piriguetismo de guerrilha guerilla bitchcraft

piriguetismo de guerrilha

(pra maria felipa)
 
diz que em nome da independência
maria felipa deu surra
de cansanção nos portugueses
 
tentando salvar salvador
e outras terras da sanha
dos homens brancos
 
era quando tiravam a roupa
crente que fornicariam que felipa
incendiava as caravelas
 
maria felipa seduzia como os librianos
(distract and destroy) adiantando em 100 anos
a tática hoje conhecida como black bloc
 
se cobain fosse vivo certeza
que seria para ela aquele refrãozinho
"polly wants a cracker"
 
(aquela história da moça que seduz
o algoz e se liberta e depois conta
a história para ouvidos moucos
 
como é o caso de maria felipa
cujo ato de piriguetismo de guerrilha
é conhecido e celebrado por poucos)
 
passados 100 anos eu que te dou
uma surra não de erva (e sim aquela)
para salvar a mim mesma do espanto
 
tua república de coxinhas não
aceita a minha, de nordestinos-mortadela,
mas quizá a zika nos igualará todos,
 
micro- ou anencéfalos, só eu e tu
seguiremos trepando, coquetel molotov
das trevas, fertilizas com teu esperma
 
todas as minhas capitanias até
que essa era ganhe o nome de cidade
sulista, "nova idade média".
 

guerilla bitchcraft

(for maria felipa)
 
it is said that in the name of independence
maria felipa beat the shit out
of the portuguese with giant nettles
 
trying to save salvador
and other lands from the yoke
of white men
 
it was when they took their clothes off
believing they’d be fucking
that felipa set the caravels on fire
 
maria felipa would seduce like Librans do
(DISTRACT AND DESTROY) anticipating by 100 years
the tactics now known as black bloc
 
had cobain been alive certainly
that little refrain would have been meant for her
‘polly wants a cracker’
 
(that story of the girl who seduces
the torturer and unshackles herself then tells
the story to deaf ears
 
as is the case of maria felipa
whose act of guerrilla bitchcraft
is known and celebrated by few)
 
fast forward 100 years and it’s me beating the shit
out of you though not with the weed (yep that one)
to save myself from dread
 
your republic of deep fried coxinhas won’t
accept mine, of northeastern mortadella,
but perhaps zika will level us all
 
micro- or anencephalic, just you and i
left fucking, molotov cocktail
of darkness, fertilising with your sperm
 
all my captaincies until this era
is named for a southern city,
‘new middle ages’.
 

guerrilla bitch

(for maria felipa)
 
so it goes that in the name of independence
maria felipa beat the shit out of
the portuguese with a bunch of nettles
 
trying to save salvador
and other lands from the wrath
of white men
 
it was when they took their clothes off
believing they’d be fucking that felipa
would set the caravels on fire
 
maria felipa would seduce like libras do
(distract and destroy) anticipating in 100 years
the tactics now known as black bloc
 
if cobain were alive certainly
that little chorus would be meant for her
‘polly wants a cracker’
 
(that story of the girl who seduces
the executioner and frees herself and then tells
the story to deaf ears
 
as is the case of maria felipa
whose act of guerrilla bitchcraft
is known and celebrated by few)
 
100 years over and it’s me beating the shit
out of you not with the weed (yes that one)
to save myself from the fright
 
your republic of coxinhas won’t
accept mine, of northeastern mortadela,
but perhaps zika will level us all,
 
micro- or anencephalic, just you and i
will go on fucking, molotov cocktail
of darkness, fertilising with your sperm
 
all my captainships until
that one is named after a southern
city, ‘new middle ages’.
 

Adelaide Ivánova is a Brazilian poet and artist. We began by asking about the dedication: who is Maria Felipa? For a while we suspected she was a fictional construct, but eventually our workshop participant Anne did some investigation on the internet and discovered she was part of Bahia’s struggle for independence in 1823 – a seafood seller who led 200 people including black women against the Portuguese. The whole workshop was in fact a crash course in Brazilian history. We learnt about ‘captaincies’ – the administrative divisions of the Portuguese empire; caravels (small, highly maneuverable sailing ships); the associations of the south with coxinhas (battered and fried cones of chicken meat), and the current ‘black bloc’ movement (who all wear black when protesting to conceal their identities).

We were dazzled by Ivánova’s breadth of reference, lurching between the personal and political. One moment she jokes about weed and star-signs, the next she’s addressing rape, colonialism and Zika. It’s not often in a poetry workshop you have to read a whole Nirvana lyric (turns out ‘Polly’ is not really about a parrot). And how to translate the ‘piriguetismo’ of the title? Francisco Vilhena, who provided the bridge translation, said it meant something like ‘bitchism’, but had more a celebratory charge (a woman saying it to another woman was being positive). Anne made a very convincing case for ‘bitchismo’ but in the end we settled on Francisco’s suggestion of ‘bitchcraft’ as it sounded more empowered and cunning! We very much hope his plan to publish a book of translations of Adelaide Ivánova will happen soon.

Clare Pollard

Original Poem by

Adelaide Ivánova

Translated by

Francisco Vilhena with The Poetry Translation Workshop Language

Portuguese

Country

Brazil