Sonja N. Bohm is author of two collections of bilingual poems written side-by-side in Portuguese and English. Conceived of in English, and crafted to be read in Portuguese, these poems are the fruit of a journey into learning and loving the Portuguese language. In Poemas do Jardim (Poems from the Garden), the Garden represents an Ideal—a thing not to be fully realized or attained in this life, but no less real or conceivable. The Garden is Portugal. Banco Vazio Poesia (Empty Bench Poetry) is the continuation of a love affair with words: poems of life and love written upon Bohm's return to the United States.