[en] Al Berto is a modern tragic poet who, in his emblematic work O Medo (1974-1997), circumscribes ?the lyric itinerary of his life? using a unique testimonial and autobiographical tone. Upon his returning to Portugal, after an eight years self imposed exile in Brussels, he sets in motion his poetic career just as the new democratic regime was ushered in ? this presented an opportunity to freely express his ideas in a literary work clearly alternative and different in the landscape of the late 70?s. His radical narcissism is present right from the beginning in all his books. Even to the point of fracturing his own name as if consisting in two separate units: Al Berto. This is an underlying drive that pushes the author to coexist in between two distinctive identities. That of the ?real subject? (Alberto) and another fictional of an ?imaginary lyric one? (Al Berto). Both, increasingly differentiated in his poetic discourse ? blending their boundaries, at times, to the point of making them indistinguishable ? and, all this, using a profound, emotional surrealistic language knitted together with disturbing and deeply moving metaphors. From the underground world of his first writings, a rebellious phase of excess and transgression is present showing influences from the Beat generation, proscribed French poets together with W.S. Burroughs, Jean Genet (homoerotism, drugs, sordid nights, rock, film scenes.., thematic core of his work) continuing with a maritime stage in which he recovers his early adult life by the Atlantic. At this point, his writings evolve into a more serene, less accelerated pace. Nonetheless, a different kind of ?miedos?/ fears and apprehensions still persisted. Fears that the poet experiences in his drifting experience, in his restlessness and distress; in his desire of avoiding to stay put in any given place, but still faithful to his swift encounters. The way he describes these ever changing moments in his poetry gives them, undoubtedly, a transcendent dimension of eternity. Melancholy impregnates his long verses of irregular rime, foreign to punctuation and syntactic rules, gradually more solemn with the passing of the time - in which the poet is aware of a world of absences (love and desire) as well as losses (spaces) that triggers pain and suffering. This ?miedo?/fear precipitates itself when he confronts the threat of a disease which will take him to oblivion - until this ?fire that consummates his verses? as if it were one more ordinary fact of life; one in which Al Berto represents he drama of his life and death. Drama that he expresses in a singular and utterly poetic manner

[es] Al Berto es un poeta tr?gico y moderno que encierra en su obra: O Medo (1974-1997) el ?itinerario l?rico de su vida?, bajo un tono autobiogr?fico y testimonial. Una escritura que pone en marcha tras su regreso a Portugal, coincidiendo con un r?gimen democr?tico despu?s de una estancia de autoexilio en Bruselas de ocho a?os. Las nuevas condiciones de su pa?s le permitir? expresar sus ideas libremente a trav?s de sus obras, tan diferentes como alternativas en el panorama de las letras lusas de aquel final de los a?os 70, con un radical narcisismo que se halla presente en todos sus libros, hasta el extremo de fracturar en dos partes su nombre: Al Berto, en los albores de su carrera literaria. Una escisi?n que lleva al poeta a convivir entre dos identidades, la del ?sujeto real? (Alberto) y la ficticia de un ?yo l?rico imaginario? (Al Berto), cada vez m?s s?lidas en el discurso po?tico, diluy?ndose sus l?mites y siendo dif?cil separarlos. Su escritura rebosa de emoci?n por el atractivo lenguaje de una c?lida belleza surrealista, y sus impactantes y conmovedoras met?foras. Del mundo underground de sus primeros libros, enmarcados en una etapa de rebeld?a, excesos y transgresi?n, influenciado por la beat generation, y por los poetas malditos franceses, W.S Burroughs o Jean Genet (cuyos n?cleos tem?ticos predominantes son homoerotismo, drogas, noches s?rdidas, rock, escenas cinematogr?ficas?), pasando luego a una etapa mar?tima en la que recupera su juventud a orillas del Atl?ntico, por medio de la memoria. Una etapa en la que su escritura es m?s serena, menos vertiginosa, no ausente de temores y de diversos ?miedos? que el poeta vive en su experiencia errante, en su inquietud y en su desasosiego, por no querer anclarse ni permanecer arraigado a ning?n lugar, fiel a sus encuentros pasionales fugaces, nombrando lo ef?mero del momento en su poes?a para darle de este modo una categor?a de eternidad a cada instante. La melancol?a se apodera de sus versos largos, de rima irregular, ajenos a puntuaciones y a reglas sint?cticas, cada vez m?s solemnes a medida que pasa el tiempo y el poeta es consciente de un mundo de ausencias (de amores y deseos), de p?rdidas (de espacios) que le provocan un irremediable sufrimiento. Este ?miedo? se precipita cuando mira de frente la condena de una enfermedad que le conducir? hasta la desaparici?n, hasta ?el fuego que calcina sus versos?, como trat?ndose de una escena cotidiana m?s, en donde Al Berto representa el drama de su vida y de su muerte y lo poetiza de manera singular