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Brazilian poet Dirceu Villa, Perceptions of Life, Poem Simple Recipe for a Good Life by Dirceu Villa, São Paulo/Brazil
Photo Credit: Acapivara Cultural (Instagram/May 2025)
In my Poetry Corner September 2026, I feature the poem “Simple Recipe for a Good Life / Receita Simples para o Bem-Viver” by Brazilian poet Dirceu Villa. Born in 1975 in São Paulo, he holds a doctorate in English Literature from the University of São Paulo (USP), studying the Renaissance in England and Italy with a doctoral internship in London, and a post-doctorate in Brazilian Literature, revising the canon of Portuguese-language poetry.
He has taught literature in postgraduate courses at USP and undergraduate courses at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP). For over six years, he has been a professor at the Poetic Translation Workshop at Casa Guilherme de Almeida, Center for Literary Translation Studies.
When asked about the role of poetry in 21st century Brazil, during an interview with Guilherme Gontijo Flores for R. Nott Magazine in February 2014, Villa said:
“Poetry is a force that creates the world. Not in the sense of a god coming and issuing a fiat lux, but it operates in people’s minds in such a way as to give them a new configuration of the world, a new description of life, which in a few years usually becomes what everyone recognizes as the world, in their imagination.
[…]
Hence, the poet’s function remains the same: it is up to him to know his craft like no one else, and to be rigorously faithful to his perceptions, no matter how much they conflict with society.”
