Maria do Sameiro Barroso (Towards Visibility)

 Maria do Sameiro Barroso

POMEGRANATES

There are women, too, in the pleading night

never seen by blind eyes, 

lying dead among wounded lilies,

dark liquors, forgotten mirrors.

In the morning, I listen to their longings 

delved into their lips, hiding in their hair.

In their transparent skin, 

I read their music, 

their loving hearts, their moons of silk,

their ancient cornucopias.

They are surviving goddesses

of beauty, harmony and fertility

still carrying the red juices

of pomegranates

tattooed in the imposed barrenness 

they bear,

surviving in withered lives

of daily white deserts.

***

THE CRYSTAL OF A SCREAM

The silence is not a sweet

lullaby

for all those who take refuge 

in the blue turquoise

of the night.

The night is not sweet, 

when you are stripped 

of your integrity

and your heart departs,

beneath the acrid and avid brains 

that conquer, devour 

and oppress you.

Life is a bleak canvas.

But poems arise somehow, 

like grains of sand

thrown at random,

born from the crystal of a scream.

***

Maria do Sameiro Barroso (Portugal), considered one of the most original and outstanding voices of modern Portuguese Poetry, is a Medical Doctor, Family Medicine Specialist a Germanist and a multilingual and awarded poet, translator, essayist and researcher in Portuguese and German Literature, Translations Studies and History of Medicine. She has authored over 40 poetry books, translations and essays. Her poems are featured in over a hundred national and international magazines and anthologies. She is a Member of Honor of the Association Alia Mundi from Serbia, an Ambassador of Literacy and Culture of the ASIM SASAMI INDONESIA GLOBAL WRITERS of Indonesia, Intercontinental President of the Portuguese Speaking Countries of the Unión Hispanomundial de Escritores (E.H.E.), International Consultant of China Central Television's（CCTV) "Masters of Art", Beijing, China, 2023, Ambassador for Portugal and Honorary Doctorate Degree granted by Prodigy Life Academy USA, 2023.

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Setu, September 2023 :: Towards Visibility

MARIA DO SAMEIRO BARROSO, PORTUGAL

Dr. Maria do Sameiro Barroso is a Medical Doctor, a Germanist and a multilingual and awarded global poet, translator, essayist and researcher in Portuguese and German Literature, Translations Studies and History of Medicine. She is a Member of Honor of the Association Alia Mundi from Serbia and recipient of the Award of Literary Translators of Montenegro for Translation from the Portuguese Language (2022).

A FLOWER FLOATING ON THE WATER

Like an island where nothing 

ever arrives, 

neither boat, nor word, nor a hug,

that's how I feel.

But the sun keeps shining

and everything can happen

when you imagine yourself

sailing to an imaginary East.

One day, maybe!

Everything can happen!

I know.

But I don't know why I keep asking

for sweet palm tree dates 

on a rainy and lonely night.

If I could just anticipate

the gesture

of a flower floating on the water...

---

Solitude of Soul 2023 :: Setu, March 2023

Dr. Maria Do Sameiro Barroso, PORTUGAL

Exclusive: Best of Women Poetry: Edited by Padmaja Iyengar-Paddy

POMEGRANATES

There are women too, in the pleading night

never seen by blind eyes,

lying dead among wounded lilies,

dark liquors, forgotten mirrors.

In the morning, I listen to their longings

delved into their lips, hiding in their hairs.

In their transparent skin,

I read their music, their crops,

their wheat ears,

their loving hearts, their moons of silk,

their ancient cornucopias.

They are surviving goddesses

of beauty, harmony and fertility

still carrying the red juices

of pomegranates

tattooed in the imposed barrenness

they bear,

surviving in withered lives

of daily white deserts.

Dr. Maria Do Sameiro Barroso is a Medical Doctor, a multilingual poet, a Germanist, translator, essayist and researcher in the areas of Portuguese and German Literature, Translation Studies and History of Medicine, with over forty books of poetry published in several languages and countries. Her poems are translated into more than twenty languages. She is frequently invited to prestigious anthologies and literary events from across the world and has been awarded prestigious literary distinctions and prizes. 

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Best of Women Poetry -2020 :: Setu, March 2020

Dr. Maria do Sameiro Barroso

EVE: A QUESTION ON PARADISE

Paradise never existed,

Adam and Eve were already wounded

in their delightful bed

of leaves,

wrapped in the purest blue shades,

cradled by the breezes of the Zephyr,

as read in the mythical narration

stained by sin and by the lower

ordering of woman.

Adam had one more rib,

a supernumerary rib,

something he did not need.

Eve was born from it, as innocent

as the wine grapes, the apples f the orchard

or the tears that she silently

shed.

Eve loved the sun, Adam and the serpents

that entrusted to her the secrets of the earth.

She loved the light around her,

and Paradise existed there,

in the place where Eve was fed

with the red berries,

her spirit blossoming

from her entire body

away from all narratives.

Eve survived in the light of exile,

resplending in the primordial innocence,

with Adam replicating Life

in the sinless aura

of guiltless silence.

WOUNDED ROSE

No sweetness comes to her at night,

but she cradles all that take refuge

 in her blue turquoise sky.

Her night is not sweet, nor her life,

deprived of its integrity under the acrid

and eager brains that conquer,

devour and oppress.

No sweetness touches her.

Life is a secluded canvas.

But poems grow like grains of sand

in the crystal of a cry.

In a restless supplicant tear,

the bitter complaint

appoints her place in the cruelty

of its absurd coherence.

Yet she sings with the sea, the lyre,

the shimmering wave,

and pours the balm and the poem

in the music of celestial lutes

when the diamonds of the night echo

in the sealed mystery of despair,

floating in the wounded sounds

of her clamouring verses.

AQUARIUM

Women are also aquariums,

fruitful islands of misty glow,

insightful glance, steep breasts,

forests of eternity.

They are invisible goddesses on earth.

Sometimes, they disguise themselves,

they live with other faces,

and hide behind veils of myosotis,

black eyelids absorbing like sponges

the brightness of the sea,

and the blackness of the world.

They hold the torch of life,

the palms of peace,

sprinkling the dream, the word,

living by the sea in houses

of mother of pearl,

keeping their mystery,

faithful to their harps, their songs,

hovering like birds

with bruised wings

on the looms of silk

of their ancestral heritage.

Dr. Maria do Sameiro Barroso, medical doctor, and a multilingual poet, translator, essayist and researcher, Vice-President of the Portuguese Pen Centre between 2012-2014, member of the World Poetry Movement (WPM), Portuguese Cultural Delegate of the Poetic Liceo of Benidorm, Honor Member of the Circle of Mozambican Writers in the Diaspora, has authored 45 books of poetry, published in Portugal, Brazil, Spain, France, Serbia, Belgium, Albany, and USA, and translation and books of essays. Her poems are translated into twenty languages. She organizes anthologies, cultural events, and is invited to international poetry festivals. She was awarded with several literary poetry prizes.

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Women, Power & Creativity :: Setu, March 2019