Brazil

I always wonder how to deal with enormous countries—and Brazil is an enormous country, being the fifth largest by area and the fifth most populous. And it shares a border with nearly every South American country—it misses Ecuador and Chile. Plus, it’s the odd man out in Latin America: it was the Portuguese not the Spanish that carved out this enormous swathe of land. So let’s celebrate the independence that was declared for Brazil in 1822—though it took till 1825 for it to be recognised. And meanwhile, remember that while, when we think of Brazil we also think: Rio!, the capital is Brasília. And let’s all bless Pelé.

Among the native tribes, apparently there are as many as 67 different tribes still living today without contact with the outside world—in 2005 the Fundação Nacional do Índio reported only 40. Now the country is believed to have the largest population of uncontacted peoples in the world. I have been trying to figure out how I feel about this. In a way I think it’s wonderful for these tribes to go on uninterrupted—but at the same time the rest of us are doing such damage to the planet that I wonder how much it impinges on these tribes, and what we should be doing about it. And I don’t want to romanticise uncontacted tribes—I just hate to see what contact has done to indigenous peoples in some parts of the world. And yes, I of course see that contact could be beneficial as well as detrimental…

After staking their claim, it took a while for Portugal to really get interested in Brazil—other than as a supplier of brazilwood that is. When people started to settle permanently they also started the sugarcane industry. Rio—as in de Janeiro—was set up in 1567.

Brazil also became a temporary seat for the Portuguese court—since they were fleeing from Napoleon’s troops. When the Portuguese moved back to Lisbon the Brazilians started to think seriously about independence from the new United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Dom Pedro became the first emperor of Brazil. When Dom Pedro stepped down his son was only five, and the country was administered by regents for nine years, until Pedro II became emporer. And he stay emperor for a long time. Don’t believe it? He was eventually deposed, via a Republican military coup, in 1889.

This wasn’t the last time Brazil saw military taking power—a military junta took power in 1930, with a dictatorial ruler staying until 1945. A break for a while, and then another military government after a coup d’état in 1964. This military government stayed in place until 1985. These days democracy has been re-established.

Ah, the Amazon rainforest. Pumas, jaguars, ocelots. Sloths. Hopefully they won’t disappear with all the development that’s been going on.

Today’s poem is by Carlos Drummon de Andrade—a well known Brazilian poet, though no means the only one. (Venture out. Find some more. I dare you.) This poem comes from The Vintage Book of Contemporary World Poetry and was translated from the Portuguese by Mark Strand—who is, of course, also a very fine poet.

Seven-Sided Poem

When I was born, one of the crooked
angels who live in shadow, said:
Carlos, go on! Be gauche in life.

The houses watch the men,
men who run after women.
If the afternoon had been blue,
there might have been less desire.

The trolley goes by full of legs:
white legs, black legs, yellow legs.
My God, why all the legs?
my heart asks. But my eyes
ask nothing at all.

The man behind the mustache
is serious, simple, and strong.
He hardly ever speaks.
He has a few, choice friends,
the man behind the spectacle and the mustache.

My God, why hast Thou forsaken me
if Thou knew’st I was not God,
if Thou knew’st that I was weak?

Universe, vast universe,
if I had been named Eugene
that would not be what I mean
but it would go into verse
faster.

Universe, vast universe,
my heart is vaster.

I oughtn’t to tell you,
but this moon
and this brandy
play the devil with one’s emotions.

—Carlos Drummond de Andrade
from The Vintage Book of Contemporary World Poetry
translated from the Portuguese by Mark Strand