About Portunhol

One of the languages I write and post in is Portunhol, a border language that is usually considered to be a dialect of Portuguese. I find it interesting that little Portugal is the source of twice as many visits to this poetry blog as giant Brazil, and has been doing it a lot longer. I ascribe this to the small amount of respect accorded to Portunhol, both in Brazil and in the neighboring Spanish-speaking countries. Although it seldom gets written, I think it is a fine and poetic language, and I am trying to turn my version of it, Portunhol Surenho, into a literary language. There are about a hundred examples in the blog.

I Would Say Goodnight

I would say goodnight, sisters and brothers, but concepts such as "day" and "night," "today," and "tomorrow" seem parochial and artificial, like the national borders and time zones drawn on maps and globes. The past is a stick with which they drive us, and the future is a dangling carrot. All we really have, all we have ever had, is the earth and the "now." We need to do better with the "now," we need to do it together, and we need to do it *now*.

Hoper's Rap

I am the hoper,
the interloper,

don't fit the mold,
if truth be told,

'cause in the long range
I'll struggle for change

both night and day
'til I find a way

for you and me
to be free,

to be free.

When I Look in the Mirror

When I look in the mirror,
what I see is not me.
It is only this layer,
this one iteration.
I am more,
much more.
The skin is too light,
sex not always right,
go back,
go back
to before.
Peer over
time's wall,
and see
us all.

The World Needs Poetry

This poetry blog has now been in existence for six months and one week. It has had 11,000 visits, from approximately 40 countries. Thank you, and please keep visiting. The world needs poetry.

The Door

There is an old door,
both beaten and worn,
through which comes light.
If you grasp the handle
and pull it wide
you leave this night,
this dream,
and step into
the light
of the other
side.

Torch Flames

Gerald, Doreen, Stewart, Margot,
Judy, Gavin, Marion,and many more,
you are all stars
in my firmament.
Earth, Air, Fire, Water,
and Spirit
are you,
worshipers of the Goddess,
worshipers of Life,
now together again
in the Summerland
of our hope.
You are torch flames
in the wind
of a new era.