Sex as Care and Other Viral Poems
by Pedro Neves Marques, 2020
120 pages, first edition, original in English
pântano books 01
16€

Pedro Neves Marques's first poetry collection includes two sets of poems written between 2017 and 2019 and spans the author's biographical geographies, from Brazil and Lisbon to London and New York. From precise geometries to tragicomic gestures and long free verse confessions, Neves Marques’s poetry moves with great honesty between deep social analyses to the tactile quality of remembrance. Whether in a long and devoted poem tying together friendship and historical legacies across the Atlantic in “Brazil” or in the condensed and timed recollections of “Thirteen Days in Lisbon,” the poems collected in "Sex as Care" acknowledge the reality of both care and violence in intimacy. For their part, "Other Viral Poems" takes a more programmatic approach, drawing an analogy between the spread of the Zika epidemic in Brazil, the genetic modification of its carrier mosquito, and the rise of fascism to mount a critique of both gender biases in science and anti-queer populisms. In orderly fashion, the poems coopt a militaristic and technical language to instead create spaces of intimacy where gender, love, trust, and unequal experiences are tested.

Pedro Neves Marques is a writer, visual artist, and filmmaker. Born in Lisbon, they have lived in London, São Paulo, and New York. Their writings have appeared in e-flux journal and The Baffler, as well as in numerous books and art catalogues by Verso, MIT Press, Sternberg Press, Archive Books, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Liverpool Biennal, and others. Their poetry has been included in Documents in Contemporary Art: Health (Whitechapel/MIT Press), Sex Ecologies (MIT Press), and Dolce Criolo magazine. They have read at e-flux, Poetry Project, The Vera List Center, McNally Jackson Bookstore, Nottingham Contemporary, Gasworks, and Sesc São Paulo, among many others. They have also published two short-story collections, most recently in Portuguese Morrer na América (Kunsthalle Lissabon/ Arranha-Céus, 2017), and edited the collections YWY, Searching for a Character Between Future Worlds: Gender, Ecology, Science Fiction (Sternberg Press/ CA2M, 2022) and The Forest and The School/ Where to Sit at the Dinner Table? (Archive Books, 2015). As a filmmaker and artist they were the Official Portuguese Representation - Portugal Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022 and were awarded a Special Prize at the Pinchuk Future Generation Art Prize (2022), the Present Future Art Prize (2018), and the Ammodo Tiger Short Award for best international short film at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in 2022, among other awards. They exhibit their films and poetry-based work internationally in film festivals and art institutions.

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