JANUARIO ESTEVES - POEMS

Januário Esteves was born in Coruche (1960) and was raised near Costa da Caparica, Portugal. He graduated in electromechanical installations,  uses the pseudonym Januanto and writes poetry since the age of 16. In 1987 he published poems in the Jornal de Letras, and participated over the years in some collective publications. Recently published in the Brazilian magazine Musa Rara, in the American magazine EIGHTEENSEVENTY.POETRY.BLOG, in the Brazilian Revista LiteraLivre, in the Romanian magazine Poesis , in the australian review Otoliths, in the american review BlazeVox, in the american magazine Harbinger Asylum, in the american Ducor Review...

​VENTOZELO

​It was on thunderstorm nights, when the lightning
To the south it was unloaded in the skeleton of the trees
And in trance we hang the glans of the mystery
Animals came to strip the belief of our sacrifice
And soon we would reflect the possession of the surrounding atmosphere
Of timeless solemnity, of prosaic pragmatism
Converting relationships into family dependencies
In the consanguinity of gestures and sharing
Bites in the same flesh that sustains us
Cultivating the Emancipation of Customs
In the light of death that enlightened us.
 
(Zeal)
 

​Mogadouro

​Night and abandonment
Slack Time
Ownerless dog
In the womb of delay
Desire embraces
The elusive escarpment
And the dream ties
The fever of the day
It's another will
And judge the torment
By jus to obey
From the inside.
 

​𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐨
𝟏𝟒

𝐀 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐝 𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐚 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫-𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫-𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐧𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚-𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐬𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐨𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐮𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐭. 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝.

22nd Hour

​Leave anxiously
As in the Chirico locomotives
Briefly recap
That which makes us richer
 
The empty horizons
Of the tired afternoons
The Dilettante Fragor of Challenges
Naked and Empty Practices
 
Of beings in hidden conflict
Wanting to transform existence
In a bold and mysterious maze
Of nonsense and incontinence
 
Pray light joys
By the wind that rules
And sad euphoria comes
In bloodthirsty adrenaline.