Novembro, mês do Anjo Torto

TORQUATO NETO (1944-1972)

Torquato Neto was born in Teresina, Piaui, in 1944. In 1972 he committed suicide in Rio de Janeiro. One ofthe founders of the Tropicalist movement with Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, Neto wrote the lyrics for "Geléia Geral," one ofthe key songs of the movement. His activities also included directing and acting in underground films. He co-edited the vanguard poetry journal Navilouca (1972). In the early 1970s, he wrote a column for the newspaper Ultima Hora in Rio de Janeiro. His only book of poetry, Os últimos dias de paupéria (São Paulo: Max Limonad, 1982)., was published posthumously, edited by Waly Salomão.

Cogito

eu sou como eu sou

pronome

pessoal intransferível

do homem que iniciei

na medida do impossível

eu sou como eu sou

agora

sem grandes segredos dantes

sem novos secretos dentes

nesta hora

eu sou como eu sou

presente

desferrolhado indecente

feito um pedaço de mim

eu sou como sou

vidente

e vivo tranquilamente

todas as horas do fim

(from Os últimos dias de paupéria, 1982)

Cogito

I am as I am

a pronoun

untransferable

from the man I began

at the measure of the impossible

I am as I am

now

without great secrets beneath

without new secret teeth

at this hour

I am as I am

present

unleashed, indecent

like a piece of myself

I am as I am

visionary

and I live peacefully

all the hours of the end

—Translated from the Portuguese by Dana Steven

Let´s Play That

quando eu nasci
um anjo louco muito louco
veio ler a minha mão
não era um anjo barroco
era um anjo muito louco, torto
com asas de avião
eis que esse anjo me disse
apertando a minha mão
com um sorriso entre dentes
vai bicho desafinar
o coro dos contentes
vai bicho desafinar
o coro dos contentes
let´s play that

(musicada por Jards Macalé,
from Os últimos dias de paupéria, 1982)

Let´s Play That

when I was born
a crazy, very crazy angel
came to read my palm
it wasn´t a baroque angel
it was a crazy, crooked angel
with wings like a plane
and behold, this angel told me,
pressing my hand
with a clenched smile:
go on, pal, sing off key
in the happy people´s choir
go on, pal, sing of key
in the happy people´s choir
let´s play that

(set to music by Jards Macalé
translated from Portuguese by Dana Stevens)

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