Just as Machado’s irony, badly imitated—and so imitated—is irritating, so is this simulated lightness in poetry, this simplicity that pretends to be profound, this delicacy that, when it is not the authentic expression of a temperament, is annoying. In short: Drummond and Bandeira. Perhaps the greatest curse of success is its offspring, that is, the imitators. How embarrassing is the technique when exposed without the original varnish! And to see all these cheap copies proliferating, making ridiculous the very creativity that engendered it… Directly, it is true, the originals are not tarnished; however, it is difficult to say that any artist would rejoice in forgeries. There remain antidotes, and none seems more potent than inserting absurd, repulsive eccentricities into one’s own art, which no imitator will have the courage to appropriate.
Just as Machado’s Irony…
