In my Poetry Corner June 2026, I feature the poem “Learn to Live / Saber Viver” by one of Brazil’s great twentieth-century poets, known by her pen name, Cora Coralina (1889-1985). Baptized Ana Lins dos Guimarães Peixoto, the poet adopted the name at fifteen years old when she began writing her first poems. Cora comes from coração (heart) and Coralina from the red coralline algae: red heart.

I first featured this poem in April 2014. It soon became the topmost read post on my blog and retained that position for several years. The poet’s message is much needed in today’s upside-down world. Bear in mind that Cora Coralina lived through a turbulent period, both nationally and worldwide: two World Wars (1914-1918 & 1939-1945) and Brazil’s dictatorship (1964-1985). For those who have read my 2014 post, I offer new excerpts selected from her four poetry collections published during the period 1965 to 1985.

Born in the small town of Goiás Velho, then the capital of the State of Goiás, Aninha (as she was called) lost her father, a High Court judge, when she was a toddler. In her poem, “My Childhood,” we learn that she was not favored as the third of four daughters:

Among them, I always occupied the worst place. […] I grew up as a daughter without a father, / second-rate among my sisters. // I was sad, nervous, and ugly. / Yellowish, with a pale face. / With weak legs, falling over easily. / Those who saw me like that – said: / “This girl is the living image / of her sick old father.”