"In the masts of the poem”, the nation of São Tome

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of three poems from the book, O útero da casa, by Conceição Lima, a Sao Tome poet. The idea is to substantiate her aesthetic process in constructing the resonances of tensions in the power relations between subjects that make up the nation’s narratives concerning their national feelings. The resulting perception comes from the reading of the book Polifonias Insulares cultura e Literatura de São Tomé e Príncipe, by the Professor and researcher, Inocência Mata, particularly in clarifying the course and process of producing literature in Sao Tome that she has outlined. In an attempt to highlight feelings that lead authors to poetize their mátria, a metaphor for the island of Sao Tome, a demarcated uterus of belonging in which in tune and out of tune elements build such tensions, we borrow the ideas of nation and national identitiy of Homi Bhabha and Benedict Anderson.