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Selma
Maria

Um Pequeno
Tratado de
Brinquedos para
Meninos Quietos
[A Small Treatise on Toys for Quiet Boys]
BALL
Shade and cool water
is what this ball likes.
But if you reach and touch
it startles and twitches,
spins around and rolls up.
But this is all a caprice
of this toy that is also a beast!
Armadillo is his name.
He curls up tight like a band,
hiding his face, shy, on the
ground.
Who is fooling who, then?
The boy who stands still,
makes no sound and waits
for the ball to unravel,
or the armadillo, who flees
and escapes
to contemplate his navel?
isso isso
2009
2010
[This and This]
CORNER/SONG
A cat finds its corner inside the house.
The little bird belts its song out in the
woods.
ROOSTER/BUMP
A bump stings on the boy’s head when
he falls.
A rooster sings in the coop through the
night.
BEAD/BILLS
Maria’s necklace beads
makes the little girl glittery.
Maria’s house bills
leave her mother dizzy.
Um Pequeno
Tratado de Brinquedos para
Meninos Quietos da Cidade
2011
[A Small Treatise on Toys for Quiet City Boys]
DRAIN
Every street needs a drain.
Who lives drained are adults.
Children are not drains for everything
SKYSCRAPER
Skyscraper is a building that likes to play with miniatures
PLAYING WITH MIRRORS
Mirrored buildings are not very original, they just mimic what we do.
Brinquedos
Miúdos
e Graúdos
2018
[Small and Big Toys]
NOSE BOOGERS
(Portugal, Angola and Mozambique)
An itty bitty ball
That is manufactured around the world:
It is the ball that comes out of our nose.
It is a toy for you to play with
Anywhere and everyday.
ARMADILLO OR WOODLOUSE?
(Brazil and Portugal)
Armadillo
one day decided
to take his house and pillow
to a trip to Portugal
and find his friend,
the woodlouse,
that every day ties himself up into knots
when telling a made up story.
LADYBUG
Miss Ladybug
landed on my hand
and told me that
one day, right away,
had a fever and chickenpox,
all red-flushed
with bright black dots
to brighten up the yard.
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