THEY GROW AN AWFUL LOT OF AWFUL IN BRAZIL

by Steven Kent

"'We will not surrender': Bolsonaro militants demand coup as Lula prepares to take power.” —The Guardian, December 22, 2022

Law and order, we demand.

   A military coup

Will go (we hope!) the way we planned,

   Since Bolsonaro's through.

Ironic? Sure, but that's our way;

   The Left will not enjoy it

When Right makes might makes right. We say,

   To save Brazil, destroy it!

Steven Kent is the poetic alter ego of writer, musician, and Oxford comma enthusiast Kent Burnside. His work appears in Light, Lighten Up Online, Snakeskin, and OEDILF, among others.

LULA WINS!

by Indran Amirthanayagam

We have a chance

 

to reduce the burning and looting of the Amazon.

 

We have a chance

 

to support green technologies in one of the world's ten largest economies.

 

We have a chance

 

that the poor, the left out and the abused will have a champion again in the Alvorada Palace.

 

We have a chance

 

that a reasonable, negotiating left-of-center government will join hands with its neighbors and work towards climate justice and advancing human rights worldwide.

 

We have a chance

Indran Amirthanayagam is the translator of Origami: Selected Poems of Manuel Ulacia (Dialogos Books). Ten Thousand Steps Against the Tyrant (BroadstoneBooks) is the newest collection of Indran's own poems. Recently published is Blue Window (Ventana Azul), translated by Jennifer Rathbun.(Dialogos Books). In 2020, Indran produced a “world" record by publishing three new poetry books written in three languages: The Migrant States (Hanging Loose Press, New York), Sur l'île nostalgique (L’Harmattan, Paris) and Lírica a tiempo (Mesa Redonda, Lima). He writes in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Haitian Creole and has twenty poetry books as well as a music album Rankont Dout. He edits The Beltway Poetry Quarterly and helps curate Ablucionistas. He won the Paterson Prize and received fellowships from The Foundation for the Contemporary Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, US/Mexico Fund For Culture, and the MacDowell Colony. He hosts the Poetry Channel on YouTube and publishes poetry books with Sara Cahill Marron at Beltway Editions.

 

FIRST ROUND, BRAZIL

by Indran Amirthanayagam

The former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, speaking after election results were announced on Sunday. Mr. da Silva and President Jair Bolsonaro will face each other in a runoff later this month. Photo Credit: Victor Moriyama for The New York Times

Credit...Victor Moriyama for The New York Times

It's a long night with strong emotion,
the whole world is listening to the results,
and after seventy percent counted
Lula finally has a slight advantage.
I am tranquil now, the world quiet. 
It's like the dice game between 
the Pandavas and the Kauravas, 
or between Putin and the allies,
 
or it's just an election. We must 
not let our fears get out. We 
will see tomorrow. Let's go 
to work for the Amazon 
 
rainforest, for humble workers 
who appreciate the labor of 
one of their own. Lula, my 
brother, even though I live 
 
far from Brazil, today and 
always, I join the community 
of the left, of human and animal 
rights, of plant, forest and land 
 
rights. of rights that are going
with you to the Alvorada Palace.

***

É uma longa noite com uma emoção forte,

todo o mundo está escutando os resultados
e depois de setenta por cento contado
Lula tem finalmente uma leve vantagem.
 
Estou tranquilo agora. O mundo 
é tranquilo. É como o jogo de dados 
entre os Pandavas e os Kauravas, 
o entre Putin e os aliados,
 
o é uma simples eleição. Não 
devemos deixar que os medos saiam. 
Veremos amanhã. Vamos 
a trabalhar para a Mata Amazonas, 
 
para os trabalhadores humildes 
que apreciam o labor dum deles, 
Lula, meu irmão. Ainda 
que moro longe da Brasil
 
hoje e sempre me uno 
a comunidade da esquerda, 
dos direitos humanos e animais, 
de direitos de plantas e de floresta, 
 
de direitos da terra, de direitos 
que vão com você ao Palácio da Alvorada.

Indran Amirthanayagam's newest book is Ten Thousand Steps Against the Tyrant (BroadstoneBooks). Recently published is Blue Window (Ventana Azul), translated by Jennifer Rathbun.(Dialogos Books). In 2020, Indran produced a “world" record by publishing three new poetry books written in three languages: The Migrant States (Hanging Loose Press, New York), Sur l'île nostalgique (L’Harmattan, Paris) and Lírica a tiempo (Mesa Redonda, Lima). He writes in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Haitian Creole and has twenty poetry books as well as a music album Rankont Dout. He edits The Beltway Poetry Quarterly and helps curate Ablucionistas. He won the Paterson Prize and received fellowships from The Foundation for the Contemporary Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, US/Mexico Fund For Culture, and the MacDowell Colony. He hosts the Poetry Channel on YouTube and publishes poetry books with Sara Cahill Marron at Beltway Editions.