Many thanks to the historic Grolier Poetry Book Shop for hosting a sold-out reading / release on Wednesday. MIRROR-CITY IS NOW AVAILABLE.
(It’s a really special book).
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MIRROR-CITY is a collection of new and selected poems by Nicolas Behr - “Brasília’s poet” - who was imprisoned in 1978 in an attempt to silence him and his writing.
Behr’s work summons the spectral “braxília,” the city that Brasília could have been - incorporating an X where the city’s major arteries cross into the name itself - where the “wings” and “body” meet.
Translated by Jon Woodward and authorized by the author, MIRROR-CITY includes work ranging from the late 1970s to the present, as well as six new pieces.
Portuguese originals and English translations appear on facing pages.
Published: October 26, 2022
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A special shout-out to James at the Grolier for his kindness and hospitality - and also to Jon and Sam for the inspiring post-reading conversation. And of course, Matt Opal, who always helps to make good things happen.
Anthony Opal reading at the Chicago Cultural Center for the July installment of the Six Points Reading Series #poetry #poet #poem #chicago #chicagopoetry #anthonyopal #chi #july #poetrycenter #sixpoints (at Chicago Cultural Center)
Matsuo Basho is the earliest and most revered of the great haiku masters. His impact on the form remains unmatched as his thinking continues to influence artists, philosophers, and students of aesthetics.
Suffering from depression and a persistent sense of loneliness, Basho’s work embodies wabi-sabi. While difficult to articulate, wabi-sabi, for Basho, concerns the pursuit of simplicity - “lightness” - and the beauty of loneliness, “akin to, but deeper than, nostalgia.”
Poems of Matsuo Basho is a short and varied collection of Basho’s haiku. Each translation is accompanied by the original Japanese text and English transliteration (romaji).
Author: Matsuo Basho
Translator: Anthony Opal
Booklet, 12 pp, 7 x 5.25 in
Language: Japanese / English
ISBN: 978-1-7356630-5-0
Published: September 18, 2020
MIRROR-CITY is a collection of new and selected poems by Nicolas Behr - “Brasília’s poet” - who was imprisoned in 1978 by the Brazilian military dictatorship in an attempt to silence him and his writing. Upon release, Behr reported that his future plans included buying a megaphone so that he could speak louder.
Behr’s work summons the spectral “braxília,” the city that Brasília could have been - incorporating an X where the city’s major arteries cross into the name itself - where the “wings” and “body” meet.
Translated by Jon Woodward and authorized by the author, MIRROR-CITY includes work ranging from the late 1970s to the present, as well as six new pieces.
Portuguese originals and English translations appear on facing pages.
Author: Nicolas Behr
Translator: Jon Woodward
Booklet, 56 pp, 7 x 5.25 in
Language: English / Portuguese
ISBN: 978-1-7375909-5-8