In Yvette K. Centeno’s poetry, as well as in her essays, the affinity with the spiritual world and the encounter between immanence and transcendence are well known characteristics. I can’t resist attempting to define them in their entirety by quoting the first stanza of her poem, ‘The Garden’: ‘Rain is compassionate./ It effaces tears, / The soul’s blazing embers./ (…)’ (in Canções do Rio Profundo, 2002).
Alberto Pimenta
Yvette K. Centeno was born in Lisbon of a Polish mother and a Portuguese father. Besides poetry, she is the author of many novels, plays, essays and translations of works by Stendhal, Goethe, Shakespeare, Brecht, Celan and René Char. She published her first poetry book in 1961 followed by another eight books.
Poetry books since 2000: Cancões do Rio Profundo (2002), Outonais (2011), Entre Silêncios. Poesia: 1961-2018 (2019).
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