Issue 27 | Fall 2022

On the Things I Did at the End of the World

Beatriz Rocha
Translated by Grant Schutzman

I went to a used-bookstore and spent exactly 222 reais

(on 14 books, 2 I’d already read, by Chico Buarque)

I went to a beach down South

I kissed a trumpeter with

a cute freckle at a party

I freaked out at work for the thousandth time

I met my almost-girlfriend’s

best friend

and I hated him

My therapy appointment was cancelled because

Cirlana had a cold

And at some point that week I know I wore

yellow socks

It’s curious, living at the end of the world

But I actually think we can see the beginning of another

one that isn’t actually so new:

the same old bookstore

the same beach down South

I didn’t get the trumpeter’s number

(and I kind of regret it)

the same sofa

and yellow socks

About the Author

Beatriz Rocha is a historian, social educator, and poet. She was born with her soul inside-out, always getting lost looking for beauty. She wrote her first poem at eleven and hasn’t stopped since. A Mulher Grande (The Great Woman) is her first book of poetry.

About the Translator

Grant Schutzman is a poet and translator. He is fascinated by multilingual writing and that which has been deemed the untranslateable. His poetry is forthcoming in Eunoia Review and translations are forthcoming in Modern Poetry in Translation, Asymptote, and Ezra.