Poetry often draws from shared sources, yet it can also carve a unique path, a personal voice that seeks a kind of transcendence in the written word. When transcendence is discussed, it is not about personal fame or quick recognition. The true poet shoots for something broader: a solid, lasting work that leaves a mark on history for generations to come. Literature, a long patience of the mind, reveals its meaning only when seen in that light. Poetry, the supreme art form, isn’t a fleeting moment; maybe it is the route by which we glimpse happiness and meaning.
At a Glance, a collection of cultural poetry published by Sapere Aude, presents a wide tapestry of interests and influences. The work is anchored by a poet who breathes culture without slipping into pedantry, absorbing books, cinema, and music to forge a personal world expressed across poems, prose, novels, and criticism. The collection opens with a poem titled “Clarice,” a tribute to a Brazilian writer, inviting readers to sense the tug between solitude and the impulse to live fully. The poems resemble a curated map of the author’s loves, a blend of homage and personal reflection that speaks to readers who value cultural literacy as a lived experience, not just an academic ideal.
The collection is divided into two sections, Words on Your Painful Face and Mirrors of the Gaze, charting not only a life of culture but intimate moments as well. The poem “A Time Stamp” honors the author’s father, recalling memories shaped by time: “From the depths of memory now emerge / prints faded by the fury of time.” Vivid Sundays of the past, landscapes rediscovered, and ordinary acts that sparked happiness—these lines kindle a nostalgia that lingers long after the moment has passed. The poet demonstrates how culture and emotion can intertwine with spontaneity, producing work that feels both personal and universal.
The collection moves readers gently yet insistently toward a broader reflection. It suggests that a poet’s aim is not to elevate the self through fame, but to unify shared feelings and emotions across people. Poetry, when it seeks universality, becomes a bridge from local experience to global understanding. The poet does not chase transcendence in solitude; rather, the work moves toward it, inviting readers to experience emotion in its most unguarded form. There is no filter beyond the heart and soul where the poetry was born. Each poem invites a personal response, challenging readers to examine their own feelings and consciences. The book closes with a meditation on pain and memory in a poem titled “Wounds,” a reminder that wounds travel with us wherever we go and shape the way we listen, respond, and choose peace over conflict: “Wherever you go, / wherever you listen, / the news of a wound comes to you, of the cramp it produces / to whom it jealously keeps him awake; / the repeated startle that is its own aggression.” The closing lines emphasize that a quest for peace must acknowledge the scars that linger, urging readers to be mindful in how they respond to conflict and memory.