Maria Helena Weber
& Elton Uliana (translator)
Parênteses
Pretendo a palavra escrita, domada
não estas que me atropelam
e indômitas fogem da boca
burlam o pensamento
rasgam o corte sem sangue
delatam paixões antigas.
Não tenho tanto corpo para sílabas
não sei onde escondem a rima,
talvez entranhadas
naqueles que me habitam.
Preferia miar, grunhir, piar, rugir
a dizer as palavras pontiagudas
que escorrem e fedem
mas também beijam
e desviam o desejo curioso.
Talvez não haja o que fazer
Pois elas, as sílabas
já montaram sua biblioteca
no vão entre o fígado e meu espírito
nas muitas décadas, muitos saberes,
muitas dores, muitos amores
muitas páginas, filmes e músicas.
A memória é de gritos
e há pouco silencio para a poesia pretendida.
Parenthesis
I aim for the written word, tamed
not these that overwhelm me,
and unbridled escape from the mouth,
confounding thoughts,
tearing bloodless wounds,
betraying old passions.
I don’t have enough body for syllables.
I don’t know where the rhyme hides,
perhaps embedded
in those who inhabit me.
I’d rather meow, grunt, chirp, roar
than speak these sharp words
that spill and stink,
but also caress and embrace
and mislead
this disconcerting desire.
Perhaps nothing can be done.
For they – the syllables –
have already assembled their library
in the hollow between
my liver and soul
decades, knowledge
pains, loves,
pages, films, and songs.
Memory is made of sounds,
and there’s little silence left
for the poetry I intended.
Maria Helena Weber is a Brazilian writer whose work moves between poetry, fiction, and reflection on memory, language, and affect. She is the author of the short story collections Memórias na pele (IEL, 1989), Mulheres da vida (2008), and Na língua delas (Modelo de Nuven, 2018), as well as the recent novel Entre marés (Libretos, 2026).
Instagram: @maria_helena_weber
Elton Uliana is a Brazilian translator, critic, and writer based in London. His translations and criticism have appeared in Asymptote, Massachusetts Review, Latin American Literature Today, West Branch, Your Impossible Voice, and the anthology Daughters of Latin America (HarperCollins, 2023). He is co-editor of the Brazilian Translation Club at University College London (UCL).
Instagram: @eltonuliana
Twitter: @elton_uliana
Facebook: @elton.uliana