donde eres Paulo Roberto de Almeida
of São Paulo, Brasil
where are you today?
With your blue fountain pen
graceful handwriting
the writer of my postcards and letters
Fall to Spring 1969 to 70
still in my scrapbook, every one

your English a little broken but endearing
the intelligence and articulation
for words, evident
you were practising my mother tongue
some words advanced
others missed the mark a bit
and sharing with me your Portuguese and Spanish
patient with my efforts in the latter
I was studying it in high school
just fifteen then, you not much more

I don't remember how we first connected
in those days when postcards and letters,
not electronics carried words
across distance

Who found who? Or did our teachers set us up?
But I was thrilled to have a Spanish-speaking pen pal
my first delight was how your name
so syllablled and musical
a gaze at trees on a breezy day in summer
the last name beautiful
followed true to the tradition
we had learned in class
how the 'de' in it plays tribute
to keep the maternal family's name alive
for generations

this photo I have of you
appealed to me, the alluring face
your physique good in the white golf shirt
but you misunderstood
my comment on your looks
'why do you find me dark?'
the droll-sounding question penned
in your letter
not detecting that I liked the dark and handsome
of those brown eyes, black hair, in contrast to my 'fair'

Paulo Roberto de Almeida, you kept asking
did I have more photos of myself to send?
Did I have a boyfriend?
Wanderlust students soon
we planned tourist routes for one another
to visit each other's lands, one day.
You even mentioned a hotel
in Sao Paul, we could take a walk to
if I could come

and no, you replied, you'd never seen snow
but I must see the heights of Brasil

you explained the religions there
while I described our Changing of the Guard
you requested background on our forestry

we covered one another's birthdays
our favourite somethings and our climates
admired snapshots and anecdotes from afar
until someone put a stop to us
as if we'd threatened a forbidden romance
beyond all linguistic exercise

I think they suspected
we were promising ourselves to one another
I was cautioned that you seemed to
be interpreting a commitment from me
that I’d have to watch your words in there,
and mine, they told me
the customs might be different

our questions had turned personal fast
far beyond geography and culture
but then Canadians can be too conservative
on the other hand, I thought

your little photo's kept so well
in my scrapbook with the azure scenes
on cartaos postales marked
'Brazil turistico
"São Vicente", o "São Paulo"

wonder if you'd be surprised to learn
I never saw a Latin country yet?
not Spain or South America
or Mexico?
except in books and poems and postcards?

but in my mind I've gone
not to Carolina
do you know that old Melanie song?
but to all of those above

For years I never found
many others to practise with
until the Spanish poetry readings
and my friends there brought it back
to me

I once wrote a mystery manuscript
about a pen pal visitor from Brazil
to a woman in Ottawa
hope you don't mind
that way, we finally did
the tourist bit and more.

I don't know why we stopped our
correspondence, Paulo

s'pose now I'll never know
what manhood brought to you
or your friends who wanted me
to find Canadian girls
for correspondence
'beautiful ones, like you' you said
you had all the romance charm

Remember how you wanted to mail me record albums
but worried they might break?
It was a sweet suggestion

and taught me about the Samba
imported there from Africa?
then featured in the carnival's ball
a hot dance like rock'n roll or the twist
was your description

what do you think of all the latin music
on the pop charts of North America now?
you and I 'met'
before the days of Ricki Martin
and Enrique Iglesias

you thanked me for the stories
of my high school plays
told me of teatro from Argentina to your home
the festivals devoted to it
how São Paulo was a capital of the state
like my town for Canada
and on your Christmas card to me
Carta de Natal

When I found that scrapbook yesterday
and my section devoted to you
tucked in between the Beatles
Elvis and my Hollywood stars

I had to wonder about that boy
I almost knew, so far away

contemplate if he still lives
in his city by the sea
if he married, had niños, niñas
and did he ever learn of our trees
in Canada? See snow?
Keep my postcards and letters too?

There are 86,000 men
with your full name on the net
my guess is you’re one
of those in forestry or ecology
hasta luego (farewell for now)
donde eres tu hoy?
Mi amigo cariñoso Paulo Roberto de Almeida
de Brasil

my dear friend
where are you?

04/20/2001

Author's Note: A draft. Some accents wouldn't copy, so are missing, excuse me for that. Will try to get them in.

Posted on 08/05/2004
Copyright © 2024 Maureen Glaude