A cor do invisível

by Mario Quintana

Portugese

Genres: Poetry

125 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

I was born in Alegrete, on the 30th of July 1906. I believe that was the first thing that happened to me. And now they have asked me to speak of myself. Well! I always thought that every confession that wasn’t altered by art is indecent. My life is in my poems, my poems are myself, never have I written a comma that wasn’t a confession. Ah! but what they want are details, rawness, gossip...Here we go! I am 78 years old, but without age. Of ages, there are only two: either you are alive or dead. In the latter case, it is too old, because what was promised to us was eternity. I was born in the rigor of the winter, temperature: 1 degree °C; and still I was premature, which would leave me kind of complexed because I used to think I wasn’t ready. One day I discovered that someone as complete as Winston Churchill was born premature - the same thing happened to Sir Issac Newton! Excusez du peu... I prefer to cite the opinion of others about me. They say I am modest. On the contrary, I am so proud that I think I never reached the height of my writing. Because poetry is insatisfaction, an affliction of self-elevation. A satisfied poet doesn’t satisfy. They say I am timid. Nothing of the sort! I am very quiet, introspective. I don’t know why they subject the introverts to treatment. Only for not being as annoying at the rest?

It is exactly for detesting annoyingness, the lengthiness, that I love synthesis. Another element of poetry is the search for the form (not of the form), the dosage of words. Perhaps what contributes to my safety is the fact that I have been a practitioner of pharmacy for five years. Note that the same happened with Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Alberto de Oliveira, Erico Verissimo - they well know (or knew) what a loving fight with words means.

Reviews

[clemencia · Rating 3 out of 5]

no fim tu hás de ver que as coisas mais leves são as unicas que o vento não conseguiu levar.

tou feliz de saber que ele era tradutor!!!!
taba entre 3 ou 4 estrelas mas achei redundante por momentos, repetitivo e chatinho. me desculpamnmn

[Luciana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paz
Os caminhos estão descansando

[Dieli · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0

[Suellen Rubira · Rating 4 out of 5]

As coisas simples são as mais complexas de compreender. É preciso tempo e voltar.