From “Clarice: The Visitor” by Idra Novey

I

“At three in the afternoon, I’m the most demanding woman
in the world . . . When it’s over, six in the afternoon comes, also
indescribable, in which I turn blind.”
-Lispector to Fernando Sabino, 1946

Dear C, I’m turning from.
Have been syntaxed and stirred into a purple.
Blurred to blind.
I made a mess of page twenty-two,
couldn’t resurrect what you left unsaid
into words that wouldn’t.
Do you believe in grieving?
I mean for language, the endangered
animal of, fleeing into caves.
I can only keep after it in fits
or I get trapped
in the keeping after. That,
and bliss.
Your spinning but devoted
I.N.

I

“At three in the afternoon, I’m the most demanding woman
in the world . . . When it’s over, six in the afternoon comes, also
indescribable, in which I turn blind.”
-Lispector to Fernando Sabino, 1946

Dear C, I’m turning from.
Have been syntaxed and stirred into a purple.
Blurred to blind.
I made a mess of page twenty-two,
couldn’t resurrect what you left unsaid
into words that wouldn’t.
Do you believe in grieving?
I mean for language, the endangered
animal of, fleeing into caves.
I can only keep after it in fits
or I get trapped
in the keeping after. That,
and bliss.
Your spinning but devoted
I.N.

De “Clarice: The Visitor”

I

“Às três horas da tarde sou a mulher mais exigente do
mundo . . . Quando passa, vêm seis da tarde, também
indescritíveis, em que eu fico cega.”
-Lispector para Fernando Sabino, 1946
Querida C, estou me afastando.
Fui sintaxada e misturada em roxo.
Embaçada até a cegueira.
Fiz uma bagunça na página vinte e dois,
não consegui ressuscitar o que você deixou de dizer
em palavras que não seriam.
Você acredita em luto?
Quero dizer, de linguagem, esse animal
ameaçado, refugiado em cavernas.
Só consigo cuidar dele em crise
ou fico presa no cuidar. Isso,
e felicidade.
Da sua oscilante mas devotada
I.N.