New Verse News Extra: TO PICK UP AGAIN
by Indran Amirthanayagam
When thousands of far-right supporters of Brazil's ex-leader, Jair Bolsonaro ransacked Brazil's government buildings on Sunday, political leaders condemned the grave attack on the country's democratic fabric. The buildings also held a rich collection of art, some of which suffered irreparable damage. The government has mourned the loss of key parts of the artistic collection, which it said represents an important chapter in its national history… As mulatas, a painting by Emiliano Di Cavalcanti, was found punctured in seven places. The government said it was worth at least 8 million reais (£1.2; $1.5m). Photo: Damage to the Emiliano Di Cavalcanti painting is inspected. —BBC via Yahoo! News, January 10, 2023
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Urine and shit provide biological clues to riot investigators, combing executive palace, congress, supreme court in Brasilia as condemnations spread the day after, the passing of blame, words of support and sympathy, and revisions of what could have been done to hold the line. The line did not hold, the damage done, but the body is alive still and ready for restoration surgery, new heart, liver, kidney, and craftsmen hired to work on the great painting punctured in seven parts.
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Indran Amirthanayagam is the translator of Origami: Selected Poems of Manuel Ulacia (Dialogos Books). Ten Thousand Steps Against the Tyrant (BroadstoneBooks) is the newest collection of Indran's own poems. Recently published is Blue Window (Ventana Azul), translated by Jennifer Rathbun.(Dialogos Books). In 2020, Indran produced a “world" record by publishing three new poetry books written in three languages: The Migrant States (Hanging Loose Press, New York), Sur l'île nostalgique (L’Harmattan, Paris) and Lírica a tiempo (Mesa Redonda, Lima). He writes in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Haitian Creole and has twenty poetry books as well as a music album Rankont Dout. He edits The Beltway Poetry Quarterly and helps curate Ablucionistas. He won the Paterson Prize and received fellowships from The Foundation for the Contemporary Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, US/Mexico Fund For Culture, and the MacDowell Colony. He hosts the Poetry Channel on YouTube and publishes poetry books with Sara Cahill Marron at Beltway Editions.