Broquéis

Broquéis announces the arrival of one of Brazil's most singular poetic voices. João da Cruz e Sousa, a Black poet writing at the close of the 19th century, forged a poetry of startling contrasts: sensuous, almost erotic imagery wound through with religious mysticism, body and soul in perpetual dialogue. This debut collection pulses with musicality, each poem a carefully constructed soundscape where words become incantation. The famous opening poem, 'Antífona,' sets the tone immediately, a summons into a world where the sacred and the profane inhabit the same breath. Cruz e Sousa was inventing Brazilian Symbolism before the movement had a name, and these poems carry that pioneering urgency. They ache with longing, with spiritual seeking, with the particular pain and beauty of a voice determined to transcend the limitations placed upon it. This is poetry that demands to be heard aloud, that rewards patience, that lingers long after the final page.