World--Ana Luísa Amaral's second collection with New
Directions--offers a new exhilarating set of poems that convey wonder,
bemusement, and an ever-deepening appreciation of life. Weaving the
thread that connects the poem to life, World speaks of our immense human
perplexity in the face of everything around us and our oneness with it
all. As Amaral notes, all of us, "humans and non-humans, are on the same
ontological level, the differences being only a matter of perspective.
We are all made of the same stuff as dreams--and stars." Asked about her
thoughts on World, Amaral's peerless translator Margaret Jull Costa
replied: "What I take from this collection of poems is a sense of joy in
the ordinary--seeing an ant going about its business, or a bee or a
fish, or the feeling of sharing a whole history with a particular table,
or watching a very ordinary woman sitting on a train playing with the
handle of her handbag. World also brings us meditations on colonization,
slavery, and whaling. Like the world, it is full of surprises and full
of joy and sadness." These vibrant, exultant poems invite you to share
this marvelous world: Yes, all you need (how easy!) is to say yes.
