Filamentos-segunda edição-second issue

ARTES E LETRAS NA DIÁSPORA AÇORIANA ARTS AND LETTERS IN THE AZOREAN DIASPORA SEGUNDA EDIÇÃO ABRIL 2023

Contents 3

em poucas palavras

4

o vento escreve de viagem

7

saudade poética em pedro da silveira

10

interview with elaine àvila / gávea-brown

25 contos populares portugueses da carlifórnia 26 os malditos

FICHA técnica Director: Diniz Borges Editorial Board: Linda carvalho-Cooley; Eugénia Fernandes, Emiliana Silva and Micahel DeMattos Advisory Board: Onésimo Almeida, Duarte Silva, Teresa Martins Marques, Renato Alvim, Debbie Ávla, Manuel Costa Fontes, Vamberto Freitas, Irene M. F. Balyer and Lélia Pereira Nunes Designer: Humberto Ventura - www.illustratetheweb.com

2

a different outlook and other paradigms between and with various worlds in our world.

Governmental and private

entities, academia, cultural agents and activists, literary creators, and the media

EM poucas palavras...

- we all need to have a different view of our diaspora, its multiple generations, and its relationship with the land of origin, creating spaces that are more comprehensive, more cohesive, and in tune with the realities of the 21st century.

Diniz Borges

A segunda edição da revista literária Filamentos aqui está com uma amalgama de trabalhos para continuarmos com o diálogo literário e cultural entre os Açores, a sua diáspora e o mundo lusófono. É imperativo que a criatividade literária, as constantes atividades culturais sejam conhecidas e refletidas em ambos os lados do atlântico e nas duas línguas da nossa diáspora. É tempo de haver um outro esforço e outros paradigmas neste nosso mundo entre e com vários mundos. As entidades, governamentais e privadas; a

Foto de diniz borges

academia, os agentes e ativistas culturais, os criadores literários, a comunicação social – todos, teremos de ter uma outra visão sobre a nossa diáspora, as suas múltiplas gerações e o seu relacionamento com a terra de origem, criando espaços que sejam mais abrangentes, mais coesos e em sintonia com as realidades do século XXI. .

The

second

edition

of

the

literary

magazine Filamentos has a collection of works to continue the literary and cultural dialogue between the Azores, its diaspora, and

the

Literary

Portuguese-speaking

world.

creativity,

cultural

constant

activities must be known and reflected on both sides of the Atlantic and in the two languages of our diaspora. It is time for

3

emoções poéticas, passavam para a

O VENTO ESCREVE DE VIAGEM

escolha de um título que despertasse a curiosidade do leitor. Os desafios titulares eram

sempre

convincentes:

Silêncio

Vertical, Por dentro das Viagens, Galope em 4 Esporas, Cardiolírica, Mitologia das Armas, Os Deuses Morrem de Costas, Salmo à Rainha de Sabá e Outros Poemas, Nas Barbas de Deus. Todos estes títulos vestem 270 poemas, que se

Álamo Oliveira

perseguem numa evolução temática que, inicialmente, não disfarça o regionalismo, conquistando depressa o universal. Dizse universal porque se ajusta a temas

Quando Borges Martins publicou Silêncio

sociais problemáticos e contundentes: a

Vertical (1971) surpreendeu os habituais

fome, a corrupção, a guerra, a hipocrisia,

leitores terceirenses pela divulgação de

a amoralidade e imoralidade, o poder

uma poesia que tinha, a começar pelo

ditatorial, a barbaridade da injustiça.

próprio título do livro, uma coloração

Mas esta poesia também fala dos nobres

surrealizante, num tempo em que o

valores sociais, destacando o amor.

surrealismo já era passado silencioso.

Apesar de fora de moda da escrita poética,

Quando se entendeu organizar a reedição

Borges Martins desenvolveu esse estilo

da poesia de Borges Martins – a qual, há

não só com persistência mas também

muito, se encontrava esgotada ou inédita

com um perfecionismo invejável. Colheu

– foram previstos esforços atendendo à

desenvoltura e talento sobretudo na

forma mais ou menos anárquica da sua

coletânea publicada em 1999, titulada por

escrita. Porém, isso não aconteceu. Até os

Nas Barbas de Deus. De alguma forma

poemas inéditos estavam arrumados em

também, terá sido o último surrealista

pastas, embora não subjugados a título.

português assumido.

Também os poemas não selecionados devem ter levado tolerado sumiço. Esta

Borges Martins escrevia por vocação

arrumação

dentro de um espaço vivencial tocado

genérico para a poesia reunida de Borges

pela espontaneidade. Isto é: não era poeta

Martins, mas uma pequena folha de

de horários preestabelecidos. Escrevia

papel trazia sugestões como esta O Vento

abusivamente em excesso, sem escolher

Escreve de Viagem, título destinado a

hora nem lugar. Podia atingir as duas

lembrar os seus «30 anos de poesia». Foi o

centenas de poemas sem interrupção,

t´tulo utilizado, uma vez que os tais trinta

sob as admoestações da companheira que

anos estavam já ultrapassados e a ideia

procurava poupar-lhe a saúde. Mais tarde,

fora do próprio Poeta. anos de poesia».

Borges Martins separava o trigo do joio.

Foi o t´tulo utilizado, uma vez que os tais

As centenas ficavam reduzidas a dezenas.

trinta anos estavam já ultrapassados e a

O seu sentido crítico, desmotivado das

ideia fora do próprio Poeta.

4

não

inspirava

um

título

ao lado: convite “ o vento escreve de viagem” Em baixo: lançamento do livro “O vento escreve de viagem”

5

Borges Martins, como quase todos os

pedrosa, respondeu: «Nem penses nisso.»

poetas da sua geração, publicou os seus

Leitor viciado, Victor Rui Dores escreveu

primeiros livros a expensas próprias,

que «A poesia de Borges Martins combate

fazendo tiragens pequenas, mas que se

a simplificação hipócrita da vida e quer

vendiam nas livrarias locais e esgotavam.

decifrar o enigma dos dias. Para isso,

O investimento retornava quase sempre e

mergulha no lado de lá da verdade ilusória,

não havia recurso a qualquer aliciamento

socorrendo-se da metáfora surrealista,

de mercado. Só a partir de Os Deuses

instrumento privilegiado deste poeta.»

Morrem de Costas é que a poesia de Borges Martins conheceu casa editorial.

Com a publicação de Cardiolírica (1984),

No entanto, as suas antologias sobre

Emanuel Jorge Botelho escreveu: «O

improvisadores foram publicadas pela,

corpo, o que o corpo pode corporizar é

então, Direção Regional dos Assuntos

aqui (…) lugar por onde tudo passa, sítio

Culturais e pela Blu Edições. De resto,

de vida em vigília, vigilante aproximação

todos nos contentávamos com uma

a vigiados sítios da vida.// Por ele,

simples referência nos jornais de Angra.

para ele, passa a purificação de águas várias.// Livro de marca, livro marcado

Nas décadas de 60 e 70, que apanha

por um cinzelamento muito próprio, este

uma geração de poetas terceirenses

Cardiolírica há-de ficar como «página»

etariamente

virada (…) na obra de Borges Martins.»

abrangente,

havia

dois

diários em Angra que dedicavam algum espaço à vida cultural açoriana, mas com

Toda a poesia do poeta de Nas Barbas

os cuidados de se mostrar que nada era

de Deus é uma leitura lúcida, arrepiante

anti-regime. Porém, a vida cultural era

e terna do fim do século e do milénio,

criativa e era tolerada. Borges Martins

com vivências, contradições, injustiças,

pertencia a esta geração.

conquistas científicas, ignorâncias não superadas,

ideologias

flageladas

ou

O Vento Escreve de Viagem, conforme já

inconsequentes, etc.. É um retrato pintado

foi referido, junta o que, eventualmente,

a negro, onde o Bem anda condenado a

será toda a poesia de Borges Martins.

ser subjugado pela prepotência do Mal,

A sua família, herdeira do seu espólio,

através de referências que evocam o

confiou-me contato com todos os escritos

sagrado e o profano.

do Poeta. Agradeço penhoradamente a

Deixo este apelo: a poesia de Borges

deferência.

Martins cumpre, de forma especial a

O

meu

agradecimento

ao

Instituto

imposição de Natália Correia, que «a

Açoriano de Cultura por ter aceite e

poesia é para comer», pois tem substância

concretizado a minha proposta, o que veio

e condimento para entusiasmar o leitor

permitir este nosso encontro na nobreza

mais cético e de maior fastio poético.

deste espaço.

Termino, agradecendo à boa maneira do Poeta: «agradeço aos deuses a ternura

Apenas

mais

umas

pequenas

notas

de voltar/ a ser salgueiro branco

sobre a importância literária de Borges Martins,

como

esta

afirmação

aérea/ que o tempo apagou.»

dita

espontaneamente por Pedro da Silveira:

Raminho, Janeiro de 2023

«Ele é o único poeta da vossa geração que terá maior projeção no futuro.» E eu?! – perguntei. Com uma gargalhada à

6

folha

sob o ângulo poético, ou seja, nas suas manifestações de silêncio, harmonia, som, mistério e deslumbramento. Na interpretação saudosa entra o ímpeto dum espírito participado, finito e contingente,

A «saudade poética» em Pedro da Silveira:

dorido pela sua imperfeição, de que se desprende o ritmo, a beleza linear, a frescura e a energia, o movimento e outras imagens sensíveis de perfeições longínquas que no espírito intérprete admira e cobiça, (…).» (Ferreira, 1984: 735) Ora, na poesia de Pedro da Silveira, essa saudade poética resulta da sublimação da perda da ilha-mãe, através da criação de uma alteridade imagética animada pela

matriz insular ou sedere português?

melancolia e pelo deslumbramento «…/E só de pensar-me partindo/embarco e, deslumbrado, /imagino-me chegado às

Ângela de Almeida

ilhas. /…» (Silveira, 2019: 97) –. O poema «Saudade», que escreve em 1944, é lapidar na criação de uma rêverie propícia

«A

saudade

é

uma

um

símbolo

linguístico

palavra-mãe, que

a assinalar a saudade trazida ao sujeito

abre

poético pela perda de um paraíso-abrigo

imediatamente o pensamento a zonas

materno:

que porventura esqueceria, se não fosse a prospecção secular de todo um povo,

Onde estará agora a que ficou no cais

através de muitos séculos, ter partido

quando eu parti?

da vivência original da soledade ou

Tinha o olhar cheio de lágrimas

da soidade,

e com o lenço abanava.(…)

para chegar à vivência da

saudade, que é aquela em que a solidão

Um fio de fumo fluía da chaminé do

se descobre potencialmente transcen-

vapor,

dível pelo amor, ou, de outro ângulo,

a sereia apitou o último adeus e vim-me

aquela em que o presente se descobre

embora. …

como eternidade, vinculado no passado

(Silveira, 2019:33)

pela lembrança, vinculado pelo futuro do desejo.» (Quadros,1984:750)

Este tema da partida e da despedida inscreve-se no sedere português: desde

A saudade ou o «brasão da sensibilidade

os primórdios da nossa Literatura, as

portuguesa» (Lourenço, 1997: 113), é

Cantigas de Amigo e de Amor deram conta

analisada por Ferreira (1984: 726-748),

das peregrinações e da guerra. Mais tarde,

que distingue «saudosismo lusitano»,

Camões, no imortal canto, escreve «…/

de «saudosismo poético», «saudosismo

Que, posto que é de amor usança boa, /

ontológico» e «saudosismo religioso»,

A quem se aparta, ou fica, mais magoa/…»

atribuindo ao «saudosismo poético»

(Canto IV, 93/104).

«a interpretação saudosa do mundo,

7

Já no século XX, Camilo Pessanha

Na poesia de Pedro da Silveira, há,

lembra «…/… lenços adeus, vai partir o

sem dúvida, uma «saudade poética»,

navio/…» (Pessanha, 1987:71). E, claro,

que sugere a lonjura, a perda, o êxodo,

Álvaro de Campos, na exteriorização de

mas

uma «saudade lusitana», evoca o «cais

maternidade líquida oceânica, trazida

absoluto». Todavia, no caso de Pedro

pelo mar insular e pela vastidão do pró-

da Silveira, há uma especificidade: as

prio oceano: «O meu desejo abarca todas

ilhas, e especialmente a mais ocidental

as ilhas do Mar/…/A mim, o Mar!»

da Europa, neste caso, estava votada

(Silveira, 2019: 100).

a um isolamento atroz: até 1966, as

uma espécie de abraço, à maneira de

comunicações faziam-se exclusivamente

Whitman, que, por vezes, coloca o poeta

por via marítima. Mas não só: ficar na ilha,

muito para além do espaço insular

significava viver apartado dos grandes

açórico. E, neste aspecto, concordamos

centros portugueses de conhecimento

com Urbano Bettencourt, quando refere

–Lisboa,

«…a

Porto,

Coimbra.

particularidade

Eis

uma

que

é,

também,

consciência

progressivamente

extraordinariamente

de

apologia

da

Há, por isso,

uma

distância

aprofundada

entre

importante: para estudar ou para ter

o poeta e o seu espaço original…»

acesso ao conhecimento, era necessário

(Bettencourt, 2019: 13). Quanto a essa

ser emigrante dentro do próprio país.

maternidade líquida oceânica, há um

Em outras ilhas, assistimos à mesma

universo plurívoco, trazido pelo mar-

realidade: Antero de Quental, Natália

símbolo de prisão e fronteira, na evoca-

Correia,

também

ção da ilha-mãe longe - «…/O mar…/

partiram e acusaram a mesma perda da

(você o disse Jorge Barbosa) /é hoje a

ilha-mãe. A conhecida carta de Quental

nossa prisão sem grades/…» (Silveira,

a Whilhelm Storck é lapidar- «…ao sair,

2019: 83) -, pelo mar-berço líquido

pobre criança arrancada do viver quase

materno insular - «…/ o mesmo mar

patriarcal de uma província remota e

de outrora/…» (Silveira,2019: 28) -

imersa no plácido sono histórico, para o

finalmente, pelo Mar primordial- «o Mar,

meio da irrespeitosa agitação intelectual

Sempre» (Silveira, 2019: 191).

de um centro, onde mais ou menos vi-

Ou seja, a poesia de Pedro da Silveira

nham

Vitorino

repercutir-se

Nemésio

e,

as

encontradas

é morada de uma «saudade poética»,

espírito

moderno.…»

lugar de representação da nostalgia e do

(Quental: 1989: 833-834). Mas, a memória

deslumbramento que a ausência da ilha-

do cais da partida e da despedida será

mãe e da maternidade oceânica evocam.

partilhada por Nemésio – o «cais vazio», o

Todavia, essa «saudade poética», por

cais onde «… Não chega vela , nem jamais

manifestar-se a partir da partida e da

/Asa ou ponta de lenço/ Ensina porto ou

despedida é, também, uma característica

saudade/…» (Nemésio, 1940: 19-20) – e

profundamente

por Natália Correia, no primeiro soneto,

a saudade (re)une passado e futuro, o

publicado em 1946:

poeta exprimirá a sua «Última Vontade»,

correntes

do

portuguesa.

E

como

para a qual conta com o que ficou de tudo o que perdeu:

Ai madrugada pálida e sombria Em que deixei a terra dos meus pais…

E aquele adeus que a voz do mar

Sejas tu, assim, amigo Mar

traziaDum lenço branco, a acenar

No fundo frio das águas cegas,

no cais… /…

Com algas e pedras e peixes insensíveis,

(Correia, 1946: 1)

A última cama de paz onde me deite!

(Silveira, 2019: 200)

8

Referências Bibliográficas BETTENCOURT, Urbano (2019). «Pedro da Silveira e a Sua Poesia». Fui ao Mar Buscar Laranjas-Poesia Reunida.

Angra do Heroísmo: Instituto Açoriano de Cultura, 13.

CAMÕES, Luís de (1996). Os Lusíadas.

Emanuel Ramos Paulo, org. Porto: Porto Editora (1572, 1ªed.).

CAMPOS, Álvaro de (1993). Poesias.

Lisboa: Ática (1ªed., 1944).

em cima : foto de ângela de almeida em baixo: foto de pedro de silveira

CORREIA, Natália (1946). «Ai madrugada pálida e sombria». Portugal, Madeira e Açores, 7 de Abril de 1946, 1.

FERREIRA, João (1984). «A Saudade e o Saudosismo em Teixeira de Pascoaes».

Filosofia da Saudade. Afonso Botelho e António Braz Teixeira, org. e sel. Lisboa: Imprensa Nacional, 726-748.

LOURENÇO, Eduardo (1997). Portugal como Destino, seguido de Mitologia da Saudade. Lisboa: Gradiva (1999, 2ª. Ed.).

NEMÉSIO, Vitorino (1940), Eu, Comovido a Oeste. Lisboa: Revista de Portugal.

QUADROS, António (1984). «Teixeira de Pascoaes e a Filosofia da Saudade».

Filosofia da Saudade. Afonso Botelho e António Braz Teixeira, org. e sel. Lisboa: Imprensa Nacional,749-754.

PESSANHA, Camilo (1987). Clepsidra.

Lisboa: Ulisseia (1920, 1ª ed.)

QUENTAL, Antero de (1998). Cartas I. Ana Maria Almeida Martins, org., int., notas. Ponta Delgada: Universidade dos Açores e Editorial Comunicação.

SILVEIRA, Pedro (2019). Fui ao Mar Buscar laranjas-Poesia Reunida. Angra do Heroísmo: Instituto Açoriano de Cultura.

9

interview was Elaine’s play Fado: The Saddest Music in the World, about the inspiration of Amália, whom she calls in this play the Diva of the divas

Interview With Elaine Ávila/ Gávea-Brown

Elaine, you’ve been writing for a long time in various forms. What made you “return” to your roots in the writing of Fado: The Saddest Music in The World?

First, I must credit my cousin, Dr. Antônio

Vamberto Freitas

Terra, who worked for many years as a physician in Macau, which gave him a kind of pension allowing him to take trips, which he and the love of his life,

There is little more that I can say about

Cristina Rocha, used to gather those

the writer Elaine Ávila. She currently

of us who descended from the Terra

lives in Vancouver but was raised and

family (Alexandre, b. 1840 and Clara, b.

lived in Silicon Valley, where, she tells

1865, on my grandmother’s side, from

me, she was almost forbidden to be sad.

Ribeiras, Pico) into a complex family tree.

I understand her fully; my 27 years of life

Genealogy, at first, seemed to me a hobby,

in Southern California were more or less

but it is a powerful way to bring together

similar. What matters here is her career as

what has been severed. Terras are now

a professor and especially as a playwright

scattered in Canada, the U.S., the Azores,

and essayist. Anything I say here will

London, Macau, and mainland Portugal.

be an overstatement, for she mines her

When I met Antônio, he considered it a

mind and heart here as a luso-descendant

great tragedy that I had never seen where

writer as nobody, I believe, has ever done

we both are from the Azores.

in a conversation such as this one. Pico is her point of ancestral origins, from where

I grew up, almost entirely outside the

her great-grandfather first left in the mid-

Portuguese community, in Silicon Valley,

19th century on a whaling boat, his sisters

a place of extreme American optimism.

working as farm workers and factory

Sadness was almost forbidden. So, I found

workers in North America (California,

Antônio’s deep sentido (feeling) about

Massachusetts), and Canada is now one of

me not knowing where I was from to be

her homes. The reach of her writing is now

an overreaction at first. But now I believe

almost worldwide. Portugal is very slow

him to be 100% correct. Knowing where

and perhaps reluctant to acknowledge

you come from, who your ancestors are,

her people in the Diaspora, even though

the lands and the sea, and the stories,

Elaine Ávila has now received attention

dances, and songs that sustained your

in Lisbon and, I hope, from this moment

family… all of this is powerful.

on, in the Azores, one of the centers of her personal and intellectual life. The

Antônio organized a family reunion, in

following interview covers the rest of her

my ancestral village of Ribeiras, on Pico.

story and literary works well.

We had a formal lunch in the Clube Desportivo Ribeirense, and Antônio spoke

What gave an origin for this late coming

about how it felt to have re-gathered and

10

re-connected us, an essential part of

has only recently reclaimed his name.

his life’s work. He said he was grateful

This week, I saw a clip from the television

that a writer in the family could tell our

show, created by Henry Gates Jr., called

stories, predicting that I would come

“Finding

back to Portugal many times. Antônio’s

Rudolph burst into tears when she saw a

endorsement of me as a writer came as

ledger of slaves where her ancestor was

quite a shock. (But now that I know how

only listed as a 5-year-old boy. So young.

much Azoreans love literature, through

No name. Only this scrap of evidence in

your colleague, Dr. Onésimo Teotónio

a ledger.

Your

Roots.”

Actor

Maya

Almeida’s recent online talk, at Diniz Borges’ launch of Bruma Publications

Your question touches on something

about the extraordinary, ongoing record

central to life in Canada and the U.S.,

of publication in the Azores, it makes

and to my life in particular. If most traces

great sense.)

of your cultural background have been, more or less, effectively wiped out, why did that happen? Who does it serve? What happens when you reclaim them? Or if relatives like Antônio and Cristina come along to reclaim you?

em cima : foto de elaine àvila à direita : capa do seu livro “fado the saddest music in the world”

In America and Canada, I’m not the only one who doesn’t know their ancestors, who must fight to, as I call it, for them to “reapparacer.” (reappear). Antônio and Cristina showed me that I could go back, which isn’t always possible for many people. I’ve worked with a director from Iran. When her family came to see my play about Azorean immigrants and oil (Kitimat), they shared that they can never go to their homelands, they well knew the devastating effects the thirst for gas and oil can have. I have an Inuit friend whose name was taken when he taken to go to residential school, and he

11

Secondly, yes, Fado is the first time I

Jane Austen, in her three novels) that life

have explored a character attempting

for Azorean women, especially during the

to reclaim her roots. But I have written

orange trade years, in the 19th century,

other plays with Portuguese themes—you

bore striking resemblances to Jane Austen

know my play Café A Brasileira, which

novels.

won the Disquiet International Literary Program in Lisbon Short Play Award, but

Plot and character become one, when a

I have also explored food sovereignty and

woman must depend on the character of

climate change in Portuguese Tomato,

a man when she decides whether or not

which was performed all around the

to marry him—immigration multiplying

world,

Portugal:

that question by a thousand-fold, as

Sintra, Covilhã/Belmonte and on Pico. I

women, like my grandmother, had to

wrote this play after hearing about what

leave everything and everyone they knew

the E.U. is doing to break ancestral food

after they agreed to marry. So, in other

ways in Portugal and after learning about

words, are some of my plays Azorean or

the food sovereignty movement, La Via

Portuguese, and I don’t even know it?

but

specifically,

in

Campesina, founded in Belgium by 182 Terry Costa, Artistic Director of Mira-

organizations in 81 countries.

tecArts, who runs multiple Azorean Kitimat, which is about to be published,

festivals,

including

Encontro

Pedras

was performed in Lisbon, Los Angeles, and

Negras, and author of the charming

Western Canada; it is about an immigrant

children’s book, Néveda in Azores, came

family to Canada from Achadinha. This

to my first play with Portuguese themes,

Azorean family are torn apart, as many

At Water’s Edge, on its Vancouver

families and friends were when an oil

premiere. We’ve been friends ever since.

company spent enormous sums of money

Terry has done so much to uplift my work

to try and convince them to support an oil

and to connect me to the community and

pipeline project, offering to transform the

will be directing the Azorean premiere

fastest declining town in Canada.

of my next play, Capotes, translated by Terceiran novelist Diana Zimbron. I’m

The first time I explored Portuguese

also indebted to the Playwrights Theatre

themes ever was in At Water’s Edge,

Centre, who supported my work, writing

a

Portuguese plays, for three years, through

title

inspired

by

the

Portuguese

their Associates Program.

word—Beira Mar. Ironically, the main characters disavow their roots, but as they build their dream home, their ancestors’ ghosts rise. I have also written other Portuguese plays for my cousins in my collection, Jane Austen, Action Figure, and author Esmeralda Cabral consulted on translating two of these short plays into Portuguese so that we could perform them at the Encontro Pedras Negras Festival on Pico in 2017. I learned from Azorean author Carolina Cordeiro, who read the part of Jane Austen in my play

foto de elaine àvila E terry costa

(she mixed her mother’s story with that of

12

As to why I started writing on Portuguese

friend, the lawyer, and author Manuel

themes, in some ways, the question is

Azevedo from Pico, gave me a book he

mysterious to me, and I can only say

wrote and asked me to make it into a

that my Azorean grandparents planted

play. It doesn’t get any clearer than that!

seeds in me when I was young, and they,

The book was about Maria Lopes, the

eventually came to fruition.

first woman in the Azores to be taken by the Inquisition. So, I knew the next play should be about her.

Before we get to other significant events in your life, both as a professor and writer, talk about your coming to the University

But then I also remembered that a symbol

of the Azores as a Fulbright Scholar in

of the Azores, perhaps of Azorean women,

2019 and your decision to write another

is the capelo e capote, a large cape with

play on the condition of Azorean women

a hood, worn in different styles on most

rather than on the condition of Azorean

of the Azorean islands for about 400

life in general?

years. Currently, in Canada (and the U.S.) women are being stripped of the burqa

I was on a quest to write a play specifically

and the hijab. In Vancouver, one teenage

for my ancestors. My play, Fado, is

woman was attacked for wearing a hijab

perhaps, not a specifically Azorean story.

on the “sky train”, our metro, or subway.

There are Azorean stories embedded in

At the airport, another teen woman was

it, such as the story about Antônio (yes, a

stripped of her hijab by security guards. In

character named in tribute to my cousin)

Quebec, a new law denies female teachers

riding a bicycle to create electricity to

promotions if they wear the hijab. In

power the projections of movies in his

Alberta, a woman shared that she lives

village (that’s how movies were seen in

under fear of constant attack for wearing

Ribeiras, Pico, my ancestral village) and

the burqa in public.

the experience of living as openly gay in a small Portuguese village are from a close

Meanwhile,

American

and

Canadian

Azorean friend. When I had a reading of

women are generally expected to de-

part of the play at the Encontro Pedras

nounce women who wear these garments

Negras Writing Festival on the island of

as oppressed. I decided that a garment

Flores in 2019, during my Fulbright, I

this divisive, one that is also, more or less,

was utterly astonished at how Azorean the

from my own cultural heritage, would also

entire play is; the actors and the audience

be a powerful inspiration for a play. So, for

members immediately understood things

my Fulbright, I researched Maria Lopes,

I could take a lifetime to explain in

and went to archives to research capotes

Canada. The process of de-assimilating

(in Terceira, Faial, São Miguel, Pico, and

myself happened to go through Lisbon,

during the pandemic, Corvo, online)

through fado, Lisbon’s song. But fado is

and interviewed contemporary Azorean

also a song sung in the Azores, a song my

women and men about their experiences

grandparents sang. Yet I needed to hone

of the cape

in more precisely.

As you know, both men and women wear So, after writing Fado, I thought, could

the capote at the University of the Azores,

I write a play specifically for my ancestral

the only university in Portugal with a

lands for my Fulbright? How would I do

hood. There are complex rituals around

this? Then I remembered that a close

wearing this academic regalia.

13

In folkloric groups and historical societies,

the first performances of Fado, I had the

the main speakers about the history of the

privilege of sitting next to a table full of

cape are men.

Azorean women in their seventies who came to the play dressed in all their finery.

Maria Lopes, I discovered, went to the

They were so excited to be at a Portuguese

most famous 16th-century writers in

play—it was such a treat. As I was joining

the Azores for help: Gaspar Frutuoso.

their table, I tried to explain to them that

Although his background was also Jewish

I was the playwright, but they couldn’t

(“New Christian”), he had to turn her

comprehend it. It was too far out of their

away, and she was ultimately, burned at

circumstances. I had a similar experience

the stake. Her son turned in Maria. So,

during my Fulbright, I tried to tell people

although my plays started with research

I encountered that I was there to work.

into the female characters, ultimately,

But, as so many Azoreans had to leave the

there are plenty of roles for men.

islands to find work, and the majority of those who return become tourists to their an

own culture, me working in the Azores

incredible experience. Dra. Graça Borges

was incomprehensible to most people. So,

Castanho was my contact at the University

if you are doing something new, it may

of the Azores. She was recently awarded

not be seen at first. The expert to answer

an “Outstanding Woman Listeners in the

your question would be Dr. Anna M.

World” award, the only Portuguese to

Klobucka, who has researched the history

achieve this designation (with 25 other

of Portuguese women writers.

My

Fulbright

ended

up

being

prestigious women such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, First Lady

I attended one of her recent talks, where

Jill Biden, and United Nations Deputy

she pointed out that there is no Portuguese

Secretary-General

Mohammed

equivalent to Jane Austen—the barriers

in being recognized for promoting the

to women writing in the 18th century

importance of listening in achieving

were too formidable. She is the current

equity, inclusion, and justice.) As you

Fulbright Scholar to Portugal and will be

likely know, Dra. Castanho has her own

doing work on women writers of the early

television show and at one point, ran for

20th century, including the Azorean Alice

President of Portugal. She introduced me

Moderno.

Amina

to some of the most prestigious historians and academics of São Miguel and experts

Oona Patrick talks about your colleagues

in research and traditions, for which I will

or friends in Lisbon putting on your

always be grateful.

short play, entitled “Café A Brasileira”, in Chiado paying tritune, I suppose, to

Looking at your extensive academic

the most famous café in that city where

history as a professor of creative writing

Fernando Pessoa used to have his drinks,

in various universities in the world and

and (I imagine) getting the mental image

a long list of theatre activity, only we in

of his next poem. How did you react to

Portugal had heard little about you. Was

that surprise?

this deliberate, or just your personal You are referring to the very generous

circumstances of your life in Canada?

peritext Oona Patrick wrote for my I can’t say it was deliberate, so it must

published play Fado, about seeing one

be my personal circumstances. At one of

of my plays performed in Lisbon, Café

14

A Brasileira, which was performed by

“(...)as so many Azoreans had to leave the islands to find work, and the majority of those who return become tourists to their own culture (...)”

some of Portugal’s most famous actors, at the Jardim do Inverno at Teatro São Luiz in the Chiado at the Disquiet Literary Program in Lisbon, which, annually brings together Canadian, American, and Portuguese writers. Oona writes exquisitely

about

the

performance,

how close we were to the actual Café A Brasileira, Fernando Pessoa’s favorite haunt, how the city seemed to be giving me

that I’m a writer, only that it moves me

gifts, the sound of the trams, for example,

profoundly. It’s a testament to the barriers

the guitars strumming outside the cafe.

of poverty, class, and education, so many

It was also hilarious, how everywhere we

Azoreans faced and how they worked to

went, for days after, we’d see the same

overcome them for generations.

actors on television shows or commercials —I still see some of them in Portuguese

You were born in Cheverly, Maryland,

films and series, including the new one

grew up in San Jose, California, and now

about Natália Correia, “Tres Mulheres.”

live in Vancouver, in western Canada.

Café A Brasileira, much to my surprise,

Was there a time in your life when your

won the first Portuguese playwriting

Azorean roots were forgotten or pushed to

contest I had ever seen, and was created

the side of more extensive and significant

by Disquiet. The play was inspired by

professional and literary goals?

stories Antônio and Cristina told me about Pessoa’s heteronyms, and the reunion

I grew up as an assimilated person, so I

they organized. How do you explain

didn’t know enough about being Azorean,

your country, the one where you live, to

or Portuguese, to be able to push it to the

a cousin? What if you tried to become a

side. I became a writer because I noticed

heteronym of your country?

that too many stories were missing from our stages, and I sought every opportunity

My biggest surprise was when a primo

to become as good as I could.

from the Ávila side of my family, José, and his wife, Lina, came to the performance. I

When my grandfather immigrated from

didn’t know him well, but as soon as José

Pico to California in the 1920s, he wanted

spoke, with the exact same accent as my

to attend university. He got a job as a

grandfather, I started crying. José was my

farm hand on Prusch Ranch, then as a

grandfather’s nephew. José and Lina told

dishwasher at Santa Clara University,

me that they had been too poor for theatre,

and quickly realized that he couldn’t be a

so they had to try and find the theatre the

farmworker by day, a dishwasher the rest

night before, so they wouldn’t get lost. I

of the time, and go to school. Instead, he

was nervous that day, but José told me

went into the tuna industry in San Diego.

to sit up straight, to be “proud,” and my

I could never push aside the fact that he

nerves melted away. After the show, José

wrested giant tuna from the sea, broke

said, “at last, someone from our family is

ribs, and earned money to send his son

an artist.” Him saying that was better than

and daughter to university, (my aunt and

any award I will ever receive. I can’t tell

my father). It’s made me grateful for every

you why two sides of my family are happy

chance I get.

15

How much did it affect you being invited,

our interview. It’s such an honor to speak

both as a guest and as creative writing

with you about my writing, about Border

faculty in the Lisbon annual event

Crossings, to answer your questions,

“Disquiet”, which of course, refers to one

written by someone who has such a big

of Fernando Pessoa’s most known books

heart for and deep understanding of

outside Portugal?

writers in our Azorean Diaspora, who knows our literature so well.

Meeting the writers at Disquiet, both as a prize winner and as Creative Writing

As I read about your artistic, dramatic

faculty, was oxygen, lifeblood to me.

productions

Reading their work still invigorates and

universities where you have taught, and

inspires me in vital and profound ways.

the awards you have received in various

I’ve collected Oona Patrick’s essays,

countries,

available online, including her interview

Portugal and the Azores. I am stunned

with you, into a homemade book because

by how long it took us so many years

I refer to them so often. I hope someone

to notice. But now we have. Are you

will publish them one day, as they

surprised by our critical lack of attention

are essential, especially to the Luso-

to your creative work? I am.

and

bibliography,

including

in

the

Continental

descendant community.

Thank you. I’m honored and delighted I found it amazing that Fado: The

that this is happening now and excited to

Saddest Music in the Word was staged

see how it impacts my work in the future.

and directed by one of your Mexican colleagues,

Bátiz-Benét,

I know you have written in various

who shared, beyond friendship, your

contexts about climate change. Do you

existentialist condition in Canada, with

feel engaged with the world’s current

her second-generation son, also born

situation?

there. Does

Mercedes

geography or

national

origins matter at all in a multicultural

To answer your question about en-

society, or is it the human heart, what we

gagement with the world and the climate

usually call “universality,” that brings all

crisis, please allow me to give you a bit of

of us into the fold of humanity?

context. Thank you so much for asking about this aspect of my work.

Undoubtedly,

the

affinity

between

immigrants, we “citizens of diaspora,”

I am the co-founder, with two playwrights

as Mercedes calls us, helps us, the

in New York, Chantal Bilodeau and

invisibilized, reappear. When I met

Caridad Svich, of the Climate Change

Mercedes, I immediately felt I’d been

Theatre Action (CCTA), now in its 4th

waiting for her to show up for years. (For

iteration, with two anthologies published

a long time, I had been the only woman

by York University Press, which involves

playwright, the only woman director,

50 playwrights, 200 venues, and now,

the only one with an Iberian sensibility.)

until Chantal’s leadership, it reaches over

Mercedes even has a grandmother who

40,000, worldwide. Last Fall, I directed

lived in Lisbon!

a CCTA production for the University

For me, that’s one of the most beautiful

of the Fraser Valley, in Western Canada.

aspects of art, when the ones you have been

We filmed a selection of the plays, then

waiting for, arrive. I feel that way about

invited several of the playwrights to

16

speak to the audiences via zoom: an

and care for endemic species. We have

Algonquin playwright, one from lutruwita

such a marvelous climate in the Azores,

(Tasmania), and one from Uganda. At

with trees, animals, birds, and plants

one performance, the playwright from the

that aren’t found anywhere else. But we

Yukon and from Mumbai also joined us.

are in danger of losing this knowledge, the kind Emurwon celebrates in her play.

There is much “talk” about “hearing directly” from the people (and nations)

During my Fulbright, I became curious

who are most affected by the climate crisis,

about the sustainable practices on the

but this Fall, I learned that the CCTA is

specific piece of land that nurtured my

quite effective at doing exactly that. There

ancestors for 500 years. Historically,

are many, many issues intertwined with

Ribeiras was one of the only places on

the climate crisis. The plays were about

Pico that had land, and fresh water, and

government inaction, propaganda that

villagers grew fertile fields of bananas,

makes us feel powerless, and the need

yams, and corn. (Other parts of the island

for citizens to take certain matters into

had to import soil to grow anything. On

their own hands. The play from Mumbai

the neighboring island of Fayal, some

was about the Jal Saheli, a movement

workers were literally paid in barro, or

of women who helped solve drought

earth.) What’s happening with the land

in over 200 villages in India, averting

in Ribeiras now? They have been told to

starvation for an entire region, despite

grow bananas to export. Now they have

the climate crisis issues. These women

to import food. I learned about this in a

are not formally educated or used to

short film available online called “The

leading, but they did it. I believe they will

Banana from Pico.” So, as you can see,

inspire me for the rest of my life. https://

this beautiful play from a Ugandan writer

www.firstpost.com/long-reads/

taught me how far we in the Azores are

jal-sahelis-how-women-across-

from the “sustainable,” in terms of our co-

bundelkhand-are-reviving-water-

operation with the land. It’s complex: it

harvesting-techniques-6548851.

seems that Azoreans were, pre-pandemic,

html

successfully courting tourist dollars and cruise ships to come in order to survive.

There were plays that encouraged me regarding the climate issues facing the

On

the

other

hand,

Azoreans

are

Azores. Angella Emurwon, the Ugandan

innovators: successfully using geothermal

playwright, spoke about learning from her

power. Lisbon now has ten all-electric

grandmother, a humble woman who took

ferries. Joana Ávila, on Terceira, has

impeccable care of her land, recycling/

recently designed a capelo e capote, for

composting food and tending her plants.

today, out of upcycled Marine plastic.

As you know, in the Azores, many places got electricity, roads, and running water

Do you feel you belong to two natio-

so late (for some, not until the 1980s),

nalities, Canadian and Portuguese?

so there is much ancestral knowledge about how to live without these things,

Belonging is complicated. There are many

in what we now call a “sustainable”

places I belong. I feel an affinity with the

lifestyle. While on my Fulbright, I heard

Azores, although I would say I very much

some people in the Azores are gathering

felt like an outsider at the beginning of

knowledge from elders about how to use

my Fulbright, and even though it was only

17

three months, I would now say that the

“Being Azorean / of Azorean descent is also a fascinating condition.”

experience changed me forever: I feel a sense of belonging in the Azores that I have never felt anywhere else. As you know, I am an immigrant to Canada. Each year I am here, I see more and more that I did not grow up here and that there are

Some of the reasons for our vast Diaspora

some understandings I will never have.

can be glorified, and some reasons are

Yet when I return to America, everyone

criminal, but as you know, it has given

thinks I am 100% Canadian. So, I’ve got

us literature that reveals much. Maggie

that “neither here nor there” feeling many

Felisberto, whom I met at Disquiet, is

emigrants share.

getting her PhD at UMass Dartmouth, specializing in new literature of our

Being Azorean/of Azorean descent is

Diaspora. She is an emergent scholar and

also a fascinating condition. As Natália

writer to watch. If Portuguese speakers

Correia says, “In America, I learned I was

have curiosity about Azorean writers, I

European.” For me, this means that an

highly recommend your borderCrossings,

Azorean isn’t naturally 100% European,

and Diana Zimbron’s new radio show, Dá-

we’re the beginning of the Americas, and

lhe Corda, available on Mixcloud.

we are a mixed place, even if some of that tends to be denied, with a long connection

You are one of our major writers that

to Africa, people coming and going from

has received little attention in Portugal,

Brazil, the U.S. and Canada. Is Europe/

something you fully deserve. I have no

Portugal the oppressor of the Azores?

explanation for this. Not your fault; it is

Was the Azores a precursor of what would

entirely ours. How do you feel about this?

happen in the Americas?

Having this attention is a great and Do you read your Portuguese-American

unexpected gift because, when your work

Colleagues? I see that the great Katherine

is reflected back to you by a perceptive

Vaz has a critical take to on your back

literary critic, it can help enormously.

cover. What about Canadian writers?

For example, after reading my play Fado, you wrote, “e a voz dos outros ou outras

Katherine is our Queen of Portuguese-

se torna a nossa.” Roughly translated (I

American writers. Like her, I was raised

quote your original Portuguese because

in California, so her work speaks to me on

it’s so clean, like a perfect math equation),

many levels. I met her and her husband,

you are talking about my desire to explore

the marvelous Christopher Cerf, at the

what happened, to those who stayed in

performance of Café a Brasileira in

Portugal, and those who had to leave,

Lisbon. She humbly introduced herself,

using the long lens of history, and you

and I said, “oh, I know who you are!” Then

say, roughly translated, that “the voice of

in a great rush of feeling, I said, “without

others can turn into our voice.”

you, so many of our of voices would have been lost.” She got tears in her eyes.

On the day you sent this to me, I was

We’ve been friends ever since. So yes, I

wrestling with a new piece of writing,

read Portuguese- Americans, Canadians,

trying to achieve this “nossa voz,” thinking

Portuguese, Azorean, Brazilian, Angolan,

it was impossible. Then, maybe it’s funny

Cabo Verdean, Mozambican writers.

even you pointed out to me, that I had

18

already done it. So why was I suffering

Maybe the support we dream of comes

and struggling? If I did it once, I could do

when we least expect it. Our ancestors

it again. This gave me a kind of precious

have undoubtedly worked for generations

confidence to keep on going, to go into

to overcome class, education, and poverty

new places, which, as a writer, I love to do.

barriers so that now, some of us, can even consider going into the arts.

Are you the first member of your family to choose this literary path? Did you get

I know this is not the question for you, but

the family support we Azoreans and

I’ll ask it anyway. How have you reacted

some of our descendants wish for?

to your wonderful writings, particularly your plays, being presented everywhere?

Yes, I am the first writer.

It was my grandmother who made me

Thank you for allowing me to tell a

a writer. She died a painful death from

few stories. I’ve had so many great

cancer when I was fifteen. I looked young

experiences, including seeing my plays

for my age, so she would say, “you not

premiere in Panamá City, in Spanish, and

forget Vavó,” over and over, and I tried so

loving all the sentido and understanding

hard to convince her, to try to remember

Panamanians had for my plays, something

everything,

scrawny,

the director, Ted Gregory, wrote about so

fourteen-year-old me was likely not that

poignantly, in the introduction to my first

convincing. As far as shivers through my

book, Jane Austen, Action Figure. For

bones, I only recently realized that her

me, plays are conversations, and I love

desperate cry to remember her was not

it when the conversations continue. Ted

for her sake. It was, for me, a gift from

Gregory, the Fulbrighter in Panamá City,

her. Her presence lights my way. On my

walked me through the neighborhoods

Fulbright, my friend Dorothy Gist said

in monsoon-like rain, knowing that this

I had better bring my grandmother’s

would be one of my favorite things to

embroidery. I agreed, even though I had

do, sharing the Panamanian views on

no idea why, until the bordado expert of

my plays. Again, it concerns hard living,

São Miguel, Cristina Borges, met with

feeling, desperation, passion, and the kind

me and read the messages encoded in my

of laughter that knows hardship.

knowing

that

grandmother’s embroidery, the stories, the unique creativity. There is so much

I love walking in places where writers

there, and Cristina taught me how to look.

have worked out stories, which I did all the time when I lived in Greenwich Villa-

While on my Fulbright, I heard many

ge, in New York. During my Fulbright, I

stories of the bitter jealousies between

loved walking in Alice Moderno and Natália

those who left and those who stayed. Those

Correia’s footsteps in Faja de Baixo, which

who left often pretended things were

you know is near the university residence

better than they were. Imagine rejecting

where I stayed. Another highlight was

your identity to survive—it can’t lead to

having my play premiere in London,

supportive environments. But stories can

seeing Shakespeare’s theatre, walking

heal and reveal these things, making us

in his footsteps, and in those of many

feel less alone, even if the pains are deep.

writers I love. I now live in a place where

And yet, you have what my cousins, José

Indigenous groups exchanged stories for

and Antônio, of the generation just before

9-10,000 years, where I now share and

I said, to lift me, “at last,” “a writer!”

mentor stories with my writing students.

19

It’s incredible how this breaks isolation in

poetry, history, and visual art. I’ve done

our pandemic.

some profiles where archeologists and

When Kitimat was performed at the

people using historic printing presses

Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, which

have brought me into their worlds, their

has been there since 1779. Teolinda

day-to-day existence, and how they dig,

Gersão, one of my favorite writers based

think or create, and I wonder why I get

in Lisbon, befriended me. We spent the

to lead such a fabulous life with windows

rest of the day talking about life and art,

into other lives.

dipping into the Museu do Farmacia.

Her ancestors were pharmacists, and the

Writing about a book by Dr. Darlene

parallels between dolling out medicine

Abreu-Ferreira,

from large, exquisite ceramic jars and

Forgiveness in Early Modern Portugal, was

writing were inescapable.

fun because the legal cases were mainly

Women,

Crime

and

from the Azores. The Portuguese can be When I began writing my play, Kitimat,

meticulous scribes, so it was fascinating

which, I believe, is one of the first

to read what cases were brought to court

Portuguese plays by a Luso-American (or

in the 15th century, literally reading our

Canadian) to be performed in California, I

ancestors’ exact words.

found a restaurant called Nuno’s. (Many Portuguese establishments in Canada and

Have your Portuguese roots become a

the U.S. used to hide under names like

constant part of your future writing, or

“European Deli” or “Latin Market,” all

does this depends on other factors?

part of the hiding. At the time, Portuguese cuisine was starting to be embraced.)

Yes, it is a constant part of all my writing,

When the brother of the owner found out

an integral part of who I am, even if I write

I was writing a Portuguese play, he came

about other things. In retrospect, maybe it

over and dumped his pockets out on the

always was.

table, his Portuguese identity card, his escudos, the first American dollar he’d

Do you realize that from this moment

ever made, and he started pouring out

on, even when you write in English, your

his heart to me, his stories, his struggles.

literary production will be considered

He knew all about Kitimat; even though it

both Canadian and Portuguese?

was thousands of miles away, near Alaska, he had relatives there. I invited his entire

You are bringing this to my attention, and

family to opening night. This experience

thank you, it’s a great honor! Perhaps I

with Nuno’s brother is why I write; it’s one

had to wait to take up this mantle. In my

of my most treasured experiences. Stories

play Kitimat, I wrote about emigrants

are swapped, expanded, and grow, like

from Achadinha, for example. If, at

bruma (Azorean mist), sweeping us in.

the time, I had known that the people inspiring me also inspired the great writer

bibliography.

João de Melo, maybe I would have been.

Regarding your essays, what interests

too intimidated to begin. You speak about

you most in literature in any genre or

our writing being from the margins. A

form?

footnote inspired my first play. Perhaps

You

have

a

diverse

in this interview, the margins speak to Thank you again for the chance to tell a

footnotes, with the dream of moving more

few stories. I love writing about theatre,

of our writers to the center of the page.

20

Your Fado: The Saddest Music in the

Latin America. How did this come about?

World sends shivers through my bones.

We can’t help it; our mothers and fathers

The performances in Panamá, came

made sure to instill all this in us. How

about through the advocacy of a Latino

were your moments of entertainment in

writer and professor, Tlaloc Rivas. We

the best moments of your home family?

served on a panel together in New York

.

City, and grew up 50 miles away from

Thank you so much! For me, this is a

each other. On this panel, I realized that

question from your Azorean side. As a

I had never seen a Portuguese play, or

child, in my home family, we didn’t have

met a Portuguese playwright, and I’d

moments of entertainment, certainly not

better keep on writing about Luso themes.

like the folgas of Pico! It was my friends.

Because the Chicano and Latinx literary

We’d make up books and put on plays

and theatrical traditions in America

and puppet shows. Now, my husband

are so strong, I would be lost without

is a musician, and my teenager writes

my Latinx colleagues’ love, inspiration,

and makes art, so we have live music

support, advocacy, and understanding.

in our home, read poems, and hang up recent creations. We’re likely as lazy as

Regarding my plays being performed

anyone, especially during this exhausting

in Costa Rica and Peru, we have been

pandemic, but I’m grateful for these

working to translate the Climate Change

precious times when we entertain each

Theatre action plays into other languages,

other.

Spanish, Portuguese, and French, so far, as our costs allow, to create more

At one point, I rescued my grandparent’s

solidarity

guitars from rotting in their basement

Zimbron has been translating my plays,

years after they died. The guitars were

and I’ve been translating her short story,

made in the Azores in the 1920s and

and it’s a great new adventure for me.

1930s: a viola da terra, a Portuguese

I am learning more about the Azorean

guitarra, and a parlour guitar. There is a

“maneira de ser,” or way of being.

and

understanding.

Diane

picture of my grandmother and her sisters, dressed in men’s suits, for carnaval,

I just read your truthful, relevant, and

playing these guitars, when they were

funny play “Café A Brasileira”, in the

young. On the back, she wrote about the

context of the now historic gathering

beautiful days that would never return.

Disquiet in Lisbon, in the Teatro São

I cleaned the guitars, treasure them and

Luiz, the exchange between the two main

display them in my home. One neck is in

characters, João and Amália speaking

the shape of a whale’s tale; another guitar

from the Other World. But the passage

has the design of a wine casket as they

that stays with me is hilarious, in both its

use at folgas on Pico on the front. The

truth and a kind of anomaly concerning

guitars are a powerful symbol for me: my

the statue nearby of Fernando Pessoa,

grandparents had to stop singing when

in front of one of his favorite Cafés, where

they immigrated. My grandfather tried to

women always sit in his legs and crotch,

teach me the chamarrita, but how could

something I don’t think the great poet

he do it, without a village?

would appreciate: “…my dream friends, with whom I have enjoyed so many

You’ve had your plays performed in

brilliant

Spanish in various countries, including

cafés, have never had a space of their

21

conversations

in

imagined

own...” What a laugh full of sadness.

families of immigrants and emigrants,

The fado at its must truthful poetry.

one would hope that we would be good and welcoming hosts, but the reality is

Thank you, yes, I quote the great Fernando

complicated, and this is, obviously, now

Pessoa here--”…my dream friends, with

far from the case. But the reality is also

whom I have enjoyed so many brilliant

simple: the climate crisis means any of us

conversations in imagined cafés, have

could suddenly be a climate refugee. The

never had a space of their own...” I’m

least we can do is take someone in, and

honored you call the play “a laugh full of

welcome them if we can. Regarding the

sadness.” That’s a great description.

children imprisoned at the U.S. border, I wrote a short play as part of a benefit

You are the perfect example of what I call

for funds to help reunite them. These

my own essay writing “borderCrossings”.

children, some of whom tragically died,

Sorry for the self-mention here. But the

were separated from their families, have

question for you is relevant to our readers

still not been reunited. It’s all a vergonha

and me: how do you feel about the new

of the lowest order.

politics of racism and restrictions for immigrants from everywhere who wish

Returning to your “Café A Brasileira”.

to look for a better life in the New World?

You

write

forcefully:

Canada:

My

goodness is fragile/It might stand in the First, thank you for saying that my work

way/I took you in to give you a better

exemplifies the aims of “borderCrossings,”

life/ And now I see you, immigrants/Are

which, if readers don’t know, is an

not so sure… Portugal: We are silent/

extraordinary series of books, now in

Because we had to be.

volume six and also available online. As your colleague, Ernesto Rodrigues said

Thank you! That’s when the cousins try to

at your most recent launch: “Diverse

become heteronyms of their countries. This

in processes and the linguistic and

is the cousins’ second attempt. It’s funny,

geographic objects under study, Vamberto

but it’s also, as you know, heartbreaking,

Freitas becomes, in this decade, the main

in many ways, that our family was

Portuguese

separated by migration in the first place.

literary

critic.

However,

without abandoning the indispensable intermediation of the literary thing, he can

Your

offer us a portrait of being divided between

Pico. Do you know about their history,

languages, territories, and landscapes.

perhaps of their desperation in what

Double privilege, we will all gain one more

was then a very poor and “marginal”

step in the march of humanity.”

region and country?

You are inviting me into a literary

They protected me from it. My friend

conversation with this interview, which

Cynthia Duarte taught me the phrase they

has been happening for many years, and

use on the island of Flores, “fomos criados

I’m grateful to be a part.

debaixo de um cesto,” which as you know,

grandarents

immigrated

from

means that, to keep a family safe during As to the question of the new politics of

a dictatorship (and perhaps during the

racism and restrictions for immigrants,

Inquisition, as Maria Lopes’ son turned

it’s alarming, terrible, and criminal. In

her in), you raise children under a giant

the Azores, the U.S., and Canada, we are

basket, keeping certain realities secret.

22

My grandparents, of course, knew about

As a professor, I am very dedicated to the

life under the dictatorship but didn’t

next generation of writers and theatre

talk to their descendants about it. They

makers. I adore them! It gives me a

also protected me from poverty. My

precious window into what’s going on in the

grandmother loved Disneyland and took

community. Last night, I taught students

me on her favorite ride, “It’s a Small

from the Middle East, Cypress, Israel,

World After All,” but the ride always

El Salvador, and Indigenous cultures; I

made her cry. Maybe because every

have students from Argentina, Nigeria,

nationality is represented, except the

Uzbekistan, and Russia. I view teaching

Portuguese, perhaps because she could

as passing on gifts that I have been given.

no longer go back to her village life, the

Our generation has done/is doing what we

world, in reality, is not that small. I had

can, and it’s up to them to do what’s next.

a dream, many years later, that I sailed

Motivation is a fascinating question,

along the shore of the Azores, during

especially

their lifetime, it was all in sepia tones,

Theatres, for the most part, are shut.

like an old photograph, and I saw that

What are playwrights writing for? Even

everyone was very, very poor and, in the

novelists and nonfiction writers, who

dream, I asked why they never told me.

I might consider to be the introverts

during

the

pandemic.

of the literary world, complain about But they didn’t keep me from all the

isolation these days, the lack of book

hardships they endured. My grandfather

launches, tours, and ways to gather.

told me the story of how he worked most

Yet literature and writing continue to

of his life to own a small portion of two

require faith and provides solace and

tuna boats, so he wouldn’t always have to

magic, even now. This is why I am

be at sea when his children were growing

enormously grateful to those who do

up. He had a great deal of self-discipline,

the work of gathering us online (Diniz

generosity, and foresight. But WWII broke

Borges of the Portuguese Beyond Borders

out, and the war effort confiscated these

Institute, Terry Costa of MiratecArts,

boats and returned in an unusable state.

Arquipélago

He was so bitterly disappointed that he

Amanhados (the Azorean T.V. show you

couldn’t even go to the docks for two years

were on!), my publisher, Talonbooks,

and ended up working assembling aircraft.

Fulbright Portugal, the Calarts Alumnx

And, of course, he had to go to sea and be

Seed Grant, which helped me make

away while his children were growing up. I

short (and beautiful) videos of some of

will never forget how he told me this story.

the cape monologues with colleagues

He had the perspective of a 90-year-old.

in Canada, the U.S., and the Azores.)

de

Escritores,

Mal-

Despite all the grief and disappointment, he shrugged his shoulders and was

I write because I believe each of us has

gracious, a gentleman. It gave me a lesson

something to contribute. It can be a life’s

on how to endure disappointments,

work to figure out exactly what that is.

and sorrows, which come to everyone.

Writing stories that are missing--from women, workers, the climate crisis, and

Finally, a professor is always driven by

the Portuguese, especially Azoreans--

a kind of mission and dedication to the

is what I’ve got to give. Thank you so

next generations. What motivates you to

much for this interview; it’s a big gift to

continue writing?

contemplate your questions; it helps to keep my sentido alive.

23

ao lado: imagem da peça de teatro “fado” de elaine àvila Em baixo: foto de vamberto freitas

24

Contos Populares Portugueses da Califórnia

expulsos de Espanha e Portugal em 1492 e 1497, respectivamente). O livro conclui com quatro apêndices: vocabulário (os anglicismos estão colocados no fim),

Recolha e transcrição: Manuel da Costa Fontes

informantes, motivos e tipos-conto.

Classificação: Isabel Cardigos e Paulo Correia Bruma Publications, UniversityPress-Fresno State

Esta

colecção,

que

contribui

para

preservar uma velha tradição em via de desaparecimento,

inclui

64

contos

gravados a 26 informantes naturais da Terceira (14), São Jorge (3), São Miguel (1), e da ilha da Madeira (5). Embora nascidos em Angola, dois informantes tinham aprendido os seus contos na Terceira, e o úniconascido nos Estados Unidos (Massachusetts) tinha sido criado na Madeira. Sendo decarácter indoeuropeu – repetem-se em muitas línguas –, alguns contos são mais antigos do que a existência das nações. A introdução, em português e em inglês, inclui um panorama

da

imigração

portuguesa

para a Califórnia desde as suas origens.

Fielmente transcritos a fim de reflectir o maneira de falar de cada informante, os contos começam com resumos em inglês, sendo seguidos pela classificação internacional de Isabel Cardigos e Paulo Correia, a qual, além do Brasil, inclui numerosos paralelos do mundo de língua portuguesa (Angola, Cabo Verde, Goa, Guiné-Bissau, Moçambique, São Tomé e Príncipe, Timor), assim como variantes do mundo cultural ibérico a que Portugal pertence (Espanha, América Espanhola, e Sefarditas, descendentes dos judeus

25

Os malditos Carlo Matos

The only people who should be in charge are those who do not want to be those who like my father wear the mantle of their terrible luck as summer bears its heavy shawl of humid air.

Os Malditos [by contrast] do not believe in luck do not sweat the summer rain or fear a thermal twisting an ear like a grandmother does.

Their ambition acquiesces like night.

Night like burial.

Night like sugar in my tea.

Night like the big spoon for slurping with [my grandmother’s spoon] and also her knit socks loosening like a bolt of thread.

I know it takes great strength to kick down a door without breaking the lintel or resist snarling at something that would save a piece of string or a shiny bit of foil or a child in danger because something has to be fundamental something has to hold tightly like a skein of grief does.

Carlo Matos in We Prefer the Damned

26

“we prefer the dammed” por carlo matos, capa e contra-capa