Bacellar and Beça: an exercise of Haiku Translation

Haiku as a poetic genre is widespread in many places around the world. In Brazil, where there is the largest population of Japanese descendants apart from Japan itself, haikai was assimilated in two ways: through Brazilian poets writing in Portuguese and immigrant poets writing in Japanese. Haikai in Portuguese was assimilated and adapted, combining it with local vocabulary related to the equally specific nature of each region. In Amazonas, two of the greatest exponents of haikai are the poets Luiz Bacellar and Aníbal Beça. This paper briefly presents some of their poems found in the books "Satori", by Bacellar, and "Folhas da Selva", by Beça. As aniche to explore, we have selected some that use synesthetic resources, in order to translate them and, in this exercise, reflect on translation choices. Keywords: haiku; Amazon; translation; synesthesia.