Guyanese Online

Saint Benedict Church seen from the Gardens of the Karnak Palace
Teresina – State of Piauí – Northeast Brazil
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

My Poetry Corner November 2015 features the poem “Common Poem” (Poema Comum) by contemporary Brazilian poet Graça Vilhena, professor of Classical Portuguese Literature in Teresina, capital of her home state of Piauí. Her poetry, simple in its expression, tells stories of ordinary people in their everyday lives.

In “Common Poem,” Graça Vilhena uses poetic sensibility to address prostitution – affecting the most vulnerable, destitute children and adolescents – in Piauí and across Brazil. The first stanza describes the young woman, the central character of her poem.