AUTHOR ROSALIENE BACCHUS


Reaching minds and hearts through storytelling



SIMPLE RECIPE FOR A GOOD LIFE BY BRAZILIAN POET DIRCEU VILLA



DIRCEU VILLA is a Brazilian poet, translator, and essayist. Born in 1975 in São Paulo, he holds a doctorate in English Literature from the University of São Paulo (USP), studying the Renaissance in England and Italy with a doctoral internship in London, and a post-doctorate in Brazilian Literature, revising the canon of Portuguese-language poetry.


He has taught literature in postgraduate courses at USP and undergraduate courses at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP). For over six years, he has been a professor at the Poetic Translation Workshop at Casa Guilherme de Almeida, Center for Literary Translation Studies.


He has published five collections of poetry:

• MCMXCVIII (1998)

• Descort (2003) – winner of Nascent Award

• Icterofagia (2008) – winner of the Cultural Action Award

• Transformador: Anthology (2014), and

• Couraça (2020)


Published in several anthologies and magazines, Villa’s poetry has been translated into English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.


Villa has also translated works by authors such as Lovecraft, James Joyce, Joseph Conrad, Homer, Ezra Pound, and Mairéad Byrne.


Photo of Poet published on Acapivara Cultural, Instagram, May 2025.



SIMPLE RECIPE FOR A GOOD LIFE BY DIRCEU VILLA



to transform oneself into a Sunday distraction: the

other days, as everyone does, are endured

insufferable, and even Sunday evening turns bitter,

that acrid stench of automatic Mondays,


step by step of those squeezed into the metro, of the cries of

urgency and results at work: slave, think about

life, but without time to think? the world tells you:

[keep quiet, head down, count the success in


figures in your account: buy and shut up, and cheer for a

good sleep under the silence of so much weathered roofing],

the clothes, leave them separated the night before, ironed and ready: it is being prepared for everything, but accustomed to nothing.




Translation by Rosaliene Bacchus




RECEITA SIMPLES PARA O BEM-VIVER POR DIRCEU VILLA



transformar-se numa distração de domingo: os

outros dias, como toda a gente faz, suportam-se

insuportáveis, e até domingo entardece amargo,

aquele fedor acre das segundas-feiras automáticas,


pé ante pé dos espremidos no metrô, dos gritos de

pressa e resultado no trabalho: escravo, pensa na

vida, mas sem tempo de pensar? o mundo te diz:

[segue quieto, de cabeça baixa, conta o sucesso em


cifras na tua conta: compra e cala, e torce por um

bom sono sob o silêncio de tanta telha descorada],

a roupa, deixa separada de véspera, passada e pronta:

é estar preparado para tudo, mas habituado ao nada.



SOURCE: Ruído Manifesto Literary Magazine, São Paulo, Brazil, June 13, 2013.