I’m very excited to bring my mini-series of Brazilian bird poems to the wider world. Writing these has brought me much joy. I wanted the experience to be as accessible as possible so I’ve recorded an audio version of each poem so that non-Portuguese speakers will be able to follow along (this will be the link to the YouTube version of each poem as I cannot add video to my blog).
If you speak Brazilian Bird you might even be able to read the poem using the image alone with no text. Some are vignettes, some highlight inequality, some are love stories. Each poem is composed entirely of names of Brazilian birds. I will be including the poem in free text below for translation purposes.
Brazilian bird poem no. 1
Below is the audio version of the poem which will play straight from my YouTube channel.
This was one of the first poems that jumped out at me because the sounds are so delightful! A friend described it as being like aural concrete poetry. It reminded me of ‘baum-bim’, the only concrete poem I (mis)remember which I used to read to my nephew when he was a toddler. We were both very taken with it.
Both images of poem and song taken from bossapósbossa, or, Postmodernism as Semiperipheral Symptom by Nicholas Brown.
Brazilian bird poem no. 2
Below is the audio version of the poem which will play straight from my YouTube channel.
The João e Maria poem formed itself very quickly, after coming across a large number of birds named either John or Mary. Their differentiating factors vary, as with Rusty Mary and Silly John, but they make interesting pairs. Strangely (to my mind), João and Maria are the names given to Hansel and Gretel in Brazil. I was very pleased to find a lovely photo of João e Maria de barro who build their home from mud (barro) to illustrate my titular João e Maria pair. In English these are known as ovenbirds, which I thought was just a name my dad had given them, but is actually confirmed by The Internet so there’s no arguing with that. I also very much enjoy the final pair in the poem, Mary Wren and John Hasababy. This reflects the sound of the final name rather than its spelling but is special nonetheless. Mary Wren also sounds like a much more delicate and gentle bird than a Rufous-sided Pygmy-Tyrant.
Brazilian bird poem no. 1 in free text for automatic translation purposes
Tico tico
Teque teque
Turu turu
Piro piro
Pula pula
Piu piu
Quero quero
Fim fim
Brazilian bird poem no. 2 in free text for automatic translation purposes
João e Maria
Maria leque
João pinto
Maria preta
João bobo
Maria ferrugem
João de barro
Maria corruíra
João teneném
Brazilian bird poem no. 1 – Image composed of photos taken for the most part from @avesbrasil – Instagram
Tico tico @marciocampelo04
Teque teque @chicoassisrodrigues
Turu turu @avesdoceara
Piro piro @lucas.biologo
Pula pula @vecaavellar
Piu piu @sergio_leal_1
Quero quero @karolinamoreira.rj
Fim fim @birds_by_paulo_lahr
Fim fim @roque0089
Brazilian bird poem no. 2 – Image composed of photos taken for the most part from @avesbrasil – Instagram
João de barro – pair @chicoassisrodrigues
Maria leque @oandreluizsilva
João pinto @samara.photos
Maria preta @giovan.alex
João bobo @chicoassisrodrigues
Maria ferrugem @calmartins2
João de barro @ghnunes
Maria corruíra @wptjunior
João teneném @birdsnepo
Brazil from the outside in 
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