Editor Colchie considers the Brazilian poet de Andrade to be among this century's finest and most accessible poets writing in the Portuguese language, and ranks him with such notables as Vallejo, Neruda, and Paz. This modest sampler of poems from de Andrade's nine previous collections introduces him to English speakers, to whom he is largely unknown. In his tragicomic vision and identification of the poet-artist with Charlie Chaplin, de Andrade reminds us of Ferlinghetti. Practical optimism tempers his disappointment with the world: "I am compromised forever/ I who for so many years have been in and out/ the Grand Hotel of the World . . ./ . . . I house/ tenaciously the secret guest of me."

Carlos Drummond de Andrade (October 31, 1902 - August 17, 1987) was perhaps the most influential Brazilian poet of the 20th century. He has become something of a national poet; his poem "Canção Amiga" ("Friendly Song") was printed on the 50 cruzados note.