World

by Ana Luísa Amaral, Margaret Jull Costa (Translator)

Poems of effervescent grace―about nature, magpies, reality, “the unreasons of this world,” and spiders―from one of Portugal’s most beloved poets, published in a beautiful bilingual edition World ―Ana Luísa Amaral’s second collection with New Directions―offers a new exhilarating set of poems that convey wonder, bemusement, and an ever-deepening appreciation of life. Weaving the thread that connects the poem to life, World speaks of our immense human perplexity in the face of everything around us and our oneness with it all. As Amaral notes, all of us, “humans and non-humans, are on the same ontological level, the differences being only a matter of perspective. We are all made of the same stuff as dreams―and stars.” Asked about her thoughts on World , Amaral’s peerless translator Margaret Jull Costa “What I take from this collection of poems is a sense of joy in the ordinary―seeing an ant going about its business, or a bee or a fish, or the feeling of sharing a whole history with a particular table, or watching a very ordinary woman sitting on a train playing with the handle of her handbag. World also brings us meditations on colonization, slavery, and whaling. Like the world, it is full of surprises and full of joy and sadness.” These vibrant, exultant poems invite you to share this marvelous Yes, all you need (how easy!) is to say yes .

Genres: Poetry

144 pages, Paperback

Published April 4, 2023

About the author

ANA LUÍSA AMARAL nasceu em Lisboa, a 5 de Abril de 1956. Doutorada em Literatura Norte-Americana com uma tese sobre Emily Dickinson, ensinou Literatura Inglesa no Departamento de Estudos Anglo-Americanos da Faculdade de Letras do Porto. Autora de oito livros de poesia e dois livros infantis, está representada em diversas antologias portuguesas e estrangeiras e foi traduzida para várias línguas, como castelhano, inglês, francês, alemão, holandês, russo, búlgaro e croata. Faleceu a 6 de Agosto de 2022.

Reviews

[Nicholas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ode to the living breathing world.