LIMA WASSU, Ellen
New Ancient Words

New Ancient Words is the first translation of Ellen Lima Wassu's poetry into English. A trilingual edition between her native Tupi indigenous language of the land of Pindorama, now Brazil, Portuguese, and English, this collection offers a wider readership her resistant yet intimate poetry, which flows seamlessly between her relational woes, a decolonial voice, and an animated playfulness with words and imagery. In her poems, history is an unstable landscape, where the personal, the mythical, and the natural are ever entwined and ever shifting in meaning.

Trilingual translation Portuguese, Tupi, English.

Translation by Isadora Neves Marques and Alice dos Reis, revised by Marta Espiridião

[publisher's note]

Published by pântano books, 2025
Poetry