I’m very excited to bring my mini-series of Brazilian bird poems to the wider world. I have written a little more about them in this post…
Brazilian bird poem no. 3
Below is the audio version of the poem which will play straight from my YouTube channel.
Brazilian bird poem no. 3 – English translation
Encounter
Springtime
Thunderstorm
Mandolin
Song
Longing
This little group of birds rapidly and unwittingly formed a vignette, which I imagine to be a romantic rendezvous taking place in a town square café complete with red and white striped awnings. I am struck by how unromantic the birds seem though, particularly the canção (song), which I wouldn’t like to have a run-in with, and the primavera (springtime) which is stuffing itself full of grubs.
Saudade is notoriously difficult to translate and is often left in Portuguese with a footnote. Included as the first of ‘8 Portuguese Terms We Wish Existed in English‘, Dictionary.com features this excellent definition: “Portuguese scholar Aubrey Bell attempts to distill this complex concept in his 1912 book In Portugal, describing saudade as “a vague and constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist, for something other than the present”.”
Brazilian bird poem no. 4
Below is the audio version of the poem which will play straight from my YouTube channel.
Brazilian bird poem no. 4 – English translation
I see you
Redhead
Beardy
Little ‘tache
Collar
Leather doublet
Leather jacket
Bunch of keys
Long legs
Red feet
Who dressed you,
Mr Vain?
Brazilians can be quite physical in their language, their humour and their allocation of nicknames. Cebolinha (footballer Everton Sousa Soares) is probably quite a well known example. His nickname literally means ‘chives’ and is due to his supposed resemblance to a comicbook character named Cebolinha.
But I’ve also heard of people known variously by the nicknames Rat, White Rat, Ox, Pig, Fish, Alligator, and then Jug, Bonnet (of a car), Biscuit(face) for head/faceshape nicknames, as well as Russian, Coffee, Pharaoh (the darkest brand of coffee), Blacker, Darkie and Smoke (based on skin/hair colour), not to mention the ubiquitous use of Negão/Neguinho as either a nickname for or descriptor of black men and boys, which is probably a topic for another post altogether.
I was delighted to come across the quem te vestiu bird (Who dressed you?) which is wonderfully derogatory and possibly even more insulting than entufado which means swollen, puffed up or vain.
Brazilian bird poem no. 3 – Image composed of photos taken for the most part from @avesbrasil – Instagram
Image of bandoleta from Museu da Universidade de Aveiro
Encontro @pm.picturesque
Primavera @birds_by_rosilene_lahr
Trovoada @gustavo_araujo_naturephotos
Bandoleta @julio_silveira_
Canção @brunobonibirds
Saudade @calmartins2
Brazilian bird poem no. 4 – Image composed of photos taken for the most part from @avesbrasil – Instagram
Bem-te-vi @adrianoalbuquerque_fotografia
Cabeça encarnada @allisoncafeseiro
Barbudo @danilomotafotos
Bigodinho @josesilvioabras
Coleirinho @roque0089
Gibão de couro @rafael_h.franca
Casaca de couro @dr_faustobirder
Cambada de chaves @barradoboto
Pernilongo @guinuvertical
Pé vermelho @valcirleiaraujo
Quem te vestiu @fernandaspenst_fotografia
Entufado @marco.birding.jpg
Brazil from the outside in 