António Ramos Rosa

I have to highlight poet António Ramos Rosa for his poem "A God Asleep in a Garden" [Um deus adormecido num jardim] here at PoetryInternational.

He has a really incredible style--like Hughes work about the jungle and the natural world but even better. This is the type of verse that should be in huge magazines about travel and world photography, or even WWD. I love the sense of wild movement. It really reminds me of the Águas da Amazônia score cds of the Brazilian instrumental group Uakti and Philip Glass. The music is exceptional, it's not really new age but is a great expression of water and rivers and the rain forest.

The names of the rivers are really neat, there's the Tiquiê, the Japurá, the Purus, the Negro, the Madeira, the Tapajós, the Paru, the Xingu and the Amazon. It all makes you want to book a ticket down there. 

Here's an excerpt:

I saw his smile in the shadows of the leaves                 Eu vi o seu sorriso sob a sombra das folhas
and watched him go to sleep. I felt a plunging              e vi-o adormecer. Senti que mergulhava
into placid waters. A treasure                                             em plácidas águas. Um tesouro
glittered among the stones and flowing weeds.              fulgurava entre as pedras e os limos.
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