A nation stands upon the soil like a child on the shoulders of a giant—lifted, supported, held aloft by the strength beneath it. The soil, rich and teeming with life, is the silent architect of civilizations, the canvas where history unfolds. But when a nation turns against its own land, it wounds itself in ways beyond measure. It is a betrayal of the very ground that nourishes and sustains it. Forests, those towering sentinels, are the lungs of our world. With each rustling leaf, each whispered breeze, they weave the delicate balance of life, turning carbon into oxygen—offering fresh breath … Continue reading The Covenant with the Earth

… and for the first time in my life, rather than happiness — than bliss — I would have this contentedness, the soft ochre light spilling like milk over the floorboards, knowing that this ordinary day could be so much, that the kitchen counter — a bowl of fruit; a warm cup of coffee; leftover soup — could be enough. that I can take a train into the city any time. That I have these words to keep me company. That if everything else falls away, I will have my memories. Ouro Preto, where I would wake up in the … Continue reading 1984 — Ouro Preto, MG

This is more for me than for the world. This is what I’ve written on my wall. “You have to love words. Like anything that you want to get good at, you have to love what you’re doing. And in order to truly love words, learn them. Search for books, hunt down your friends’ library stacks and read everything. Read when you’re brushing your teeth, read when you’re on the subway, read when you’re in the middle of a lecture and all you want to do is to fall asleep. And always be watching the world. The way people speak. … Continue reading Write

after it has given itself completely to us,the bright Sun will collapse into a black hole.We take its warmth and grow for ourselves,not worried about the shrinking, dying source.We are a war-race, a survivor-species, death-homes,we do not love with reflecting hearts.One day, we will have eaten up all the warmth of the Sun and will watch it collapseunder the pressure of its own emptiness,all the while the grieving Sun is thinking “I was so full, I was so full,”Lesson: You have to be careful when you love something fullyor it will leave you empty, ray-thief. Be careful of your bleeding … Continue reading You see, one day,

The first time we collided into each otherI mapped the geography of your scars;soft in your sides roared into rippling waveswhen I travelled across the sea of your bodyAnd you became a waterfall meandered throughthe valley of my breasts,past the sandbanks of my navelveering towards the rocks indenting my hip bones.I gazed into the cerulean windowsditched behind your eyelids,Moonlight never looked this beautifulcascading onto the gilded class of your eyes…❤️ ©️ Beatriz Esmer Continue reading April 29, 2010 at 3 AM

I find myself yearning for the days of yore, for the vigor of my 30s, when the world seemed full of possibilities, ripe for change. It was a time when my heart was ablaze with the fire of ambition, and my arms strong enough to bear the weight of dreams. I long for that relentless drive, that insatiable desire to sculpt the very essence of the world, to leave an indelible mark upon the sands of time. I wish to recapture that fearless spirit, to stand once again tall against the gales of doubt, unflinching in the face of adversity. … Continue reading Yearning for My 30s

I did not know that I would end up here.Here where the hummingbird does not sing.Here where people do not smile.Here where people come to when they are lost.Here where no one sleeps.Here where the forgotten ones come to be remembered by the dead. Of course the irony here–and everywhere this mindset exists–is that the whole scene is shot from the doorway. So yeah, glum resignation is an option, but so is just stepping back a few feet and–presto chango: you’re outside! The Space, the sky, is just a step or two backwards, away from proximity and identification. Step back … Continue reading 2014 — Madison, WI

To love someone as they are it is to walk through a gallery of their soul, observing not just the art that basks in sunlight, but also the pieces that lurk in dim corners. It is to embrace the strange, peculiar character that dances between warmth and coldness, like a day that fluctuates between the caress of sunshine and the bite of frost. Love me as I am, for I am full of contradictions. In the loom of my being, the threads of virtue and vice intertwine, crafting a design that is uniquely mine. The finished and the imperfect are … Continue reading Complexity

Dip the face, dissolve the amazementbreak figures, communicate: eyes, ear, bones…loose yourself into the liquid lifewith a little more caretouch, touch deep downuninhabited feet of sensesdistil the return of a crying filled with feelings and sorrowsclose the windowthe body into the body does not fail…Surrender yourself to humannessFeel the pulse of life in every living creature…❤️🙏 ©️ Beatriz Esmer Continue reading Surrender

In the quietude of the evening, there is a face that dips into the still waters of reflection, where amazement dissolves like sugar in tea, sweetening the depths of thought. It is a place where figures of speech break apart, their fragments floating away to form new means of communication. Eyes, bones, ears—each becomes unmoored, adrift in the liquid embrace of introspection. With a little more care, a touch more tenderness, one can reach the very bottom of being, touch the essence of self that lies uninhabited. Feet, senses, all that we are, unshackled from the gravity of the world … Continue reading In my solitude