i.

For the bee I have no solution
that the bee itself doesn't have:
honey and poison.

from 'From Within Moments'

Honey and Poison is the first comprehensive selection in English of the poetry of
one of Portugal's finest contemporary writers. Condensed and intimate, sometimes slyly
secretive, these poems are measured by moments of revelation, love, wit and most
particularly passion. They also have a captivating sense of history and place,
reflecting the land and the emotions of a country that has moved from dictatorship to
democracy over the last three decades. A Portuguese critic, reflecting on Tamen's place
in the canon, recently observed that he writes 'with a humour and expressiveness
reminiscent of the greatest poets of Portuguese literature'.

PEDRO TAMEN was born in Lisbon in 1934. He studied Law at the the University of Lisbon and
has worked as a teacher, publisher, editor and journalist. He was President of the
Portuguese P.E.N. Club and from 1975 until 2000 was a trustee of the Calouste Gulbenkian
Foundation in Lisbon. He is author of twenty books of poetry, and his poems have been
translated into ten languages. He has translated many works of foreign literature past and
present.

RICHARD ZIMLER, better known as a novelist, has translated a number of Portuguese poets
into English, including Al Berto (The Secret Life of Images). His translations have
featured in London Magazine, Literary Review, Puerto del Sol and
elsewhere.