New Year Marathon

go with the flow with the flow with the flow
go with the flow with the flow with the flow
go with the flow with the flow with the flow
go with the flow with the flow with the flow
go with the flow with the flow with the flow
go with the flow with the flow with the flow
go with the flow with the flow with the flow
go with the
hhhh
go with the flow with the flow with the flow
go with the flow with the flow with the flow
go with the flow wi
go
hhhh
go go
go go go with the flow
go go with
the flow
hhhh
the
fl
the flow with the flow
g

Tô nuir

am a-goin'

Mudança

on the move. again. de novo. em mudanças.

hoje vou andar por aí. vou daqui para ali por acolá e carrego comigo isto aquilo e aqueloutro. se não te importas traz este caixote e essa chaleira eléctrica mais aquele sacalhão de edredons.

quando lá chegar estarei finalmente cá, aquele torna-se de hoje para amanhã este e além é de repente aqui. vou agora, e entretanto será depois. vemo-nos logo, lá adiante. até já.

Калинка

Калинка, калинка, калинка моя! В саду ягода малинка, малинка моя!

.
Ах, под сосною, под зеленою, Спать положите вы меня! Ай-люли, люли, ай-люли, Спать положите вы меня.
.

Калинка, калинка, калинка моя! В саду ягода малинка, малинка моя!
.

Ах, сосенушка ты зеленая, Не шуми же надо мной! Ай-люли, люли, ай-люли, Не шуми же надо мной!
.

Калинка, калинка, калинка моя! В саду ягода малинка, малинка моя!
.

Ах, красавица, душа-девица, Полюби же ты меня! Ай-люли, люли, ай-люли, Полюби же ты меня!
.

Калинка, калинка, калинка моя! В саду ягода малинка, малинка моя!

Tre(m)ble

we were seven

one went to bed early

one is getting drunk on ginger ale

two jumped out the window

Catrina

catrina's doves were passed on from hand to hand
to end up at the new farm, the dovecote of saint john

the dovecote of saint john, the little rose farm
my mother sent me to the spring but i broke the jug

my mother sent me to the spring in the peak of heat
i broke the jug giving water to my love

oh mother do not beat me, i am just a little girl
i have broken it and it is broken

i have broken the jug

Underwater

A água da chuva desce a ladeira.

É uma água ansiosa.

Faz lagos e rios pequenos, e cheira

A terra a ditosa.

.

(Fernando Pessoa)

Menos zero negativos

agarrem-se
cá vamos nós

Gloom

for no reason but the pulsation of the night, i feel industrial. rust and grit were my crib and oily tweezers made me, now plastic hugs my shape and a price tag far too high hides my eyes. i am clockwork, even if broken.

(um dois um dois experiência

já vi que sei dizer o oposto

do que me parece

)

Birmânia

não sei que te diga, fizeste-te encarnada como quem achou que agora é que é venha o toiro que lhe pego pelos cornos. veio o toiro mais os cornos e fez-te mais encarnada ainda. e ainda que esvoacem por aqui boas vontades, não há quem as encarne para poderem entrar sem limpar os pés, de bandeirola hasteada e um rubor santo nas bochechas mais o fatito e o chapelito e as meias justas até ao joelho - olé toiro olé, larga esses cordeiros que agora é comigo.
.
não sei que te diga.

Lingo

(for Raimunda)

Oxford English Dictionary

Lingo n. (pl. -s or -es) colloq. 1 foreign language. 2 vocabulary of a special subject or group. [probably from Portuguese lingoa from Latin lingua tongue]

Snow White and the Chocolate Muffin

even as snow white opened the door, she was certain she would find the old lady with the apple standing on the porch again.

'i've told you before, evil queen, i'm not falling for the poisoned app'

but what she saw stopped her in her tracks. gleaming in the late afternoon sun, scores of chocolate muffins neatly arranged in a basket. held up to her by a beautiful young girl - blue eyes and red hair and freckles and all - who smiled the shiniest smile s.w. had ever seen.

'for you, madam. we live next door, my mom has just baked these delicious chocolate muffins to welcome you to the neighbourhood. and there's enough for the seven dwarves as well - we can only imagine how difficult it must be to make ends meet when you have eight mouths to feed everyday.'

'oh i don't know what to say, oh you shouldn't have, oh that's awfully sweet, oh they look positively scrumptious', s.w. muttered with teary eyes as she accepted the generous token. 'are they really chocolate, no funny mixtures? i have a very sensitive stomach, you see, my gastroenterologist says that's what keeps me this slender.'

and she grabbed one of the small round muffins from the basket, admiring its deep brown, its inviting glaze, its tempting chocolate chips.

'nothing but pure chocolate', the little girl replied, 'none of that cheap processed cocoa powder crap.'

in her rapture, s.w. failed to aprehend the hint of the girl's last word, surely unfitting her gracious innocent countenance - and in ecstasy sunk her newly polished teeth into the tender dough.

intense delight spread through every single nerve of her body, only to be chased by convulsion. nausea. both her hands covering her mouth, the muffins scattered all over the floor. back sliding down the doorpost. the whole world in a crazed spin. with her last remaining energy, s.w. searched for the little girl. but she was nowhere to be seen.

a pitch-dark voice echoed above the treetops the very moment s.w. lost consciousness.

'oh did i mention ricotta? i hope you're not lactose intolerant. muhwa. muhwahaha.'

The dead of night

in it there's often light.

Amsterdam Housing Inc.

you get what you can get, and we don't want to hear another word on the subject. we don't care if your landlady has left all the closets full of her underwear, it's not our business if the landlord wants you to pay for the 1957 oven that ceased to work, we couldn't be bothered if they hold you responsible for the asfixiation of their petunias, cold drafts or gas leaks aren't our problem. what were you expecting? incidentally, there's a waiting list of 5.218 poor bastards for this property. and my favourite cocktail is a Fuzzy Navel.

Uji

"Quem quiser tomar conhecimento com a planta de chá, nas melhores condições de prosperidade e em mais belas galas de aspecto pitoresco, tem de ir até Uji, distante quinze milhas de Quioto; escolhendo de preferência um dos primeiros dias de Maio, quando os rebentos novos começam vicejando, o que marca o início da faina da colheita.

.

[...]

O quadro é deveras aprazível. Após uma banal estação de linha férrea, estende-se a cidadezinha garrida, com as suas vielas muito limpas e a fila de lojinhas abarrotada de vária mercancia.

Depois segue-se o rio, de águas límpidas e frescas, rico de tradições de glória; galga-se a ponte em arco, entra-se no bairro das chaias, dos hotéis, em tal quadra povoados de fregueses galhofeiros e de gentis mulheres, as gueichas, que cantam ou dedilham no inseparável chamicen;

e vêm depois os campos, vastos campos de chá a sucederem-se pelo horizonte fora, cuidados como jardins, em longos alinhamentos de arbustos, copados, arredondados, lembrando enormes manjericos, de delicada rama de um verde escuro bronzeado; no azul distante, alguns famosos templos se recortam."

Wenceslau de Moraes, O culto do chá (1905)

It's alive

this blog;

and kicking!

Big in Japan

.
plastic flesh cement image water stone plastic heat façade fabric flesh light flesh paper plastic sound tar glass wood organic organic fabric organic light glaze façade speed plastic glass light heat cool sound glass image heat paper sound flesh heat plastic flesh wood cement tar flesh cool organic plastic metal sound cement glass water light metal image organic flesh cool plastic glaze light sound metal speed flesh heat tar speed image sound cement cement glass façade cool wood flesh light metal plastic fabric sound water plastic

Nihon

não me queixo mas é que não
estou aqui estou no japão
e enquanto lá estiver
façam favor de vir ver
se coloco aqui um póste
algo de jeito ou alguma bóste
se puser é bom sinal
se não puser não faz mal
vou partir e vou na brasa
façam de conta qu'estão em vossa casa
.

guess i should have got a fan

i shall soon be in japan

while i go and get back here

do make sure you will draw near

check if there is any news

of pickpockets or a cruise

if i can i will drop by

share a laugh or share a sigh

all the world is mine to roam

so just make yourselves at home

Questions in the shade

the joint-venture of profecy and interpretation, dogma has it that questions reside in the shade.

.

"thus spake herlindo the holy guru of antioch: 'lo (ok?) and behold, see you not the shadow of the question-mark and the fashion in which it covers the sun?'."

.

centuries down the line, ed velhinho the zenith of hermeneutics announced 'eureka, questions are in the shade'. at present, junior and less inspired scholars, eager of fame and fortune, quarrel in two camps of further interpretation. 'questions melt', say some. 'questions have sensitive skin, possibly freckles', contend the others.

.

'questions are in the shade'. and yet, one look through the window will reveal the city lamps all ablaze in broad daylight. and the first warm light of the month too. in the fleeting shade of a passing cloud, irreverent spirits demand justification. '1984 is past and long gone, is it the intention of the authorities to dissipate shade? to dissipate questions? to dissipate opposition? what is in sto' (interruption as sunlight returns, but presently a new cloud appears) 're for us the people? what dark business is at hand? how much does a litre of extra virgin olive oil go for these days? who is responsible for this outrageous waste of energy, and what about the ozone layer? how do i look? is this real silk or are'

.

and instantly summer arrives solid (if brief), no clouds in sight and the lamps all shining, and like a herd the populace moves to the seashore, unquestioning of the blackness of the sand, the propriety of topless, the concrete on the dunes, the price of icecream, the ridicule of many a bikini blockprinted with orange flowers and bright green hummingbirds on an acid yellow background.

Dogma

know thyself om nama shivaya

.

tommy is a dog she must be male

.

your eyelids are heavy you're feeling tired you're feeling sleepy you're you're snap

.

blondes prefer men

.

belong

.

violets are violet oranges are orange greens are green icecubes can be blue

.

i was sleeping just before i woke up

.

!enif eb ll'uoy dna eit a no tup

.

it was not the doctor's fault

.

you're almost perfect we're almost perfect look around you it's almost perfect

.

it pays to unbelong

.

they're next to nothing (nothing's breath stinks)

.

care we

.

hay is to be what bee is to see and she is to me

.

i hope you didn't hope you'd see the light shivaya om nama

Não perguntes

que eu não

digo

.

Urbi et Orbi

és tão linda assim de

serta de

gente.

.

you are so fair thus empti

ed of

people

.

.

.

(yes i took this photo myself)

ALF

i always thought i had it in me it turns out i don't really. but some people do some people write and then deserve to be read and some of those have been to amsterdam. those of those who have been to amsterdam have probably been shot by me. with a photo-producing soul-capturing click-going contraption that is. may 15th to 20th the amsterdam literary festival descended upon the city like a winged thing a thing of beauty a thing like a... a thing a... oh i told you i don't have it.

generous spirits known to gentiles as organisers took me in as the festival's official photographer special badge hanging from my neck and all oh i feel so grown up now my first ever assignment little me is a big man now and so on. and so the festival began to swirl around me so fast that capturing it on camera required high iso brief shutter speed as high an aperture as possible and some postprocessing. but inspecting the net and having thrown away all the tin cans and algae there stood in full glory john hegley and his ukulele

and stella duffy's hypnotic breaststrokes

and atlas launched through space by amal and sudeep

and extravagant insanity befitting the city

.

and dark and damp and disco catacombes

and so much so much so much more.

and then it came to pass that the glory of the temple was invaded by poetry and prose and lo and behold a curtain the hue of tar descended from heaven to hide the inscrutable ways of the festival from those not willing to pay a ticket.

halt. i have clicked much more than i have shown in this oh so very uncannily horizontal collection - attention span oblige - and i have seen much more than i have clicked and i remember much more than i have seen.

do drop by next year for dessert.

É demais

édemaispáagorajáchega ouvenãojácheganãopodenãopossomais estoucansadopá
chega não nãopáchega bolasagorajáédemais

Foi bonita a festa pá

30.4.07, koninginnedag, eng. queen's day.
mode of usage:

- dazzle

- parade
- display
- bargain
- amass
- litter
- flee

Afresh

as you read these
li
n
es i a
m moving to my ne
w home. if you spot me riding a 'vet
cool bakfiets' through th
e streets of west amst
erdam
do stop and say h
i
.

wa/ondering if a new house will renew the colours i feed on.

Clique

promise you will not
say anything un
til you have list
ened to the song fu

lly
loud

.

.

but for one language in australia, clicks are
a specialty of africa
the ultimate click fest is !Xóõ
with eighty-three different ones
but the language you hear/re is Xhosa.
.

isn't ours a wonderful species?

Válvula

ou,
um post onde se possa coment
ar, celebrar ou lamen
tar a discussão que se desen
rola no anterior
"De tarde".
sintam-se em casa, estejam à vontade

para dizer o

que vos aprouver.
.

to all unlusophone readers:

bear with us for a wh

ile longer

something other-worldy is taking place in this bl

og right now

. please check back later for

post-folly words

of wisdom.

De tarde

"naquele pique-nique de burguesas,
houve uma coisa simplesmente bela,
e que, sem ter história nem grandezas,
em todo o caso dava uma aguarela.
.
foi quando tu, descendo do burrico,
foste colher, sem imposturas tolas,
a um granzoal azul de grão-de-bico
um ramalhete rubro de papoulas.
.
pouco depois, em cima duns penhascos,
nós acampámos, inda o sol se via;
e houve talhadas de melão, damascos,
e pão-de-ló molhado em malvasia.
.
mas, todo púrpuro a sair da renda
dos teus dois seios como duas rolas,
era o supremo encanto da merenda
o ramalhete rubro das papoulas!"
.

cesário verde

Faço

years old
today

Home

.

vou ali

e

já volto

.

any requests may be addressed to heaven

i shall endeavour to reply in between

harp sessions

Monção

back to the land of

the (eternal) monsoon. home sweet ho

lland.

see you in a bit.

The Queen cometh

all along the watery contour of fort cochin, the excitement is immense, children splash in the shallow water holding intermittent hands with slightly more composed adults. the liquid border is theirs alone who are not afraid of wetting their clothes and in return receive unhindered views of the strait.
.if your eyes are young, or if you strain your ageing ones across the canal, you may recognise a mirror atmosphere on the coast of vypeen, the neighbouring island. a mass of humans gently heaving in the distance, defined mostly by the occasional red of a sari or a t-shirt enticing one to fly emirates. the beach is clearly not enough, luckily the chinese fishing nets provide fragile jutting platforms for the most adventurous of youngsters. elbows already touch alien bellies, but there is easy laughter and a good-humoured willingness to make room for that five second group photo.
.

today is the day, cochin and environs are to receive an honour without equal – cochin alone in the whole of india, imagine -, one that confirms it as the city on the world’s lips. the Queen is coming, in fact she is already here and about to leave in between the frenetic cheers of half of kerala’s population. viperine tongues say, how curious that a general strike has been called in the entire state for this day only. doubting the socialistness of the gesture. heretics, heretics all.
.

unlike that royal visit to bom-mum-bay-bai in nineteen eleven, no need for a stone arc de triomphe to be erected in cochin. the Queen has not even been able to land, she has simply touched lips with land, mediated by slick protruding appendices. the build-up of human spirit, however, must have been similar nearly a century ago and a number of degrees further north.
.

she finally comes into sight braving the waves, seen first by those across the water in vypeen - their excited cry does not reach us -, then by the youths shouting from the tip of the fishing nets; finally her magnificence unfolds in full view of the entire crowd. and majestic she is, like no other on the blue earth, travelling in a serene height that leaves more than one of the spectators gasping for air.
.

the children lead the way with their crazed hand-waving and wholewheat yodelling, very soon the multitude joins in. with a long dull yawn as befits royalty, the Queen Mary Two or Second - opinion is divided on shore - salutes the stay-behinders and draws attention to the arm-wriggling ecstasy of the go-forthers being moved on her womb out of the ancient port.
.

when another yawn reaches from the west, the festival quickly dies out. not many stay behind as the ship painstakingly shrinks into mist, they’re taking its flat skyscraper monstrosity home on their digital cameras and mobile phones. the water has returned to opaque gray. there may be some more rejoicing later on as the tv reports the event, but the long wait has taken its toll on stomachs. the crowds haphazardly transfer to the inland carts selling vadas and dosas with sprite and halved pomegranates.