هاريس فلافيانوس: قصة برازيلية

النص الإنجليزي

HARIS VLAVIANOS

A Brazilian Tale

Iota;
In my room, the world seems unfathomable.
Yet, when I wander in this strange setting,
I see that it is made of three or four hills,
a beach with palm trees,
and a cloud in the shape of an alligator.
The island is getting ready to welcome the carnival.
as I am giving into her deft hands with ease.

Iota;Iota;

With the eye of a gigantic pernilongo,
I carefully study the place.
Here the day is spent
on a robust mulata slowly taking her clothes off
(unsuspicious of my voluptuous sting)
and a garrulous bartender buying me caipirinhas with maracuja
to test, as he claims, the gregorsquo;s limits.

Iota;Iota;Iota;

Joatilde;o, the young drummer,
consumed with the thrill of sambodromo,
(what a word that binds the well-known dance with a parade!)
sleeps under a banana tree in the garden.
The new moon,
a thin sliver of a ripe manga,
slowly rises through his dirty hair.

IV

On the beach, the Brazilian attorney of German descent
(the obvious offspring of one of Wehrmachtrsquo;s lieutenant):
ldquo;The Holocaust was
a secular settlement of karmardquo;.
Finally, here is a genuinely frigid heart!
From which of the rings of the inferno
has this disgusting minhoca sprung from?

V

I walk into the shack where Joaquim lives
with his dying father.
ldquo;Do you believe in life after deathrdquo;, he asks.
ldquo;I do not know, how about you?rdquo;
ldquo;I cannot say with certaintyrdquo;.
And after a while, clearly answering himself:
ldquo;Anyway, God is an over-simplificationrdquo;.

VI

And the color of the sea, like the eyes of little Christ
who greets me at the entrance of the village with arms wide open.
(At his feet lies a sail with the predictable saying: ldquo;Jesus salvardquo;).
The summer here either shows its sharp teeth or no longer is.
I taste guaranaacute; with the tip of my tongue.
I love this palavra. Its flavour returns me to the age
when the name of happiness had one syllable: you.

VII

Little Esmeralda dreams of a villa in Maimimdash;
of lying down under the same, erect palm trees,
of diving into the murky waters of the same ocean,
of eating the same supermac with the same pre-fried potatoes,
of dancing bossa nova with a rich Cuban,
of finally living like an original American
in the United States of Brazil.

VIII

ldquo;The houses with the high ceilings and the Victorian chandeliers
(the mansions of an once English-speaking senhor)
watch the white-temple men chase little girls.
If there was more sun, more light,
maybe the passions would have dwindled a little.
But this rain, these drowsy, humid afternoons,
is the devil laughing at our doings, laughing, laughing his head offrdquo;.

Iota;Chi;

Few books on the shelves in the office.
Among the history of Latin America, Rockefellerrsquo;s biography
and a guidebook with Dalai Lamarsquo;s aphorisms,
(with the obvious new age title: The Art of Happiness),
I discover a volume with Chekhovrsquo;s short stories (in an English translation).
I suddenly realize how happy I am to know
that this man has existed.

Chi;

I board the little boat.
As it begins to sail away from the dock,
she loosens her hair scarf,
and hurls it into the sea.
ldquo;Forsake merdquo; she cries,
ldquo;for only then will you remember me once you are awayquot;.

(The poem already knows where you hide and binds you there forever.)

Ilhabela, Satilde;o Sebastiatilde;o

NOTES
Caipirinha: a popular Brazilian drink made of vodka, lime and a little sugar. Many people prefer mangalpha; or maracujaacute; (a tropical fruit that tastes like passion fruit) to lime. One can make caipirinha with sake or pinga.

Sambodromo: The word literally means, ldquo;the road on which all samba schools paraderdquo;. In reality, it is a long way with rows of seats on both sides, where thousands of spectators are packed to cheer their favorite dancers on.

Minhoca: worm.

Jesus salva: Christ saves.

Guaranaacute;: the root of a tropical fruit of which they make a popular soft drink.

Palavra: word.