Each day, a page. Each page, a moon. Each moon, Álamo.

“A Gift to the English language” by Sharon Coleman

NCBR review of Through the Walls of Solitude: Selected Poetry by Álamo Oliveira, translated from Portuguese by Diniz Borges

Letras Lavadas Edições/Bruma Publications

This first book-length translation of Álamo Oliveira’s poetry introduces us to a major contemporary poet from the Azores, whose work is celebrated in Portuguese-speaking countries. Oliveira’s poetry lyrically weaves metaphysical and aesthetic concerns with the geo-political reality of living on an isolated archipelago in the Atlantic upon which global events have, at times, hinged—even as they mostly remain invisible to the rest of the world. Oliveira’s poetics is economic, lyrical, with surreal turns, but most of all historically and psychologically uncompromising in its view. The first section of the poetic sequence “ode of sea and wind” brings us the depth of his voice: “by the sea and the light rain / i lament this hunger of warships. // i am from the naked island / the island discovered by fog sails / on a morning of nothingness. / at every point / a shadow dances the dance / that i did have / in wave steps. / i have a dress of foam / with limpet shells/ and between my fingers / of mist and moon / i sift the clarity that falls from my eyes.” Diniz Borges has so adeptly translated the delicate timbre and soul depth of Oliveira’s poetic vision from Azorean Portuguese that this book is a gift to the English language.

Sharon Coleman, poet

2024 Northern California Book Awards – California Translation in Poetry

Through the Walls of Solitude was a finalist in 2024.