Translated by Julia Willemyns
SAVANNAH
If I asked you for the stillness of time, father,
A postponed body, still,
and recounted the trips to you
we would take in the olden times
and my words could
warm your gaze, bring it back
to my ground, to my hands,
like the stories you used to tell me
and then we would laugh, whole.
If I asked you for the stillness of time, father,
to restart life, to rebuild
the ruins, gather all the bones
to give you back the light of the savannah
and the trees’ breathing, the inexhaustible song
of the earth, of the river beneath us
and of the wild look in the gazelles’ eyes
on the tawny back of dawn.
If I asked you for the stillness of time, father,
to restart all over again,
childhood and sand flowing through us,
nothing but music and the savannah’s secret
the tribe’s fire, the dancing
and the everlasting times
of the old tongues
that intertwine with the gods
and the dust.
Maria João Cantinho is a secondary school teacher and she taught at IADE (Creative University of Lisbon) between 2011 e 2015. She's a member of the PEN Portuguese Club Direction, of APE (Portuguese Writers Association), and of APCL (Portuguese Literary Critics Association). She contributes regularly to the Magazine Colóquio-Letras, Jornal de Letras, and to a number of publications. She organised Poetry Anthologies to Blanco Móvil, Lichtungen, Aujourd’hui Poème. She published collective books about Emanuel Levinas, Paul Calan, María Zambrano. She curates the collection Trás-os-Mares (Editora Circuito, Brazil), collection MU – Continente Perdido (Editora Exclamação), and the Essay collection of Azougue Editorial (Brazil). She was awarded the Prémio Glória de Sant’Anna 2017 for her book Do Ínfimo (Coisas de Ler, 2016), and shortlisted for the Prémio PEN de Poesia (2017). She has published a number of books of fiction, poetry and essay.
Julia Willemyns is currently studying Modern and Medieval languages (French and Portuguese) at the University of Oxford. Born to Brazilian-Argentinian parents and raised in Hong Kong, she is particularly passionate about Latin America, frequently covering the region for publications like the Oxford Political Review and Sounds and Colours. In her spare time, Julia also writes poetry and prose.