By Iacyr Anderson Freitas
Translated by Desirée Jung
beyond these walls
the world exhausts
time is only
what is seen in the room
outside
vertigo
that always erases
what the eye sees
on this night (the same
as the birth of everything)
only our room exists
a river blows far away
in thousands of waiting years
in each margin
thousands of dead
and dogs that cry
at cities’ doors
and questions that remained
in the suitcases
on this night
there is only
what is seen in the room
something so small
that
in us
also exhausts
Iacyr Anderson Freitas was born in Patrocínio do Muriaé, Minas Gerais, in 1963. Civil Engineer graduate by the University Federal of Juiz de Fora, the poet also obtained his Masters Degree in Theory of Literature from the same institution. He has published many books of poetry, literary essays and prose, having received many prizes in Brazil and overseas. His work has been translated into several languages and countries, including Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Spain, USA, France, Italy, Malta, Nicaragua, Switzerland, Peru, Portugal and Venezuela. Besides being a collaborator in the Brazilian press, he has also published poems and critical texts in Private and Semicerchio (Italy), Rimbaud Revue (France), Arquitrave and Comun Presencia (Colombia), Fokus (Malta), International Poetry Review (USA), Los Rollos del mal muerto (Argentina), O comércio do Porto and Saudade (Portugal), Fórnix (Peru) and Serta (Spain), among others.
Desirée Jung has published translations, poetry and short stories in North American magazines and others around the world. Among them are Exile, Modern Poetry in Translation, The Antigonish Review, and Belleville Park Pages. Her book of short stories, Desejos Submersos, is published by Chiado Editora, in Portugal. She has received a film degree at the Vancouver Film School, as well as an MFA in Creative Writing and a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of British Columbia. Visit her online at www.desireejung.com for more information.
