Gonçalo M.Tavares teaches epistemology (the theory of knowledge) at the University of Lisbon. His first collection of poems, Livro da Dança, (‘Book of the Dance’) has recently appeared, and two more collections and a play are expected to be published this year.
Tavares sees poetry as a kind of research, of gathering knowledge through the use of language. He rejects the idea that poetry and logic do not mix. On the contrary, poetry to him is a kind of individual science, able to deal with any subject and to use any sort of language. There are no ‘poetic’ words, he says, nor are there any ‘unpoetic’ ones, even in everyday or vulgar speech. ‘Sensitiveness ruins not only lives,’ he says, ‘but quite a few poems as well.’
Tavares’s poetry works by a sometimes surrealistic interplay of contrasts and unexpected, often ironic turns of phrase.
[Gonçalo M. Tavares took part in the Poetry International Festival Rotterdam 2002. This text was written on that occasion.]
Links
Gonçalo M. Tavares on Lyrikline
