‘Obrigado, Senhor’ from Poemas apócrifos de Paul Valéry.
video performance by Marcio- Andre and Laurent Winkler

 

Thank you, Lord

Thank you lord
for being by our side
for annihilating our enemies
for spreading hatred and devastation among the ones who deserve it
for cleaning the land with the necessary genocide of the ones who hate us
for polishing the living room floor with the wax made with the brains of evil thoughts
for taming an entire race and making this tamed breed taming other races
for depriving from sleeping the ones who take away our sleep
for baking with a razor blade the bread of the ones who steal our food
for offering us the brutality as entertainment
for not killing so rapidly
for vivisecting under declarations of love
for turning murder into a creative act
for giving us pleasure by inflicting the pain
for not molesting only the body but also the spirit
for seeking the spirit within the head and erasing it with ammonia
for cracking the bones until it becomes a fine powder we can snort it
for plucking viscera with the teeth
for pulling teeth with a hammer to protect us
for liquefy in blender the hand of the future murderers when they are still innocents
for injecting cement into the artery of those who breathe the air that is ours
for violating the mothers and the wives of the violators
for amputating the top face of the ugly and dirty ones
for transplanting to the good men the organs of the criminals still alive
for dripping nitric acid in the eyes of those who look crooked at us
for cutting off the eyeball of those who don’t look in the eyes
for calcifying the tongue of those who curse us
for giving us the chance to masturbate over the corpse of our opponent
for creating machines that exterminate humanely
for bringing misery to those who do not suit us
for bringing bacteria to whom envy us
for creating the revenge
for teaching us the interested generosity as an alternative to indifference
for humiliating those who do not understand us
for giving utility to the processed and fermented bodies of useless people
for raping the souls of those whose bodies are also useless
for not letting us know when they murder in our cause
for amputating the arms of those who we do not want to embrace
for gestating deformed fetuses in the belly of the women we do not love
for inserting red-hot needles into the urethras of those who covet our women
for relocating countries with pain
for arming the villain so we can eliminate him with no guilt
for giving us reasons to hate
for making politics the art of arrogance
for purifying our heart through the convenient distance
for not being our turn

– Márcio-André de Sousa Haz

translated by Daniela Neves and Les Wicks

 

Obrigado, Senhor

obrigado senhor
por estar do nosso lado
por aniquilar nossos inimigos
por disseminar o ódio e a devastação entre os que merecem
por limpar a terra com o genocídio necessário dos que nos odeiam
por lustrar o chão da sala com a cera dos miolos dos maus pensamentos
por amansar toda uma raça e fazer a raça amansada amansar outras raças
por privar do sono quem nos tira o sono
por assar com gilete o pão de quem nos rouba a comida
por nos ofertar a brutalidade como entretenimento
por não matar tão rapidamente
por vivisseccionar ao som de declarações de amor
por tornar o homicídio um ato criativo
por nos dar prazer ao infligir a dor
por não molestar somente o corpo mas também o espírito
por buscar o espírito dentro da cabeça e apagá-lo com amoníaco
por trincar os ossos até restar um pó fino que possamos cheirar
por arrancar vísceras com os dentes
por arrancar dentes com um martelo para nos proteger
por liquidificar a mão de futuros assassinos quando ainda são inocentes
por injetar cimento na artéria de quem respira o ar que é nosso
por violar as mães e as esposas dos violadores
por amputar o tampo facial dos feios e dos sujos
por transplantar para bons homens os órgãos de criminosos ainda vivos
por gotejar ácido nítrico nos olhos dos que nos olham torto
por decepar o globo ocular dos que não nos olham
por calcificar a língua dos que nos amaldiçoam
por dar a chance de nos masturbar sobre o cadáver do adversário
por criar máquinas que exterminam humanamente
por levar a miséria a quem não nos cai bem
por levar a bactéria a quem nos inveja
por criar a vingança
por nos ensinar a generosidade interessada como alternativa à indiferença
por humilhar quem não nos entende
por dar utilidade aos corpos processados e fermentados dos inúteis
por estuprar a alma daqueles cujos corpos são também inúteis
por não nos deixar saber quando assassinam por nós
por amputar os braços de quem não queremos abraçar
por gestar fetos disformes na barriga das mulheres que não amamos
por inserir agulhas em brasa pela uretra até o escroto de quem cobiça nossas mulheres
por transladar países com sofrimento
por armar o vilão para que possamos eliminá-lo sem culpa
por nos dar motivos para odiar
por fazer da política a arte da arrogância
por purificar nosso coração com o distanciamento conveniente
por não sermos a bola da vez

– Márcio-André de Sousa Haz

 

‘Obrigado, Senhor’ (‘Thank you Lord’) was first published in Márcio-André de Sousa Haz’s Poemas apócrifos de Paul Valéry (Confraria do Vento, 2014). It has been republished in Rochford Street Review with the author’s permission.

A bilingual poetry reading of Márcio-André’s poem, ‘Obrigado, Senhor’ (‘Thank you Lord’) by Márcio-André de Sousa Haz and Les Wicks during
the Struga Poetry Evenings, Macedonia.

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Márcio-André de Sousa Haz was born in 1978 in Rio de Janeiro. He is a multimedia artist whose work includes poetry, essay, performance, digital art, and cinema. His poetry has been translated into more than twenty languages. He is the publisher and co-founder of Confraria do Vento through which he has published Intradoxos (Intradoxes, 2007), Ensaios radioativos (Radioactive Essays, 2008), Poemas apócrifos de Paul Valéry (Apocryphal Poems by Paul Valéry, 2014), and the novel, Leonardo contra Paris (Leonardo against Paris, 2016). Ensaios radioativos was adapted to to the stage by Symone Strobel in 2017. In 2015, Poemas apócrifos de Paul Valéry was nominated for the prestigious, Brazilian, Jabuti Prize and the Oceanos Prize. Márcio-André was awarded a scholarship from the Brazilian National Library Foundation in 2008 for his the book of essays, Poetica das casas (Poetic of the houses). In 2007, he performed a suicide-performance entitled, Conference Poetic-Radioactive of Pripyat, in Chernobyl during which he read his poems for six hours amongst the ruins, risking contamination by cesium 137 and strontium 90. He has performed his experimental, multimedia poetry in several cities around the world and has directed short films, including, Artaud in Compostela, Man in the crowd, El concepto de ironía, and Cozy for two at Kuleshov Str.

website: http://www.marcioandre.com/marcioandre.htm

Poemas apócrifos de Paul Valéry is available from Confraria do Vento: http://confrariadovento.com/editora/catalogo/item/106-poemas-apocrifos-de-paul-valery-traduzidos-por-marcio-andre.html

Purchase Poemas apócrifos de Paul Valéry from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Poemas-Apocrifos-Paul-Valery-Marcio-Andre/dp/8560676864