AUTHOR ROSALIENE BACCHUS


Reaching minds and hearts through storytelling


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RISK POEM BY BRAZILIAN POET MARIA REZENDE



MARIA REZENDE is a Brazilian poet, performer, cinema and TV editor, and wedding celebrant. Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1978, she has published four books of poetry during twenty years of her literary life. These books include:

• Substantivo Feminino / Feminine Substantive (2003)

• Bendita Palavra / Blessed Word (2008)

• Carne do Umbigo / Navel Flesh (2015) and

• Hermanas / Sisters (2019) in partnership with Spanish singer and guitarist Amparo Sánchez


Rezende’s work has appeared in anthologies, such as Poesia Sempre / Always Poetry of the Brazilian National Library and Naquela Língua: Antologia da Novíssima Poesia Brasileira / In That Language: Anthology of the Latest Brazilian Poetry, launched in Portugal in 2017.


The spoken word is one of the pillars of Rezende’s poetry. After learning to recite poetry with the poet and actress Elisa Lucinda at the age of eighteen, she has performed her poetry on stages throughout Brazil, as well as in Portugal, Spain, and Argentina.


Brazil’s renowned and award-winning poet Manoel de Barros (1916-2014) praised her 2003 debut collection: “It is, indeed, substantive poetry. The entire woman within the words. Poetry is a phenomenon of language than of ideas. You know this. Therefore, you are a poet.”


Her poetry captures a pulsating collective unconscious of the feminine, revealing the subtleties of everyday life. She finds love in all its aspects—enchantment, life together, lack of love, falling out of love—a powerful catalyst for poems.




Photo by Camilo Lobo posted on Poet's Official Website



RISK POEM BY MARIA REZENDE



Risk is not just a trait
it is the distance between one building and another
the difference between jump and leap


Risk is abundance and asphalt to traverse
it can be on foot
it can be by flying
risk is the slack rope set free in the air


Inside it fits calculation
fits fear and uncertainty
fits clear instinct impulse


Risk is the question attacking you at noon
it is the price of the dream to become reality
it is the voice of other people testing your will


To accept it is to know there does not exist
right road
straight line
easy life ahead


But what wing
wing
wing
only gains who plants in the darkness of the arm
this seed of being able to fly



TRANSLATION BY ROSALIENE BACCHUS



POEMA DE RISCO POR MARIA REZENDE



O risco não é só um traço
é a distância entre um prédio e outro
a diferença entre o pulo e o salto


O risco é riqueza e asfalto a percorrer
pode ser a pé
pode ser voar
o risco é o bambo da corda solta no ar


Dentro dele cabe cálculo
cabe medo e incerteza
cabe impulso instinto plano


O risco é a pergunta te atacando ao meio-dia
é o preço do sonho pra virar realidade
é a voz das outras gentes testando a tua vontade


Aceitá-lo é saber que não existe
estrada certa
linha reta
vida fácil pela frente


Mas que asa
asa
asa
só ganha quem planta no escuro do braço
essa semente de poder voar


SOURCE: Substantivo Feminino, poetry collection by Maria Rezende, published by Edição da Autora, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2003.