Alexis Almeida's debut poetry collection, 'Caetano,' published in May 2026 by Ugly Duckling Presse, explores themes of family, memory, and language through a lens of repetition and lists. The collection comprises 96 pages of poems, each with straightforward titles like "Poem in Which You Become the Hands on My Stomach" and "Some Nightmares," leading to unexpected revelations.
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In her conversation with fellow poet Mónica de la Torre, Almeida highlights how her poetry blurs the lines between desire and the act of writing. Almeida cites Frank O’Hara’s reflection on love during crises, noting that her poems similarly reassess the focus of affection, interweaving personal experience with broader themes of existence.
Almeida recounts her connection with de la Torre, which began in 2017 at Brown University. After returning from a Fulbright fellowship in Buenos Aires, Almeida sought to share her insights into Latin American avant-garde poetry, prompting de la Torre to invite her into a poetry class.
In their discussion, Almeida clarifies that dreams constitute a central aspect of her work. She reflects on how her pregnancy dreams influenced her writing, gesturing toward the complexity of translating dreams into language and the interplay of waking and sleeping life. Almeida's exploration of her family lineage, particularly her grandfather Caetano and grandmother Graciela, informs the thematic depth of 'Caetano.' She feels a profound sense of loss and erasure linked to her family’s migration, with languages like Spanish and Portuguese shaping her identity.
The conversation delves into the intricacies of poetry and how dream-like narratives resist conventional storytelling. Almeida connects this resistance to the concept of translation, examining how poems can be reimagined and reframed, thus yielding new meanings. She emphasizes the physicality of writing, the embodiment of repetition, and how it can evoke desire and evoke nuanced experiences.
Almeida’s reflections extend to her influences, acknowledging other poets like Fernanda Laguna and Roberta Iannamico, whose works have inspired her aesthetic and emotional approaches to writing. She recognizes that the act of translation reshapes her writing process, creating a dynamic interplay between her original language and English.
Throughout the exchange, Almeida conveys that her writing seeks to engage with memory and the complexities of identity, inviting readers into a layered exploration of familial ties, emotional landscapes, and the nature of language itself.