Subversive
by Ferreira Gullar
Translation by William Jay Smith

Poetry
when she comes
respects nothing.
Neither father nor mother.
When she struggles
up from one of her abysses
she ignores Society and the State
disdains Water Regulations
hee-haws

like a young
whore
in front of the Palace of Dawn*

And only later
does she reconsider: kisses
the eyes of those who earn little
gathers into her arms
those who thirst for happiness
and justice

And promises to set the country on fire.

*The Presidental Palace in Brasilia

For the poem in Portuguese, go here.