Paulo Leminski
Translated from the Portuguese by Elisa Wouk Almino
Four Poems
I came by the difficult path,
the neverending line,
the line hits the rock,
the word bends a corner,
minimal empty line,
the line, an entire life,
word, word that’s mine.
three halves
midday
one day and a half,
midday, half-night
half of this poem
doesn’t show in the photograph
half, half is gone.
But there’s the third half,
the one that’s a lesser dose
of real math
than a punch, shot, or horse’s kick,
that comes and goes like a kind
of or, of nor, or of almost.
As if we had
halves that don’t match,
three parts, forecasts
three times or times three,
as if almost, existing,
we were only missing a maybe.
I made you
now
I am your god
poem
kneel
and
adore
me
what is it
that lies below
that the rock tumbles
so easily?