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[Angélica Freitas’] most famous book, a uterus is the size of a
fist, started from a series of concerns—about space, about the
female condition, about collective constructions. "I, as a reader,
wanted to read poems about what it is to be a woman. And I didn’t
find it in contemporary Brazilian poetry. I felt a need," explains
Angelica, who sees in poetry the means of investigation. "Poetry
is a genre that offers a lot of freedom to think, to write in
unconventional ways," she points out. "And I decided, then,
through these poems, to investigate what it is, after all, to be a
woman.”
"The origin of this title is the result of research. When I was getting
ready to write, I started researching to find out more about the
woman's body. I came to a website where it was explained that the
uterus is the size of a clenched fist and expands during
pregnancy," explains the poet, adding that the image of the fist was
used by movements such as the Black Panthers in the United
States. "And the clenched fist is the image of feminism as an image
of struggle. And I had never thought of this image of the womb as a
thing of force at all. Strength of the woman," she says.
~ EXCERPTS FROM ARTICLE “ANGÉLICA FREITAS: POESIA EXTREMA DO
COTIDIANO” BY ISABEL COSTA, JOURNAL O POVO, SEPTEMBER 28, 2017.
TRANSLATION BY ROSALIENE BACCHUS
ANGÉLICA FREITAS Publications and Feminism Estratégias Narrativas Belo Horizonte Minas Gerais June 2017
(18:51 MINUTES DURATION)
NARRATION IN PORTUGUESE
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a mulher é uma construção
Angélica Freitas
a mulher é uma construção
deve ser
a mulher basicamente é pra ser
um conjunto habitacional
tudo igual
tudo rebocado
só muda a cor
particularmente sou uma mulher
de tijolos à vista
nas reuniões sociais tendo a ser
a mais mal vestida
digo que sou jornalista
(a mulher é uma construção
com buracos demais
vaza
a revista nova é o ministério
dos assuntos cloacais
perdão
não se fala em merda na revista nova)
você é mulher
e se de repente acorda binária e azul
e passa o dia ligando e desligando a luz?
(você gosta de ser brasileira?
de se chamar virginia wolf?)
a mulher é uma construção
maquiagem é camuflagem
toda mulher tem um amigo gay
como é bom ter amigos
todos os amigos têm um amigo gay
que tem uma mulher
que o chama de fred astaire
neste ponto, já é tarde
as psicólogas do café freud
se olham e sorriem
nada vai mudar –
nada nunca vai mudar –
a mulher é uma construção
Poem from collection, um útero é do tamanho de um punho
by Angélica Freitas, São Paulo, Brazil, 2017.
SOURCE: Website of Antonio Miranda
the woman is a construction a mulher é uma construção by Angélica Freitas Translation by Rosaliene Bacchus
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the woman is a construction
must be
the woman is basically meant to be
a housing complex
all the same
everything plastered
just change the color
particularly I'm a woman
of bricks on display
in social gatherings having to be
the most hardly dressed
I say I'm a journalist
(the woman is a construction
with too many holes
leaks
the revista nova* is the ministry
of cloacal affairs
pardon me
do not talk about shit in the revista nova*)
you are a woman
and if you suddenly wake up binary and blue
and spend the day turning the light on and off?
(do you like being brazilian?
to be called virginia woolf?)
the woman is a construction
makeup is camouflage
every woman has a gay friend
how good it is to have friends
all friends have a gay friend
who has a woman
who calls him fred astaire
at this point, it's already late
the psychologists of the freud coffee shop
look and smile
nothing is going to change–
nothing will ever change–
the woman is a construction
*Revista Nova is a Brazilian cosmopolitan women's magazine.
ANGÉLICA FREITAS is a
contemporary Brazilian poet
and translator, born in
Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul,
in 1973. She graduated in
journalism from the Federal
University of Rio Grande do
Sul. After living for a number
of years in the capital, Porto
Alegre, she moved to the city
of São Paulo, where she
worked as a reporter for the O
Estado de São Paulo
newspapers and the
Informática Hoje magazine.
In 2006, she began living
abroad for brief periods in
Holland, Bolivia, and
Argentina. Since then, she
has returned to her hometown
of Pelotas, where she now
resides.
Known in Brazil as a poet
who addresses themes of
feminism and everyday life,
she has published two books
of poetry:
~ Rilke Shake (2007) and
~ um útero é do tamanho de
um punho (2012) – awarded
the 2012 Paulista Association
of Art Critics Award for best
poetry collection.