Undeniable

By dowry I received you at birth
and I recognize your speech in my voice.
At your core, like the seed in the fruit
the verse in the poem, I exist.

Seaside house, unchosen source!
I belong to you and call you mine
like my mother whom I did not choose
but nonetheless love.

Metamorphosis

For Francisco da Silva, Gito
In memoriam

Today the words say nothing of shipwrecks.
Just petals
Invisible petals
Infinite petals
And at the tip of our fingers
The phantom of a sweet, livable City.
Its garments of purple and legend
Its body, stubborn fruit and just distribution.
We are witnesses to a precise metamorphosis.

Translations from the Portuguese
By David Shook

In World Literature Today, Conceição Lima’s collection of poetry, translated by David Shook, just won the Northern California Translation Award in Poetry for 2025. You can order the book using the link below.

Conceiçao Lima was born in 1961 in the island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe, where she resides today. She studied journalism in Portugal and attended graduate school in London, where she later worked as a producer at the BBC’s Portuguese Language Service. Read Less
She has published four books of poetry: O Útero da Casa (The Home’s Womb) in 2004, A Dolorosa Raiz do Micondó (The Painful Root of Micondó) in 2006, O País de Akendenguê (The Country of Akendenguê) in 2011, and Quando Florirem Salambás no Tecto do Pico (When the Velvet Tamarinds Flower Over Pico [de São Tomé]) in 2015. Her work in Shook’s translation has appeared in The Literary Review, Jai-Alai, and World Literature Today. https://wordswithoutborders.org/contributors/view/conceio-lima/

No Gods Live Here, the first book-length collection by a woman from São Tomé to appear in English, is grounded in the lush islands’ history of slavery, colonialism, and independence.

No Gods Live Here

Vision

The House of Many Shores envisions a world where the poetry of the Portuguese-speaking universe — from Portugal to Brazil, from Africa to Asia, and across the diaspora — is heard, valued, and celebrated in English. By bridging continents through verse, the series aspires to create a shared cultural home where readers everywhere can experience the richness, diversity, and humanity of Lusophone voices.

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Mission

The mission of The House of Many Shores is to gather, translate, and publish the poetic traditions of the Portuguese-speaking world in English, making them accessible to a global audience. This series:

• Preserves and amplifies the literary heritage of Lusophone communities.
• Builds bridges across cultures, continents, and generations through the universal language of poetry.
• Honors diversity, showcasing voices from Portugal, Brazil, Africa, Asia, and the diaspora.
• Inspires a sense of belonging, offering the Portuguese-speaking diaspora in North America and beyond a lyrical return to roots while inviting all readers into a shared poetic home.

We thank the Luso-American Education Foundation for its support of this project. To become a member of LAEF, use the link below.

https://event.auctria.com/5e89c412-a9f1-41b4-a429-1fad5b362180/