From the Rockies to the Amazon

This chapter develops the idea of creating the sampling of contemporary experimental poetry from English-speaking Canada for a Brazilian audience. It reflects on the many lessons learned in this journey from the Rockies to the Amazon, lessons not only about translation but also about cultural contact. The chapter deals with issues emerging from the creation of anthologies in general, and of anthologies of translation specifically, and how those issues played out in the authors’ case. It considers the literary relations between these two countries, particularly aspects of the reception of Canadian literature in Brazil, another matter that influenced both the creation and configuration of this anthology. The importance of concrete poetry in Brazil was our inclusion of Derek Beaulieu’s “statement,” a manifesto typed on an old typewriter where he writes that, “by using obsolete technology, the poet can recuperate means of communication which have been rejected and trashed.”