NOT NECESSARY

Written by José Eduardo Degrazia

Translated from the Portuguese by the poet

Narrated by Bill Wolak

Brazil

In the season of May

the birds stop the sun

at my window.

Fine breakfast with toast,

and a pale face of a woman

breathing knives

over the old wooden table.

Poems are not necessary

            I think –

but I write them.

José Eduardo Degrazia was born in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 1951. He is an ophthalmologist. As a writer, he has published 19 books of short stories, poetry, and novels. Some of his books of poetry include: Permanent Lavra, 1975; Submerged City, 1979; The Guaraní Urn, 2004; Body of Brazil, 2011; and The Fleeting Flower, 2011;. As a translator of Spanish and Italian, he has published 14 books, among them, 07 by Pablo Neruda. He has received the following awards: Award of the Colonization and Immigration Biennium with Permanent Land, 1974; Contest Award from Status Magazine, 1978; Award of theater of the SNT with the play The House of the Impossibles, 1975; Finalist of the Nestlé prize of Literature, of 1996, with The Record Athlete; Finalist of the Azorean Prize with the Wild Lions of Tanganyika, 2003. 2006 The Best Translation South Prize with Pablo Neruda’s books Book of the Year Award of the Gaúcha Association of Writers – with the novel The Kingdom of Macambira – 2006 Award from the Mihai Eminescu International Academy of Romania for the Work in prose – 2012. International Prize of Poetry of Trieste of 2013. Prize of Poetry of the Union of Writers of Moldavia. 2015. Translation Award of the Association of Publishers of Romania – 2016.