It hurts me this longingfor the shock of bodieswounding each other with tendernessit pains me that distant memoryof your dressfalling at our feetIt hurts me the longingfor that time when I inhabited youlike salt infusing the sealike light contractingthe surprised pupils of the eyesWhen will I be your shadow again, your desireyour relentless nightsyour persistence, your needIam weakwithout youIwas water, vegetal sapNow I’m a trembling droplet, an exposed rootMy lovebring againthe clarity of waterput my vagabond tenderness back to workdive your fingersinto the spell of my chestand chase from my deepest cavethe beasts that torment my sleep
Longing
Mia Couto
Translated from the Portuguese by Joana Araújo & Zack Rogow
Feature Date
- December 8, 2020
Series
- Translation
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Translation Copyright © 2020 by Joana Araújo & Zack Rogow
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission.
Mia Couto (1955– ) is a Mozambican poet, fiction writer, and journalist. Initially trained in biology and medicine, he changed careers to pursue journalism. A supporter of the movement for the independence of his country, he became the director of the Mozambique Information Agency after that nation broke away from Portugal. He later edited the journal Tempo. His honors as a writer include the Neustadt Prize, often compared to the Nobel Prize; and the Camões Prize. Best known as a fiction writer, Couto is also a remarkable and passionate poet. In recent years, he has returned to his roots as a scientist and works as a biologist for Limpopo Transfrontier Park.
Joana Araújo is a Portuguese-English bilingual content reviewer onsite at a Fortune 100 company in Cupertino, California. Her translations of poetry from Portuguese have been published in Catamaran Literary Reader, Michigan Quarterly Review, and the Xavier Review. She received her bachelor’s degree from the Catholic University of Lisbon. In Portugal, she worked as a journalist and a TV production assistant. In 2002 she moved to San Francisco where she earned her MA in broadcasting arts and was a graduate assistant at San Francisco State University.
Zack Rogow was a co-winner of the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Award for Earthlight by André Breton, and winner of a Bay Area Book Reviewers Award (BABRA) for his translation of George Sand’s novel, Horace. His co-translation of Shipwrecked on a Traffic Island and Other Previously Untranslated Gems by Colette was published by SUNY Press. His English version of Colette’s novel Green Wheat was published by Sarabande Books and nominated for the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Award and for the Northern California Book Award in translation.
zackrogow.com
Summer 2020
Ann Arbor, Michigan
University of Michigan
Editor
Khaled Mattawa
Poetry Editor
Carlina Duan
Managing Editor
Aaron J. Stone
Michigan Quarterly Review is an interdisciplinary and international literary journal, combining distinctive voices in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, as well as works in translation. Our work extends online as well, where we publish cultural commentary alongside reviews and interviews with writers, artists, and cultural figures around the world. The flagship literary journal of the University of Michigan, our magazine embraces creative urgency and cultural relevance, aiming to challenge conventions and address long-overdue conversations. As we continue to promote an expansive and inclusive vision, we seek work from established and emerging writers with diverse aesthetics and experiences.
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