridade
plana pedra onde se constrói o poema
aceso e lúcido arquipélago dos sentidos
e enfim
pousam sobre a página
a beber o sol
Minha ideia de pátria
é o poema avançando lento
no esforço dos pulsos e das pedras
o poema muito rente aos dias
avançando sempre
cada palavra saudando o sol
E as arvores do quintal do passado
estendendo-se para o outono
a baloiço da infância
e a casa como um nome aberto
a casa e a criança
sempre próximas do mar
o mar com a criança por dentro
e a criança extasiada
bebendo o brilho do sol
as mãos na água
brincando de silêncio
JOSÉ PEDRO LEITE is the author of nine poetry collections. A translator and editor, Leite was born in the northern city of Porto and has always lived near the ocean. Trained in law and a secondary school teacher for a short time, he is a singular figure in a generation of prolific young Portuguese writers. In 2009, he won the Políbio Gomes dos Santos literary prize for his second book As mãos e o lume (The Hands and the Flame). A Invenção do Verão (The Invention of Summer) was published in 2019 and his most recent work, A construção dos lábios (Building Lips) has just been launched by Poética Edições in Braga, Portugal.
RICHARD SIMAS is a freelance writer with a background in literature, music, and the performing arts. His publications appear in contemporary art and literary reviews in Europe and in North America with awards from the Journey Prize anthology, the Fiddlehead Review Fiction competition, and a Camões Institute prize to attend the Disquiet International Literary Program in Lisbon. His work includes translations, chronicles, and essays about Portuguese culture. His recent early readers’ book, The Mystery of the Portuguese Waltzes is published by Running the Goat Books in Newfoundland, Canada.
