European

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For poetry on joy, wonder, and passion found through the observation of nature, look no further than World, a posthumous work by Portuguese poet Ana Luisa Amaral. Filled with odes and paens to spiders, magpies, and centipedes, World reads like a cheerful wave goodbye to a beautiful planet. Each translated poem sits alongside the original Portuguese, and through both we enter a unique vision of the tiny garden growing in Amaral’s heart. Grand and affirming, Amaral returns to the spring of life with the clarity of winter.

World by Ana Luísa Amaral, (List Price: 16.95, New Directions, 9780811234832, April 2023)

Reviewed by Amanda Depperschmidt, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia