Dust to dust – a book to be savoured
“Dirty Narciso loved his cock
he’d stroke it
5 times at 5 o’clock
while having builders tea
jam scones
and jizz
in the wide open mouth of a mirror“
[Excerpt of Aches o que aches/Dust to dust by Ana Janeiro]
Food as a pretext for conversation, the scents of childhood, the traditions we run away from, only to have them come back to us like a boomerang in adulthood. In an attempt at a critical review with a taste of friendship, David Bowie and the Alentejo, Aches o que aches/Dust to dust.
My friend doesn’t know she’s my friend, nor have we ever expressed it that way. But we came together through some law of attraction that Carlos Norton must be able to explain. Norton, by the way, also carries the warm scent of the Algarve in his work, the aroma of figs and carob, with a touch of cosmopolitan city life.
How can we classify these people from nowhere, caught between their earthly roots and the most daring urban cultures? Who produce art for the dust of time?
My friend made a book to be devoured. I will try not to stray from that purpose. That is what I am here to talk about today. Until I read Aches o que aches/Dust to dust, I associated my friend with the character in Perfect Days (Wenders, 2023). And wasn’t I right? We started to get along by talking about food, mixed with frevo and other affinities. Then, after each conversation, we repeatedly turned our backs and carried on with our conformist tasks. I offered her some homemade bell pepper paste, and she gave me some pesto paste in return, which I haven’t tasted yet, but I suspect it will be delicious because it carries the intention of our veiled friendship.
The book. Aches o que aches [Whatever you think it is], it’s poetry. Like all poetry, it lives on pieces, fragments left behind as if by chance. In it, you can eat the Alentejo. For there is tomato sauce with eggs, garlic, cacholada [a type of bread] and other metaphorical ingredients that stimulate my appetite. I suspect that my friend did not fit into a place that, in addition to gastronomic aromas, also contained guilt, masses, and other claustrophobias, which I also learned to recognize and from which I have consciously deviated, like her, I think.
Somewhere between Braga and New York, like António Variações, Dust to Dust is an act of rebellion, which cynically (or lucidly?) believes that words will be swallowed up by bureaucratic ties but which, nonetheless, persists in inventing the world. And why not?
I devoured the book in bits and pieces, almost in one gulp, like someone drinking gin and tonic while biting into apples. And now I’ll have to savour it a bit more slowly, one day. And, since we’re on the subject of friendship, the first words of Aches o que aches reminded me of Cynthia Luderer, in her militancy to learn more about the power of food and communication as culture. Cynthia, here you are! A gastronomic universe pregnant with culture, memory, time, pushing itself to other frontiers, without ever disconnecting from the legacies that we sometimes renounce, only to be able to return to them in freedom.
I recall Miguilim: you need distance to see (Rosa, 2024). Escaping from the place of childhood to become someone else, sooner or later the remains come to the surface, floating like in a stew, whose flavor is a crumbled bowl, with a spoon held high and people giggling. Perhaps a turnip soup ( which I always hated and now make with pleasure once a year to symbolically usher in Autumn), sweet wine, the smell of sawdust and others, which surface like an ebb tide.
In this book, there is red wine and rum, erotic snippets, a flow of gibberish and humour that saves us. Like coffee. Between David Bowie’s multifaceted pop boldness and the colours of Portugal’s homeland. I’ll say no more. Bom apetite [Bon appétit]!
For further information:
https://officiumlectionis.pt/produto/ana-janeiro-aches-o-que-aches-dust-to-dust/
Review by Teresa Lima
Published in September 2025
Book by Ana Janeiro
References
Guimarães Rosa, J. (2024). Miguilim. Tinta da China.
Wenders, W. (Director). (2023, December 14th). Perfect Days [Drama]. Master Mind, Wenders Images.
ANO
2025
AUTORES
Ana Janeiro / Teresa Lima
EDITORES
Officium Lectionis
