Ferreira Gullar - "Poema Sujo" and Exile

"Poema Sujo" and Exile

Living in Chile, in 1975, Ferreira Gullar wrote his best known work, "Poema Sujo" ("Dirty Poem" in English). He had been exiled by the Brazilian dictatorial government that lasted from 1964 to 1985. The poem states that the persecution of the exiles was growing, many were being found dead, and, thinking hypothetically of his death, he decided to write his last poem. He spent months writing this poem with more than two thousand verses, which brings forth his memories of his childhood and adolescence in São Luís, Maranhão and the anguishes of being far from his land.

Ferreira Gullar read the poem at Augusto Boal's house in Buenos Aires, in a meeting organized by Vinicius de Moraes. The reading, recorded on tape, became well known among Brazilian intellectuals, who tried to guarantee Gullar's return to Brazil in 1977, where he continued writing for newspapers and publishing books. Today Gullar keeps a weekly column at Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, publishing it every Sunday.