The Poems of Renata Ferreira

by Frank X. Gaspar

Renata Ferreira's poems were composed in the final years of Portugal's fascist regime, exposing and subverting the government's draconian edicts against women's rights, sexual freedoms, political dissent, and progressive thought. While she worked in the resistance as a clandestine writer, passing hand-typed bulletins and banned literature throughout Lisbon, her poetry is unmistakably ardent, tender, fraught, erotic, and Sapphic. Presenting the poems of this Portuguese-­American writer and detailing their surprising rediscovery in 2015, Frank X. Gaspar fuses genres, flouts borders, and brings to life a voice that had been silenced by history and happenstance. As his inventive narrative unfolds, Ferreira emerges, whole and mysterious, offering up her history, her passions, and her art.

168 pages, Paperback

Published January 6, 2020

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short book is written in three sections. Each section is interesting, but in a lot of the poetry, I felt not quite smart enough to appreciate it as fully. It's not the poet's fault. I have the same problem with a lot of what my son writes and there are pieces that if he doesn't walk me through it, I would be lost.

[Anna Scotti · Rating 5 out of 5]

This intriguing hybrid from the respected poet and novelist will blow your mind! The lengthy forward reminded me of Frank Conroy's Stop Time in style, and provides a delicious peek into the tumultuous sixties for those who missed the adventure. The poems are lovely in their own right, but when you unlock the secret of this slim volume, you'll enjoy them even more. Don't let review references to Portugal's Carnation Revolution scare you off - every aspect of this book is fascinating.

[Tasha Seegmiller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally different from what I typically read, and so fascinating. The commentary Gaspar provides before the poems and insights into them after added depth to understanding and enhanced the appreciation I have for the work of this woman.

[Lalondeseattle · Rating 5 out of 5]

For fans of Frank X. Gaspar, “The Poems of Renata Ferreira” reads like a sequel to Gaspar's coming of age novel, “Leaving Pico,” itself a vivid and earthy novel of growing up Portuguese in Provincetown, Rhode Island.

Renata is yet another colorful character from his Portuguese youth. Gaspar follows her to “genteel” Bohemian New York in the early 70s, as the war in Vietnam rages on and heroin is the rage. In the Forward to the Poems, Gaspar tells us that Renata escaped fascist Portugal at age four, in 1939. “She was tall and dark with curly black hair cut very short and she wore blue jeans and blue chambray work shirts and smoked Camel cigarettes, no filter. There was always a package of the left hand flap of her shirt… Her eyes were deep brown, flecked with something lighter...”

And then we discover that this little volume is a hybrid, of autobiographical fiction, poetry and literary commentary. It takes form in three parts – the prose Forward; The Poems of Renata Ferreira; and the Notes, consisting of footnotes on Renata, her poems and a wealth of minutiae of those bohemian times.

In his annotations, Gaspar reveals that the book is anchored in the heteronyms of Portugal’s ‘great modernist poet,’ Fernando Pessoa, who was “inhabited by a number of distinct personalities.” Pessoa wrote (heteronyms) in the voices of these various channeled authors. And Gaspar maintains that Renata ‘channeled’ her poems to him. He also notes that two of Renata’s poems are, in fact, Renata channeling Pessoa: “Renata not mentioning Pessoa seems to indicate her understanding that a heteronym is indeed a separate entity.”

The titular poetry is the beating heart of this confabulation, resonating with Renata’s antiwar sentiments and her often-lyrical voice: '…it was just at that hour when you feel the dusk on your skin like an oiled hand… there is a little beast inside all of us gnawing at the doors… everyone lies because the truth is always worse…'

And in ‘war,’ Renata, writes:

'it is correct to escape into any form
you can manage sometimes
just breathing is resistance'

While in ‘notas,’ we are swept away by a single, vivid fascist moment:

'today boy was arrested for having a battery-powered radio
he was stripped in the square the crowd refused to look at him'

In ‘edge,’ one cannot help hearing Gaspar’s voice behind the veil, describing his heteronymic experience of Renata’s channeled poetry:

'I have learned to enjoy the terror of being
alone alongside the terror of being with someone else
you can go to sleep that way, you'd be surprised'

Whatever you choose to believe, “The Poems of Renata Ferreira” resonates with Renata’s voice and the era from which she was brought back to life. The later is no surprise coming from Gaspar, the author of two novels, and six volumes of poetry. Renata picked the perfect voice through which to speak.

[Mia · Rating 2 out of 5]

A paean to freemasonry wrapped in poetry.

This book is a nod to freemasonry. Renata, dark on the inside, comes as 'light' on the outside, which is simple Luciferian doctrine a la Blavatsky and Besant. This 'light' provokes rebellion, ie political revolution, and is the engine for the writing of the poetry, which arrives to the narrator through some occult means. Luciferian doctrine in this book is explored at a political level as well as an individual one. This author may be an occultist himself, or he may just be an observer. But this book indicates interest in the occult; specifically, in theosophy / freemasonry (which some call Satanism).

The poetry is better than average, but it can't compensate for the stench that freemasonry brings; nothing can. The last thing we need is books which promote it, covering in 'light' what is actual darkness. I would imagine that this book appeals to other freemasons such as Mormons, who will surely catch this nod of admiration towards their secrecy.

No amount of good poetry can compensate for the stench of secret societies.

[Liza Rodman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved every minute.