Death of Eddie Two Rivers

Teresinka Pereira has just sent an e-mail informing us about the death of a poet from USA, Eddie Two Rivers, last 27th December, 2008, after a long battle with cancer.

He was a talented poet, playwright and performer, and worked to obtain equal rights and justice for Native Americans. He was also dedicated to a number of causes such as AIDS, battered women, environmental issues, the death penalty, gang violence, hunger, homelessness and world peace.

Eddie Two Rivers was born in 1945 in a small town in northwestern Ontario and father of many children. He was an Anishanobae from the Ojibwa tribe. As a profession he was a journeyman machinist, but then he started writing fulltime. Among his published poetry collections, A Dozen Cold Ones. He taught theatre at Truman College where he was Founding Artistic Director of Red Path Theater Company. He also worked in sales, construction, acting, and as a performance artist, a community organizer and union representative.

His book Survivor's Medicine published by the University of Oklahoma Press in October 1998 won the 1999 AMERICAN BOOK AWARD given by the BEFORE COLUMBUS FOUNDATION. He addressed audiences at many of Chicago's most prestigious cultural and literary institutions and events.

Listen to Eddie Two Rivers performing one of his war poems - really gripping:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX_ogg7r0fQ

A poem of his:

August 17, 2008
Wannabe Warrior

Oh, the regrets

some people carry around

in their back pockets

like small boys tote stones,

throwing them

here and there

like temper tantrums.

You talk to people

like they were supposed to care.

You invent a past to compensate

for what you wanted but never could be

Valor in battle?

A fairy tale you keep

up your sleeve

like a switch blade knife,

a story tucked away

between shots

and cheap draught beer.

Pow Wows, Fat Cats, and Other Indian Tales. Mammoth Publications and Woodley Memorial Press. Copyright 2003 the author.

from http://www.chicagopoem.typepad.com/

The following is a poem dedicated to Eddie Two Rivers written by Jose Bono Rovirosa:

To E. Two Rivers

Spirit of the Lake

I beseech your forgiveness

for I broke your harmony

on a night of full moon

when some poets screamed at you

disrupting the nature of your spirit.

I am here to make peace

with your spirit

for I do not wish

to live my life with anger

by the Spirit of the Lake

who lives within me

and all things alike.

Good Spirit of the Lake

I am here today

to offer my sacrifice

to you and the four winds

riders of nature

sharing my respect and love

my spirit has with yours.

I offer you these red roses (throw the roses into the lake)

as a sign of beauty

death and life

is to me,

and these ashes (burn the poem and spread the ashes in the lake)

basic material

of the universe.

Jose Bono Rovirosa

Seosan-SI, S, Korea12/29/08

Toni Piccini - a poet-painter from Trieste

I must admit that having a blog has its many advantages. It is like a shopwindow looking towards an open world where people from all corners of the globe pass and look at it. Sometimes somebody dares to enter the shop and talk with the owner, that is, me. And the interesting thing is that the shopowner is all the time getting to know different people and learning new things.
My last meeting was with a poet-painter from North Italy, Trieste, Toni Piccini. He wrote me an e-mail telling me that he saw my blog and Teresinka Pereira's poem about the children in Gaza. Toni Piccini politely asked me if I would be glad to publish some of his work on this blog. I saw his works and I think that they are beautiful: they are a mixture of colour, emotion, philosophy and motion.



His has a passion for both writing and music. Piccini has conducted radio programmes for these last thirty years and has taught the subject too. He has written a story about Jim Morrison (1984) and musical criticism articles on different publications (both hard copy and virtual). He then starts writing poetry in Italian and in dialect. Some years ago he starts writing haiku, his favourite medium of expression, together with other artistic forms of expression. In 2005 he read his verse at the XI International Festival of Poetry of Genoa, and in Urbino (14 haiku for Patti Smith) as part of the evening dedicated to Patti Smith named "70's
Flowers".

Toni Piccini has a very nice and interesting website, together with a blog:

http://www.tonipiccini.it/
http://senzacopione.blogspot.com/


From Toni Piccini’s haiku series “One World”

Strange birds
are colouring the sky -
white phosphorus

In the train: Mohammed,
Christ, Buddha or the Nothing -
same seats

Without hymns
or national flags -
rainbows

Earth, sea, sky.
The geography of the wind
doesn't know borders


Dear Toni Piccini, a big THANKS for your artistic creations.

Poetry and the Gaza Children

For many of us Israel, Gaza and the Palestine question are all far away, or at least present only when we watch tv or read the newspaper. Many of us ask, "How can that be? How can that massacre happen? How can they let them do such terrible things on civilians? How can certain superpowers do whatever they like without any kind of reaction or sanctions from the civilized world? Are we really civilized? How can we say and do nothing in front of such bloodshed?" Imagine us in the place of the Gaza/Israel innocent civilians.

This wants to be a condemnation of both sides. Both sides are behaving unetichally and without any respect towards their brothers or rivals. Both Hamas and Israel have dirty clothes to wash and say sorry and pay for their atrocious acts.

The following is a poem written by Teresinka Pereira, Brasilian-American poet, and President of the International Writers and Artists Association (IWA) and President of the International Congress of the Society of Latin Culture.

CHILDREN OF GAZA

Children dying in Gaza
did not have the privilege
to celebrate the 2009 new year
with their innocent laughs.
Their days, months, few years of life
were filled with darkness and fear,
tears and pain. Their blood fertilizes
the exact piece of land where
they were born. Their land.

In my understanding, this war in Gaza
is not justified in any way by any side.
It does not matter to me who
is the landlord of the rich settlements,
or the poor Palestinian houses next to them.
I don't care who is paying
with the obligatory federal taxes for
the arsenal. I consider criminals
and killers the people who are launching
the missiles, who are selling and who are
buying these terrible weapons of death.
I condemn the hands that are taking lives
of innocent people on both sides
of the border, although the number
of deaths in Gaza speaks for itself.

The life of a child is worth more
than the whole land, more than
all ideologies and religions or the
politics of drawing new maps according
to the winners of any war.
Each child is the owner for a lifetime
of the land where she is born.

TERESINKA PEREIRA

Poetry from Hong Kong

I met poet Agnes Lam for the first time at the entrance of the Magna Grecia Archaeological Museum of Reggio, in South Italy, last November 2008. She was together with other poets from all over the world and who had participated in the Nosside International Poetry Competition 2008, and also winners of various prizes. The thing I remember best is her magical reading of her winning poem (Special Mention), Vanilla in the stars (see below). People present were bedazzled by the way Agnes Lam read her "cosmic" poem. Nosside gave us all the opportunity to meet people like Agnes: intelligent, brilliant, sincere, friendly, humble and inspiring.

(Photo by Thomas Langdon)

Agnes S. L. Lam (poet, essayist, literary critic) completed her PhD at the University of Pittsburgh and is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Hong Kong. She has published two collections of poetry, Woman to Woman and Other Poems (1997) and Water Wood Pure Splendour (2001), and her work has appeared in anthologies around the world. Other publications include several short stories, scholarly monographs, and other creative and critical works. Her articles on Hong Kong writing in English have also appeared in World Literature Today and World Englishes. She was awarded the title of Honorary Fellow in Writing by the University of Iowa in 2008 and received the Nosside International Poetry Prize (Special Mention) in the same year. Her current research on Asian poetry in English is funded by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council.

Poetry:

Vanilla in the stars

When I was a child,
I used to gaze at the stars above

our garden of roses, jasmine and lingzhi by the sea,
wondering how far away they really were,
whether they were shining still at the source
by the time their light reached me …

I was told that everyone was born with a star
which glowed or dimmed with the fortunes of each.
I also heard people destined to be close
were at first fragments of the same star

and from birth went searching for each other.
Such parting, seeking, reuniting might take
three lifetimes with centuries in between.
I had thought all these were but myths …

Now decades later, I read about the life of stars,
how their cores burn for ten billion years,
how towards the end, just before oblivion,
they atomize into nebulae of fragile brilliance –

ultra violet, infra red, luminous white, neon green or blue,
astronomical butterflies of gaseous light
afloat in a last waltz choreographed by relativity,
scattering their heated ashes into the void of the universe …

Some of this cosmic dust falls onto our little earth
carrying hydrocarbon compounds, organic matter
able to mutate into plant and animal life,
a spectrum of elemental fragrances …

Perhaps on the dust emanating from one ancient star
were borne the first molecules of a pandan leaf,
a sprig of mint or basil, a vanilla pod, a vine tomato,
a morning frangipani, an evening rose, a lily of the night …

Perhaps our parents or grandparents or ancestors further back
strolling through a garden or a field had breathed in the scents
effusing from some of these plants born of the same star
and passed them on as DNA in the genes of which we were made …

Could that be why, on our early encounters, we already sensed
in each other a whiff of something familiar, why, when we are near,
there is in the air some spark which seems to have always been there,
prompting us to connect our pasts, share our stories even as they evolve …

… till the day when we too burn away into dust
and the aromas of our essence dissipate
into the same kaleidoscope of ether light
to be drawn into solar space by astral winds …

… perhaps to make vanilla in a star to be
before the next lifetime of three?

Agnes Lam, 9 May 2008, Rodrigues Court, with reference to Sun Kwok’s book, ‘Cosmic butterflies’

The rape of a nation

Larger than life,
they were soldiers
in the streets of darkness,
shadows with no faces,
burning, raping, killing
in a land not their own,
a battle not of their making.
I was watching
by the side with others.
They did not see me
or the other watchers.
But I could hear the screams,
smell the wet of the blood,
see the red of fire.
I was doing nothing.
Nothing was done to me.
But I felt the desperation of both
the perpetrators and the victims
in the rape of a nation.
Was it from another time?
Another space?
Was it just television?
Or a hallucination? A prophecy?
A fragment of collective memory?

22 June 1997, Rodrigues Court (Lam, A. (2001). The rape of a nation. Ariel: A Review of International English Literature, 32(1), 136.)

Other poems can be read on: http://iwp.uiowa.edu/writers/index.html

Selected Bibliography:

· Poetry

o Water Wood Pure Splendor. Hong Kong: Asia 2000, 2001.
o Woman to Woman and Other Poems. Hong Kong: Asia 2000, 1997.

· Nonfiction

o Language Education in China: Policy and Experience from 1949. Hong Kong: Hong Kong
o University Press, 2005.
o “Defining Hong Kong Poetry in English: An Answer from Linguistics.” In World Englishes
o (19:3, pp. 387-97), 2000.

· Short Fiction

o “La montagna dei crisantemi [‘The Mountain of Chrysanthemums’]. In Singapore: Sedici
o Racconti dall’Asia estrema. M. Coppola and A. Mioni, eds. Milan: Isbn Edizioni, 2005.

Serbia and Signalism Poetry

MIROLJUB TODOROVIĆ, Serbian poet and artist, was born 1940. in Skoplje. He graduated law at the Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade. He is the founder and theoretician of Signalism, an avant-garde literary and artistic movement, active in Serbian and Yugoslav culture, and editor in chief of the International review Signal. Upon his work there were published more than 2000 reviews, articles and essays in journals and magazines and 15 books. His work was also evaluated in three Ph.D. theses. The first one was presented by Dr. Ph. Julian Kornhauser, at University of Krakow, the Department of Yugoslavistics in 1980. The second was presented by Dr. Živan Živković, at University of Belgrade, the Department of Serbian 20th Century Literature in 1991. The third was presented by Dr. Ph. Milivoje Pavlovic at Megatrend University in Belgrade in 2002.

Signalism:

"Signalism is a complex creative movement. Signalist art is a complex art of new civilization. The complexity of Signalism is noticeable in its jaggedness, openness and non-dogmatism. Signalism is not just a method, and even less so a prescribed way of creation, a school. It is not just a visual or just a computer poetry, nor just a discarding the object and reduction of artistic text to a concept, idea, a reduction of text to a blank whiteness of page, nor just an abolition of language and introduction of sign, gesture and sound as communicative elements. Signalism is also in language, in its continuous research (jargon, slang, phenomenological, technological and other forms of verbal poetry), finding out of new contents and forms and, finally, in permeating of all these mentioned communicative elements."

Poetry books:

Planet (1965), Signal (1970), Kyberno (1970), Trip to Astroland (1971), The Pig is an Excellent Swimmer (1971), Staircase (1971), Gift-parcel (1972), Certainly Milk Flame Bee (1972), Thirty Signalist Poems (1973), Bumpkin Shows off, (Slang Poetry,1974), TV Set to Stare at, (Slang Poetry, 1977), Insect on the Temple (1978), Algol (1980), Textum (1981), Brain Soup (1982), Chinese Erotism (1983), Knock-out (1984), A Day on the Hymen (1985), I Become Silent Horror Language Core (1986), I Mount Rosinante Again, (Selected Poems, 1987), Water-snake Drinks Rainwater (1988), Soupe de cervau dans l'Europe de l'Est (1988), St.Vitus Day (1989), Rzav River Neighs Happily (1990), His Thorn Red and Black (1991), Ambassador Dustbin, (Slang Poetry, 1991), Grill from Srem (1991), I Breathe, I Talk (1992), Rosy Lizard Runs Across the Rain (1994), Striptease, (Slang Poetry, 1994), Loud Frog (1994), Virgin Byzantium (1994), Storm Spittle (1995), Tzar Trojan’s Goat Ears (Gestual Poetry, 1995), Planet (1996), Ho (Slang Poetry, 1997), Electric chair (Slang Poetry, 1998), Stars' Trowel (1998), Prescription for liver inflamation (1999), Azure Dream (2000), Shot into Shit (2001), Speech Burning (2002), Phonets and Other Poems (2005), Parallel Worlds (2006), Blue Wind (2006).

Prose books:

I Just Opened my Mail (epistolary novel, 2000), Walked Into my Ear (slang stories, 2005), Diary 1982 (2006), Window (Dreams, 2006), Slang Stories (2007).
Books of Essays, and polemics:Signalism (in English, 1973), Signalism (1979), Zipper for Morons, (Settlement with False Avant-garde) (1984), Cocks from Baylon Square, (Settlement with Serbian Traditionalism, 1986), Diary of Avant-garde (1990), Liberated Language (1992), Play and Imagination (1993), Chaos and Cosmos (1994), Towards the Source of Things (1995), Planetary Culture (1995), Grammatology Thirst (1996), Signalism Yugoslav creative movement (in English, 1998), Miscellanea (2000), Poetics of Signalism (2003), Courses of Neo Avant-garde (2004).

Books for children:

Mouse in Kindergarten (2001), Crazymeter (2003).
Book-works:Fortran (1972), Approaches (1973), Signal-Art (1980), Zlatibor (1990), Forest Honey (1992).

Anthologies (editor):

Signalist Poetry,( “Signal”, 1971), Concrete, Visual and Signalist Poetry, ("Delo", 1975), Mail Art - Mail Poetry, ("Delo", 1980).

Awards:

"Pavle Markovic Adamov" 1995 for poetry and life work; "Oskar Davico" for best book published in 1998 (Star's Trowel); "Todor Manojlovic" 1999 for modern artist's sensibility and "Vuk Aword" 2005 for exceptional contribution in Serbian and pan-Serbian cultural space.

Todorović took part in more than six hundred international collective drawings exhibitions of Concrete poetry, Visual Poetry, Conceptual Art and Mail Art.

Some poems:

Scientific Poetry:

HYDROGEN

In the eye of apparition
By a bluish light
Little
trembling flame
was devouring the darkness

ATOMS

In the field of smokes
a flock of imprisoned birds sleep
If I hear their call
If I shoot at them by star
They will jump out
like secret hinds
into a moved world

ELECTRON

Once he will give me a gold apple
as a gift
Entombed in its
succulent subconsciousness

MACHINES

Machines were catching us
With their sharp gears
And ground slowly meat and bones.
Blood flew away by special drains
For irrigation of carnivore herbs
It was a systematic destruction of our bodies
But our spirit even more curiously
Continued research into stars.

WITH NOODLES CERTENLY
(Computer poetry)

2.
MAY BE I DON’T WANT DON’T FORGET
ZAJECAR RICH SOUP
ACCORDING TO THIS I’LL SPEND SUMMER
IN MARRIAGE HAVE I RIGHT
AT SLAVIJA CALMS DOWN
ACCORDING TO THIS WHILE I’M GOINGG
MAYBE I DON’T WANT IT’S TIME
NEVER DON’T FORGET
FFOR SITTING IT’S TIME
BUT HOW I’LL LOVE

3.
CUT IT OUT OF COURSE
YOU ARE RIGHT DON’T FORGET
WELL TO MIX ON ROAST
ORGANIST I’LL SPEND SUMMER
AT SLAVIJA DON’T FORGET
I’LL HAVE DON’T FORGET
ON DIKE RICH SOUP
STRAIN WHILE I’M GOING
FROM PENALTY LET ME SUGGEST
STRAIN I’LL FLY

BUY ONLY SIGNALIST POETRY

(Technological poetry)

in every house, hall, institution!
new in yugoslav market!
the already known industry of poetry
"miroljub todorovic" has begun with
production (fabrication)
of the most modern poetical texts.
a high-quality poetry is in question
that can be read, watched,
heared, drawn up, exhibited,
roared at meetings, cited,
reproduced in textbooks, put
on walls, parquet, concrete, advertising
wall boards, trains, ships, aeroplanes.
in these products that can not be
even imported for they are rare in the world
an enormous interest exists in
yugoslav and foreign market.
individuals, households, caterers,
institutions, railway, car
industry, projectant organizations,
publishing houses and clinics can ask already in this
month for our new product
signalist poetry.
the new product fabricated with the
most modern devices electronic
calculators and by complicated
mathematical and other exact methods
is of high quality and is not more expensive at all
than the already outdated and exceeded
products of the same kind.

I WANT TO BE A DRUM

i want to be a drum artificial
eyelashes are in fashion
wake up for you will have troubles
with digestive organs
niagara has begun operating
down with europe
live japanese antarctica expedition
do you accept modern fashion
woman always offers hand first
try to exclude thoughts from your head
life in brothels is not same everywhere
what does moscow want in beijing
it doesn't upset us much
the earth's magnetic field has shape of a comet
i admire coats made of camel hair
you have a runner on your stocking
rest on chang khay chek matrasses
while drinking castor oil

Links:

http://www.miroljubtodorovic.com/
http://mtodorovic2.blogspot.com/
http://www.rastko.org.yu/knjizevnost/signalizam/index.php#_rastko

More poetry from India

Dr. Arbind Kumar Choudhary, an editor of the international literary journal KOHINOOR, is one of the distinguished Indo - English poets of first water. He is a regular contributor to a number of reputed literary journals. He was declared Effulgent Star 2003 by the Home of Letters, Orissa. Under the influence of the Classical, the Romantic and the Elizabethan writers, he composes compact poems in rhyme and meter. His trio collections of poems entitled Eternal Voices (2007), Universal Voices (2008) and My Songs (2008) illustrate many of his characteristic ideas and attitudes. Apart from creative works there are half a dozen critical works on Romantic, Victorian and Twentieth Century poets and essayists to his credit. He is the guest editor of Pot-Pourri. This Head of the Deptt. of English, R. C. College, India, has fathered International Association of Poets, Essayists & Novelists(I.A.P.E.N.) & International Haiku Association of India (I.H.A.I.) at Begusarai, India.
Dr. Choudhary's recent project of Encyclopedia of Indian Creative Writers in English that is under active preparation for the first time in India, will be a mile stone in the history of Indian English literature.
He can be contacted at :-
A.K. Choudhary kohnoor@rediffmail.com
arbind442002@yahoo.co.in

Poetry:

1. Poet

O Pneuma ! O Creator of Valhalla !
The earth is full of apnoea.
O Lama ! O Piercer of nebulosity !
Be crony of the generosity.
The gaby of the gully
Inhales fragrance of the poesy
The icy idiocy and intricacy
Deny sage’s delicacy.
Megalomania and monomania
Are moulded by melomania.
O Antenna of fauna’s anathema !
Aesthesia is your aroma.
O Sage ! Sabotage worldly cage.
Watch weltanschauung without wastage.

2. Modern Man

O Owl !
Do not play the foul.
To show white feathers
is modern man's features.

O Bad Blood !
Don't be proud of blue blood.
O Gigolo ! Make a name by deed
Ever be away from broken reed.

The espial of the raptorial
suppresses sparrow's jovial.
The euphism and the flim-flam
bedim duos esteem.

Man is the prize idiot of the earth
while woman has a filthy faith.

3. Love

Love is the fragrance of life.
It blooms only in perfect psyche.
Love is a spiritual inn
Laden with immolation and insaturation.
Love is a mere illusion;
A dark shadow for saturation.
Love laden life is more than Hyacinth
Loveless life is worse than Death.
Drink a dram of this cellar
Where Donor is gainer than Receiver.
How beautiful if love has not made
Love is more beautiful than Life's beatitude.
The fruit of love is glutinous and delicious.
The more one gives, the more one gets.
O Cadger of Love ! Hug a swig of this ocean
Where junction of souls is empyrean.

A poet from India, Gwalior

As the person who takes care of the Maltese Poets Association e-mail account I regularly receive greetings and messages from different poets coming from all over the globe. One of the latest was Indian poet Dr. Amitabh Mitra. I sent him a short e-mail asking him if I could download some of his poetry for my blog and he immediately answered positively.

Photo by Volkmar Dobat of Indophot.

Biographical note:

Amitabh Mitra is a Medical Doctor in a busy hospital in East London, South Africa. A widely published poet in the web and print, Amitabh has been hailed as one of the most popular South African poet writing in English today by the Skyline Literary Review, New York.
Amitabh, now settled in South Africa, uses his experience of social interaction and cultural impact from countries like India, Bhutan and Zimbabwe where he worked under varying conditions, in his art and poetry.
A powerful voice dispersing a reverie of time and heritage, his love poems with a backdrop of feudal Gwalior and Delhi take you on a sentimental journey to old family homes, forts, palaces and places where he grew up.
His unique style of fusing words into almost lyrical dream like images, exploring muted corners of life taken over a suddenrushhourtime, Amitabh brings forth poetry that seems to peep from behind veils and shadows, waylaid in a mind state in Johannesburg and New York, all merging in an unforgettable ecstatic experience.
His first book of poems was published in 1980 under the title of ‘Ritual Silences’.
‘A Slow Train to Gwalior’ is a CD of his ten most popular poems recited against a background of African and Indian traditional music. Brought out by Harp Records, South Africa, this poetry CD weaves a desire into a steady pattering of rain, a voice that would almost allure you to yet another stealth of a strangertime.
His first show of poems, drawings, visuals and prints, juxtaposition of words, lines and colors was on show at The Ann Bryant Art Gallery, St. Marks Road, East London from 12 July to 28 July 2005.
Dr. Mitra edits ‘The Hudson View’ an international print poetry journal published from New York, USA
He is the Chairperson of the East London Fine Arts Society.

Poems:

Darfur

Suddenly a baby cries

Malnourished

Maltreated

And ravaged

Men woman and children

Hang by their

Skin to

Mirages

the desert burns the skull

of all reasons

Storms that sweep

Into their eyes

Locks up

Within corneas

Daring death to open them

Darfur has no word

Darfur has no meaning

Darfur has deaths

The baby squeaks

Because only

He has the pride to

Know

When the Janjaweed

Are coming

Its time then

The mirages are slashed open

By flashing swords and

Faceless marauders

Screams will be a welcome whirlwind

Chasing the sun again.

One Day

I wait for you each day

with the changing of seasons, the smell

in our mango orchard and

the turbulence of your hair where I once

basked the stealth in the eye of a desire.

As a boy I raced

the train everyday with my

friends looking at the receding

distance

and the parting of the last carriage

till a horizon lifted it once again in the sky.

and then you came one day, Aavantika

suddenly

with the camel trains at sunset behind

the lumbering fort

treading the colors of your

garara and the jingle of ghungroos

on a bare feet river

flowing on parched pebbles

and eyes that had held together so

long

the distance

again.

Old Delhi Days

Another wintry day

petals over petals

of quiet wind

hiding a warmth from these streets of

old delhi

where fables had once been

strangled

in the lunacy of a crowded

moment

and you today

going alone

somewhere

on a rickshaw

in the midst of a mist

unaware

of streets that have long

surrendered

to the frost on

your lips

the old man

fort

holding a respite

of hurts in a sky of

sewn blue

haunted

I see you turn around

suddenly

catching the freeze

in your grip

as the rickshaw catches another lane

another day

in wintry

old delhi.

Visit link: http://www.amitabhmitra.com/

Video poetry: http://www.amitabhmitra.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=154&Itemid=41

More poetry from Greece (3)

Eftichia Kapardeli was born in Athens and lives in Patras. She writes poetry, stories, Xai-kou, essays, and novels. She is a soprano chorus singer, and graduated from the Deparment of Journalism A.K.E.M (Athenian Center Vocational Education). She participated in many education seminars, and knows H/Y 7 programs, English and Italian, classic guitar, and studies right voice. She was a guide in the body of Hellenic Girl Scouts. She is a volunteer fire-woman. In 2004 she was a student in the Deparment Philology at the University of Patras. She has been awarded in the Panhellenic competitions in poetry, topics, stories, novels, fables, and xai kou. Her books Secret March (novel) and Sikeliana 2006 (Salamina) were awarded by D.E.E.L. and UNESCO respectively. Her works were published in literary magazines. Her first poetry collection is Confindings of secrets and Light. She is studying Greek Civilization at the University of Cyprus and is member of the World Poets Society (WPS). The official website is http://world-poets.blogspot.com/. She is also a member of the International Writers Association with President Teresinka Pereira.

INTERNET LINKS: http://durabond.ca/gdouridas/poetryArkadia.html

www.kapardelipage.freegr.eu
e-mail: Kapardeli@mailbox.gr
kapardeli@gmail.com

NOTE BEFORE READING THE FOLLOWNG POEMS:

Poetess Kapardeli originally sent me her poetry in Greek. Unfortunately I don't understand Greek and so she has translated her poems in English. Although the English translation is not perfect, I've noted that the imagery is very beautiful and that there is real passion in the lines. I left Kapardeli's English as it was as I feel that the way she translated from Greek to English is languagewise revealing. Eftichia Kapardeli is essentially a romantic poet and a peace poet.

INNOCENCE

The opponents have receded
The poisons human mind
They ruined the reality
They left back destruction

***
In that ruins, I found
The chased innocence
Above in piles from stones
Just as fat drops of rain
Invade from everywhere
In the old house that
Sometimes was familiar
Refugein
***
In the ruins alive a new child
A rosy promise
Chastity and youth
Was rescued

PEACE

With the soul upset
and my eyes wounded
in the war the view
the peace I search
where it wanders and it sleeps
***
Inconsolable I stand in his
death impetus
the joy and Pleasure
old love I look for
her name I pronounce also him I call Peace
***
When the Sun his heat rays
in the frozen hearts him
world it leaves
and from the eyes the teardrops of farewell dry out,
and the deep wounds close
with reasons of love will say PEACE

***
An embrace, a kiss, a song
drops charms of happiness of benediction
of peacefulness,
in the sorrow the sadness
in the unfairness… or justice with the roses and lilies the love
joyful messages
then I will say PEACE
***
When the kindness the unique
breathing
the fruit of him spirit becomes
an endless internal agreement musical and the dreams of persons
feast
polite I slowly speak PEACE
***
Then the hands we will give reconciliation
friends and enemies we will link
in the embrace of one old beloved all
we will meet itself

THAT WOMAN

And …when rains
The mind runs
The mind goes
To that heart
When flower, when life
When air
In the sun the go down the
Warmth

****
Memories strokes with a brush
All-purples
Paints in the frozen sunbeams
Of time that woman
As blow
As breath
New, indomitable, beautifully

THE LIGHT OF THE SUN

The light of the sun stretched out in my legs
a golden carpet
The paradise is a part golden, made from
love
The hands they filled stars
I outside slipped from that crowd where I was
gone around
No one slow travel hand did not keep me
jailed anymore
In the earth laid down I look at the sky
A white river from clouds
The flowers shake nonchalantly their head.
The sun sure stick in the leaves in the petals
Dead, I resemble in the earth above motionless
freezing
White is everywhere
Rings in the neck made from gravel and
the breath of white paper hearth breath….
a sound white
My soul free unfolds in the empty
skies
I raise itself late…I feel resurrection
like again i have been given birth
How much years I was a small leaf
in the whirlwind of life and destiny

More poetry from Greece (2)

Nickos M. Batsikanis was born and raised in Pelasgia Phthiotitha’s. He made a carrier as an Airforce officer in the Greek War. Today he he deals with research concerning the Modern-Greek Language, and is approved by the Academy of Athens. He was announced honourable President of the Literary Association “Xasteron”, and he’s responsible for Public Relationships concerning the literary magazine “Keleno”. He has been included in the “People of the Year”, 2004, for his contribution to Civilization and Humanity, together with George Papandreou (minister), Dora Mpakogianni (minister, mayor of Athens), and Minos Kyriakou (president of Greek Olympic Organization). He has been honoured with a A΄ Panhellenic Poetry Prize and a A΄ Prize from the International Competition of Poetry. Moreover, his historical treatise gained the A΄ Prize equally with the Professor of History at the University of Cyprus. He was the first speaker during the literary dedication made by the “International Clubs of Maria Callas”, a true speaker to the great Diva of the Opera. A central speaker at the Word Olympiad “In Greece 2004” throughout the country. A narrative speaker at the dedication ceremony for the 80 years of the Greek singer Grigoris Mpithikotsis, the most popular Greek singer. A general co-ordinator at the International Symposium of Religious Poetry in Greece, and also its member.
He has presented many writers’ and poets’ books, among them: 1)“From my diary”: author Anna’s Grigori Mpithikotsi. 2)The c.d. “Behold the Groom is coming”… belonging to the Professor of Byzantine Music, Mr. Sotiris Doganis. He has participated in many festivities for great names of the Arts like: Elytis (Nobel), Ritsos, Lorca, Seferis (Nobel), Solomos (national poet) and other creators, while it’s been reported that his voice comes primitive and original from the past and especially the Byzantine Period. He writes articles in magazines and newspapers concerning Essays and Treatises. His work has been included in Anthologies and Internet pages, while much of his work has been translated into different languages and has been published in magazines.

Books:

Signs, poetry, 2001;

From the Skies, poetry, 2002;

A Tasty Day, poetry, 2004;

In Paradise, narrative stories, 2005;

Awakeness, poetry, 2006;

In the Light, poetry, 2007;

Fragments, treatises, 2008.

Poems by Nickos M. Batsikanis:

WITHOUT TITLE

Tonight we’re here again
you and me, both,
with a glass between us.
One is enough,
two are many (second will be to much).
Tonight we’re here again
opposite each other,
you and me, both,
like yesterday, like every night,
just like that…
just like the way we drank coffee in the sunset…
Silent…I didn’t hear you saying anything…
what if a word you didn’t announce…
what if again you didn’t say something,
my dear silence…


LOST LOVES

Maybe it is…
the lightning that tears the horizon tonight…
the rain-drops on my window-pane…
the snow-flakes on the window-ledge…

Maybe it is…
the wind’s chants on the foliages of the trees…
the million stars of the galaxy…
the rays of the sun warming me…

Maybe it is… but every time,
I am feeling this very delicate shiver.

HONESTY

I’ll go ahead
with the horse of honesty
until the finishing line…

A long road is ahead of me.
An up-slope, hard-trodden
very deserted path and road…


THREAT

Sky
we haven’t caught up with time
to place boundaries in you…
but don’t worry
we’re coming… we’re coming there very soon…

PEACE

Tomorrow
it will be your turn.
There aren’t winners and losers
in war.
Not but least
to see the little orphans of the traffic-lights…

More poetry from Greece (1)

With my heart's wings (2007) is a multilingual collection of poetry written by poet and author Dr. Zanneta Kalyva-Papaioannou. One can read her poetry in Greek, English, French, Italian and Chinese. The poet comes from Vachlia, of Arcadia (Greece). She studied at the Supreme Industrial School of Piraeus (with scholarship) and at the same time she was working in the "Public Electric Power Company".

Today Zanneta is a journalist, poetess and author. Her works have been published in national and international newspapers and magazines, and her poems have been translated in English, French, Italian, Chinese, Albanian and Korean.


Her writings have won international and national prizes and she is member of the "World Congress of Poets/ World Academy of Arts and Culture" from where she was awarded the Doctor of Literature. She is also member of the "Accademia Ferdinandea" (Italy), of the "International Society of Greek Writers and Artists", of the "Union of Greek Writers", of the Literary Club "XASTERON" and of the "Literary Club of Helioupolis", amongst others. Zanneta is also included in the American "Who's Who" and in "I.B. of Cambridge" (UK).


Her other publications are Memories (2001), a collection of narrative stories from her childhood; A Life's Notes (2002), a bilingual poetic collection; and Life's Essence (2003), poems and short stories;


In her poetic anthology With my heart's wings Zanneta has 25 poems translated into English, thanks to poet and translator Zacharoula Gaitanaki. Two of the most important themes in Zanneta's verse are love and peace.


POEMS from With my heart's wings:


The Dove


You are a dove


that flies in the clouds


and your wings


never stop.



You carry in your beak


an olive branch


and you fly


as high as you can.



You hope for


the coming of peace


that's why


you never stop.



Blessed mother



Mother is worthy


prizes and honors


but there are not


enough of them for her.



On her smiling face


sun rises


and a better life


wants for her famly.



She has a comfort word


for every pain and grief.


First she runs to help


a sick or a poor man.



Mother, daughter, wife, grandmother,


you are blessed,


you hold in your hands

Friends

We pick and choose our friends,
their ideas to quite fit in with us,
all we are a good company
with laughter and songs.

Memories run
like clear water
and mind wandering around,
always in the best.

In my bad moments
I recollect the past
and every time I burst:
"why all that to me?"

Photos beside me
keeping company
and I start to sing
for not feeling cloudy.

Sun shines every day
for all the people.
I open my windows
and let the sunlight in.

I open my heart
and I tell my yearning
that's the way
to ease my sigh.
all the world.



Different ways (2008) is another bilingual poetry anthology written by poet Stathis Grivas, and translated into English by Zacharoula Gaitanaki. After Citizen of the World (2007) Grivas brings to light these two long poems, "Ecce Homo" and "Pigeons and Falcons". As Gaitanaki writes in the introduction, this is "a book for the children that are dying of hunger and for 'a world without arms and bombs', a peaceful better world".
Thus Different Ways is proof that poets and politics go hand in hand. However, this is not politics the way politicians understand and practice it. Grivas politics is of the genuine type; it is poetry - and thus words - with a positive message, and not words which have egoism and personal profit as the real and only objective.
Grivas presents a strong contrast between the innocence of children on one hand, and the corruption and greed of the adult world on the other.


Excerpts from Ecce Homo:

Poor,
sad children,
dreams without wings,
candles without light,
passing the soul's streets of silence
you became the living shame
of our inhuman generation...
Your parents,
Muslims or Christians,
looking in despair,
the sky of Biafra,
of Ethiopia, of Bangladesh
and shed bitter tears.
Poor,
sad children,
tender beings,
innocent souls [...]

We are civilized people
and for this, we are dogmatic
and unscrupulous people.
You don't know that
with less rockets
you would have so much things...
And rice
and clothes
and schools.
And smiles
and toys.
Like Don Quixote
we'll chase
the World's rule
in the star War.
For you, we'll not reserve
a costly death,
a death of luxury.



Stathis Grivas was born in Kato Tithorea of Lokrida in 1926.

Tislima lil poeta u kittieb minn Ghawdex

B’soghba kbira nhar il-Hamis, 18 ta’ Dicembru 2008 thabbret il-mewt tal-Kanonku Dun Joe Mejlak, wiehed mill-Membri Onorarji tal-Ghaqda Poeti Maltin. Huwa kellu 64 sena. Kien kittieb ta’ proza, drama u poezija. Imma kif wiehed jistenna, bhala neputi tal-poetessa Mary Meylak, ma setax jonqos li l-aktar li kien maghruf bhala poeta. Il-Kan. Mejlak ippubblika zewg kotba ta’ poezija Ghanjiet ta’ Qalbi (1978) u Rwiefen (2004). Issieheb fl-Gh.P.M. sa kwazi mit-twaqqif taghha u fl-2007 inhatar Membru Onorarju flimkien ma’ tliet poeti Ghawdxin ohra.

Nosside 2008 - Video by Stanka Gjuric

The final phase of the Nosside International Poetry Competition 2008 was an experience not to be forgotten. I had the golden opportunity to meet extraordinary poets from all over the world, not excluding the mind behind the Nosside, Prof. Pasquale Amato. A big thanks to him and to all the poets who made me feel really at home in Reggio.The following are links to the video poet and winner (Special Mention Nosside 2008) Stanka Gjuric made to commemorate those magical moments:Part 1 - www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhl1mz1-kZ8
Part 2 - www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0Yh7sndjlY
Last part - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS_6QIW_Xxc

A big thanks to Stanka. People who are interested in next year's competition please visit
http://www.nosside.com/

Poesia con Menzione Speciale al Nosside 2008

Jum ta’ Btala
(Versione originale in maltese)

Ghad-dell ta’ sgajra mgennba
nara l-hajja tifrex quddiemi
wirja shiha ta’ affreski dinamici
waqt jum ta’ btala.

Fuq din il-firxa tila hadra
mijiet ta’ tfal u familji jinsgu
l-waqtiet sbieh taghhom.
Ir-roti hfief wahda wara l-ohra
u s-sewwieqa ckejknin imbissma
xuxthom bnadar ghar-raggi tax-xemx titbaskat.
Mad-dawra l-hsejjes kwotidjani ta’ dinja ccencel
ghal darba mistrieha minn toqol il-hajja
mill-uff u l-ajma tal-frosta ta’ l-arlogg.
Fil-gholi s-sema mcajpar jalterna
ma’ waqtiet intensi ta’ dija qawwija
u t-tajra terhi wrajha xija ta’ dnieb imlewna
u l-blalen bla heda joqomsu ’l fuq u ’l isfel
bhal atleti fuq trampolini
u l-vann tal-gelati jhabbar genna ta’ toghmiet
friski ghat-tfal ferhana.

Fuq din il-firxa tila hadra
mijiet ta’ lwien u strixxi kkuluriti
fin-nofs roqgha bajda u blu ta’ sorijiet
jigru henjin ma’ l-orfni...
Il-hin ghaddej u l-folla kielet u xorbot
u griet u dahket u laghbet
u tkellmet u xejret u ghajtet u ghajjiet
u ttewbet u strahet....

Ghad-dell ta’ sgajra mgennba
nara l-hajja tifrex quddiemi
u niftakar li xi darba anki dil-wirja
ghad izzarma u taghlaq.

(Versione in inglese)

A day of rest

Sitting under a shadowy tree
I watch life spread its arms in front of me
A solid demonstration of dynamic frescoes
during a day of rest.
On this wide green cloth
hundreds of young and not so young weave
their beautiful moments.
The bicycles speed away one after the other
and the young drivers smiling
their hair flags baking in the rays of the sun.
All around the daily sounds of a world ringing,
for once resting from life’s toll
resting from the “uff” and “ouch” of time’s lash.
High up the cloudy sky alternates
with intense moments of radiant light
and the kites let behind wakes of colourful tails
and the balls restless, bounce up and down
like athletes on a trampoline
and the ice-cream van announces a heaven of
fresh flavours for the happy children.

On this wide green cloth
hundreds of colours and colourful stripes,
in the midst a white and blue patch of nuns
who happily run with the orphans...
Time is ticking and the crowd ate and drank
and ran and laughed and played
and talked and waved and shouted and got tired
and yawned and rested...

Sitting under a shadowy tree
I watch life spread its arms in front of me
and remember that one day
curtains will be closing even on this spectacle.

Free translation by the author himself

(Versione in francese)

Une journée de repos

Assis á l’ombre d’un arbre
je regarde la vie étendre ses bras devant moi
une démonstration continue de fresques vivantes
durant une journée de repos.
Sur cette nappe verte et étendue
des centaines de jeunes et de moins jeunes tissent
leurs agréables moments.
Les bicyclettes défilent les unes derrière les autres
et les jeunes automobilistes sourient
leurs cheveux au vent brûlés par les rayons du soleil.
Entouré des sons quotidiens d’un monde en éveil
pour une fois les bruits de la vie se reposent
se reposent des « ouille » et des « aie » de ses coups.
Là-haut, le ciel nuageux alterne
avec des instants de luminosité rayonnante
et les cerfs-volants trainent leur queue colorée
les balles rebondissent continuellement
comme des athlètes sur un trampoline
et le vendeur de glaces déclamant
ses parfums aux enfants heureux.

Sur cette nappe verte et étendue
des centaines de couleurs et de zébrures colorées
se détachent des religieuses de bleu et blanc vêtues
courant joyeusement avec des orphelins…
Le temps passe et tous ont mangé et bu
et couru et ri et joué
et bavardé et gesticulé et crié et ont été épuisés
et ont baillé et se sont reposés…

Assis à l’ombre d’un arbre
je regarde la vie étendre ses bras devant moi
et me souviens qu’un jour
le rideau se fermera sur ce spectacle.

Traduit par Catherine Milet

(Versione in spagnolo)

Un día de descanso

Sentado en la sombra de un árbol,
miro a la vida extendiendo sus brazos delante de mí.
Una manifestación sólida de frescos dinámicos
en un día de descanso.
En esta tela amplia y verde
centenares de jóvenes y no tan jóvenes tejen
sus momentos bellos.
Las bicis se van rápidas, corriendo una detrás del otra
y los ciclistas sonríen,
con su pelo cociendo como banderas en los rayos del sol.

Todo alrededor, los sonidos diarios del mundo se oyen,
descansando por una vez del daño de la vida,
descansando del Ay y del Uff del látigo del tiempo.
En alto, el cielo nublado alterna
con momentos intensos de luz radiante
y las cometas desprenden huellas coloridas en el cielo
y las pelotas sin descansar, rebotan hacia arriba y hacia abajo
como atletas en un trampolín
y la furgoneta del heladero anuncia un paraíso de frescos sabores
para los niños contentos.

En esta tela amplia y verde
centenares de colores y rayas coloridas
en medio de una mancha blanca y azul de monjas
corriendo alegremente con huérfanos…
y el reloj nunca se para y la multitud comió y bebió
y corrió y rió y jugó
y habló y saludó y gritó y se cansó
y bostezó y se descansó…

Sentado en la sombra de un árbol
miro a la vida extendiendo sus brazos delante de mí
y me acuerdo que un día
las cortinas también cerrarán este espectáculo.

Traducción el español de Stephen Cachia

Winners at the Nosside 2008 (Reggio)

Top left: Patrick Sammut with Nosside President, Prof. Pasquale Amato.

Top right: Patrick Sammut with other winning poets at the Reggio TV centre.

Bottom left: Patrick Sammut (first from left, with other winning poets of Nosside 2008, at the Archaeological Museum of the Magna Grecia, Reggio).

Bottom right: Patrick Sammut being given his prize during the Ceremony at the Local Council of Reggio.

MALTESE POET EXCELS AT NOSSIDE INTERNATIONAL POETRY CONTEST 2008

Nosside is an international poetry competition open for all countries from all over the world. Participants send their poetry written either in one of the five main languages (Spanish, French, English, Portugese, Italian) or in their native language (or dialect), with a translation in one of these five languages.
This year Nosside hosted 40 participating countries, 29 languages in all. There was one overall winner from Italy , four other winners and then 10 special mentions. Sixth Form teacher and poet Patrick Sammut featured among these last 10, with a special mention for his poem written in Maltese, Jum ta’ Btala, and translated into English as A Day ofRest.
The prize-giving ceremony was held on Friday, 28th November, at the Reggio Local Council. Poets from all over the world ( Italy , Brazil , Venezuela , Mexico , Colombia , China , Russia , Croatia , Congo , Malta ...) met and read out their winning poem.
Before the ceremony the group of poets, together with Prof. Pasquale Amato (the mind behind Nosside) were interviewed on Reggio TV. They also had the opportunity to visit the Archaeological Museum of the Magna Grecia in Reggio, where one can admire the world-famous Bronzi di Riace. In the evening they were treated to a superb Italian dinner in a restaurant nestled in the nearby hills. On Saturday morning a Seminar was held in Messina , where the poets discussed Cultural Differences and Poetry. Mr Sammut was given a silver plaque, together with a certificate commemorating the occasion.

(see http://www.nosside.com/)

Some days ago I received a very interesting book from Dr. Ioannis V. Menounos from Greece. The book is When Paul met Socrates - A discussion involving a number of people in Athens in 52A.D. (Alexander Press, Montreal, 2008). It is a 70-page book based on the Socratic dialogue where Menounos imagines Saint Paul meeting Socrates (two men who lived more than four centuries apart) in the present day. It is a spiritual encounter. I read it all at once as the style is flowing and the arguments treated are clear although deep. I have to read the book a second time as I want to reflect more on the situation created by the author.
Ioannis V. Menounos was born in Athens, Greece, where he graduated from the Philological School of the University of Athens with specialization in Neo-Hellenic Studies. He worked for 25 years as a teacher and principal of public high schools, obtaining his Ph.D. in 1980 for his work on the life and teachings of St. Cosmas the Aitolian. Author of 25 books, his writings include a synoptic history of the Greek nation, many monographs on St. Cosmas, novels, treatises and short stories. He was the editor of the newspaper "Dimosiographiki" for 21 years.

A poet from Romania - Study and interview

The poetry of Nadia-Cella Pop
(After reading poems in English and Italian in The Lordship of the Word)

Language, poetic mechanisms and other interesting aspects:

Reading the poetry of Nadia-Cella Pop is quite an experience. Hers is a very powerful imagery and at the same time beautiful and lyrical. Pop’s poetry is also a game on words which when read forces the reader to exclaim, “How beautiful!” Hers is a language which goes directly to the heart. All is presented in an aura of mystery. The poet is well-tied to the present but her fantasy travels back and forth in time with great ease, as with much ease she creates very effective imagery. She also travels between two different temporal points in time which mark the limits of Pop’s fantasy: at one extreme, “a world of ruins” (the extreme point of corruption), and on the other extreme, a world where “rule the butterflies” (a world of innocence, untouched). Hers is a voice in a way tied to the present, but in other ways it surpasses the limits of time. Pop’s stature at times reaches dimensions that surpass “all the worlds we know”.
In writing her poetry Nadia-Cella Pop makes use of different lexical registers such as nature, music, colours, emotions and the Bible (the crucifix is a recurring image).
Reading the poetry of Nadia-Cella Pop is also a voyage from childhood to old age, with all that is experienced in between.

Themes:

Nadia-Cella Pop sings about love, peace and harmony through her word. In The Afternoon Tea she invites humankind to unite. Harmony is the key word, and all this in a simple but very fluent language. Harmony is also the thing common to both life and music. Human love later on transforms itself into a pantheistic love where the “I” unites “with the world of worlds for eternity”.
The poet invites the reader to reflect on huge (the macrocosm) and small (the microcosm) things, on the good and the evil, on the strong and the weak, on the conquerors and the vulnerable. Pop writes about the worlds both within (memory and emotions) and without (creation and nature), the told and the untold. Nature is seen as an open book from where the poet learns, reflects and expresses what people in general have no time to say.
Little gestures or things, like having a cup of coffee in the morning or a flower, inspire Pop to write about universal experiences, thus those lived by man and woman not only in Romania, but everywhere. In this way Pop manages to change gestures into words and words into poetry. Like the mime, the poet does not speak but makes us see what “we want to forget about ourselves”. Pop also helps us move always nearer to the “deciphering of the total”. And this can only happen through “pure thought and a virgin soul”.
And this makes us feel that her poetry is also an invitation to “remain forever children”, and to continue to feel the need for fables and adventure.
Pop also writes about the tiredness of the body and the grandeur of the spirit. However, part of this grandeur belongs also to poetry.

NADIA-CELLA POP ANSWERS MY QUESTIONS:

1. Why does the poet feel the need to publish his poetry in different languages and in different publications, local and foreign?

For all I know, the poet turns the usual words into artistic expressions, by giving them value and exquisite harmonies, offers a unique profoundness for feelings and visions with an endless horizon.
His/her thrills and imagination, illustrated by a multifarious gamut of imagery can reach to the readers’ souls, only if the lines are arranged on the “stave” of readers’ language.
And if the translations preserve the message and musicality of the lines, the triumph of emotional communication is guaranteed.

2. How important is it for you to have contacts with other poets, even foreign ones?

My contact with foreign poets is something of great value because of the exchange of literary ideas and realization about other creators’ opinions about personal and general struggles, in an era which is “strangled” by plenty of information and “the race of know-how, using only the most exact news” or by cold pragmatism.
Today, the poets are very anodyne or very rare, it’s all about the lyrical consumers’ pretensions, their desire to get thrilled by poetry readings, about how they can identify themselves with poet’s mood or to be mobilized to choose their life principles.

3. What do you consider most important: poetry for art’s sake, or poetry with a message?

Poetry must have a message, must be suggestive, bearing a huge area of human situations and “voices” of nature, all connected with feelings and with involvement of the divinities in the human “environment”.
All these quests must wear artistic forms, otherwise they remain in the zone of insignificant and mundane language. The art and social life must stay together.
I think the main sense of the word in a poem needs to be thoroughgoing, but not hidden, because in that case it disturbs the real sense of the message. The musical suggestion of the poetic speech leads towards essences and unknown inner vibrations.

4. What are the themes you write about in your poetry?

The themes of my poetry are provided and directed by my contemplative and philosophical structure within, of what I personally feel about events and moods. They were enriched by other people’s experiences and my vast cultural background. So, my books contain erotic poems, patriotic poems, poems with a mystic sense, where the intensity of feelings rules, poems of existence. I always respect the words’ aesthetics. I’m tracking a coherent base thinking about all types of readers, to let them taste the originality of my lyricism.

5. At what time and in what environment do you usually write poetry?

Poetry is about to be settled on the blank paper when the inspiration takes the poet’s soul by storm, when the anxiety turns into artistic expression of wisdom. And then, all the things around vanish and the space is haunted by inner voices, emotions and feelings that become marks and senses, links of the same chain in poems. The confessions and abstract thoughts of the poet need silence, that is created by areas in the dark or peaceful nature’s charm in the daylight. Of course, this is my personal opinion…

6. How do you react to people saying that the poet is only a dreamer?

I can’t be angry when someone says the poet is only a dreamer. In part it is true. The dream’s paths leads us to realms beyond our possibilities, at least as an idea, and the excessive sensitivity might raise imagery and visions of a rare beauty. But the poet could be a militant for justice and truth, a fighter of mankind’s treasures. The dreamer is romantic, passionate, picturesque, a thinker of profoundness. The dreamer’s flights are powered by imagination.

7. Your poem “The Afternoon Tea” made these questions come into my mind: what do poets and politicians have in common? How do they differ?

My poem “The Afternoon Tea” has the romantic purpose to gather together all mankind and a possible contact with the possible worlds in the outer space, due to the friendly inner rhythm of our global harmony.
I don’t think the poets and the politicians have something in common, they just live under the same sun, that’s all. While the politicians think and act for the benefit of their own clique of interests, using often “the trumpet of democracy” for many of their selfish actions, the poets unveil a world of questions, hyperboles, senses, touching suggestions, without reaching the border of theories, rules, percepts and laws. The poet remains to rule the world of metaphors.

8. The poet is someone who lives with his feet well rooted to the ground but also somebody who looks at mankind and the world from high above. What does Nadia-Cella think about this?

The poet should be a “symbiosis” between a person who lives on Earth, our beautiful planet, and another person who can climb the peaks of aspirations, imagination, majestic ideals that are waiting to be discovered and given, out of the personal retort, to the sensitivity and understanding of all the people. But, all without any seclusion or vanity from the poet.
The new reality, which the poet created this way, will be artistic and positive.

9. What does poetry have to do with love, nature and discovery, according to Nadia-Cella?

Love, that moves all the beauties of human soul, nature, that brings us harmony, protection, dangers, the discovery of all phenomena, events and quivers that give emotions to human beings, all mean the ideas which are directed by the muses to poets (bards), the real parents of life’s anthems.

10. Reading the poem “A Cry” in “a world of ruins” can poets be considered as the ruling “butterflies”?

In the poem “A Cry” I did not think of poets like “ruling butterflies”. But, after a possible apocalypse, some fragile life forms, as the butterflies might survive. So, there is hope, even little, in the splendour of a new beginning. One with gentle forms and multiple colors, charming…

11. Describe Nadia-Cella Pop as a person. Describe the city you live in, Brasov. Does Romania inspire you to write poetry? How?

Honestly, I wish to be described by others as a person, maybe by people who know me since a long time. I’d like to be considered as a sociable person, the one with the sense of honour, sympathetic, a woman with principles, joyous and full of compassion for the unlucky or unhappy ones. I hope that people around me appreciate my tact, wisdom, kindness or courage, even if I respond impulsively to impudence, lies, meanness, offensive behaviour or treason. I try to increase the good things inside me, despite other things.
Brasov, a former fortified city in Transylvania, located in Tara Barsei, is an old settlement, presented in documents since 1235; it has been settled by isolate communities since prehistoric ages. ARIUSD, my birthplace, a small village located some kilometers north from Brasov, is famous because of its neolithic settlement, so-called “Ariusd-Culture” (exquisite painted pottery). This is a reason for pride for me.
Of course, the ancient inhabitants of the city, the Dacians and the Daco-Romans lived and rode on the paths of history in the defense and development of this city. There were craftsmen, traders, artists, even artists and scholars.
Located at the foot of Mount Tampa, Brasov has beautiful landscapes of wilderness, which the tourists and locals like much. The areas of natural charm are in the neighbourhood of monuments, historical sites, cultural institutions and churches. The scientists and researchers find Brasov as a rich source and the people who like the arts and beauty think the same.
As many other creators (using words, notes, painting brush or carver’s chisel), I’m nourished by the inspiring springs offered by my country: history, places in the wild, other people’s experiences, the interferences of my own feelings. Any human involvement is a condition for a vast gamut of ideas and emotions, which I want to use as best I can, in my poems.

Thanks Nadia-Cella Pop :-)

Joe Axiaq - Poeta Malti mill-Awstralja

Intervista: Patrick J Sammut ikellem lil Joe Axiaq

Joe Axiaq twieled iz-Zebbug Ghawdex u emigra lejn l-Awstralja fl-1974. Ta’ 21 sena fil-bidu tal-qawmien multikulturali fl-Awstralja nghaqad ma’ l-ewwel grupp ta’ xandara fuq Radio 3ZZ fil-bidu tax-xandir tal-programmi Maltin fl-Awstralja, waqt li beda x-xoghol fl-amministrazzjoni manigerjali tieghu ma’ Telecom Australia u kompla bl-istudju u t-tahrig fl-amministrazzjoni, fil-gurnalizmu u fix-xandir. Kien involut fit-twaqqif ta’ l-ewwel grupp li kien jigbor fih iz-zghazagh Maltin f’Victoria, ghal attivitajiet rikreattivi u kulturali. Fl-1979 kien involut fit-twaqqif tal-Maltese Literature Group fl-Awstralja. Joe beda jikteb ta’ eta` zghira ghall-programmi tat-tfal fuq ir-Rediffusion. Huwa kompla bix-xoghol tar-radju fuq Radio 3EA, illum SBS Radio, bhala gurnalista, xandar, producer u traduttur. Illum huwa n-National Executive Producer tal-Programmi Maltin kollha li jixxandru fuq l-SBS minn Melbourne u Sydney kuljum. Ghar-radju kiteb ghadd kbir ta’ novelli, stejjer, radjudrammi, features u dokumentarji. Ix-xoghlijiet letterarji tieghu jinstabu f’ghadd ta’ antologiji Maltin, rivisti u gazzetti ppubblikati Malta u l-Awstralja..

Huwa mizzewweg lil Elizabeth, Awstraljana ta’ nisel Malti u ghandu zewgt itfal, Catherine u Bernadette.

1.X'inhi r-relazzjoni ta' Joe Axiaq u l-Awstralja llum? Xi tfisser Malta ghal min jinsab fil-pozizzjoni tieghek?

Twelidt u trabbejt f’ambjent tipiku Għawdxi fir-rahal taz-Zebbug li sas-snin sebghin tas-seklu l-iehor kienu ghadu kif hallewh missirijietna u nannieta tal-qedem, f’razzett li min-naha wahda tara l-bahar u l-bajjiet sbieh tax-Xwejni u Marsalfron u fuq in-naha l-oħra l-widien u l-ghelieqi jhaddru taht l-gholjiet tad-Dabrani u Ta’ Kuljut. X’kuntrast mal-belt ta’ Melbourne bil-hwienet, restoranti u n-negozju u l-kummerc ta’ kuljum, fejn ilni nahdem għal dawn l-ahhar tletin sena u s-subborgi ta’ l-istat vast ta’ Victoria bi triqat twal u wesghin li jihduk sa l-ibghad trufijiet li ma jwasslu ghall-imkien. Ghawdex li hallejt aktar minn tletin sena ilu huwa Ghawdex tal-kartolini:

Meta mix-Xwejni
titla’ t-telgha taz-Zebbug
minn fuq il-Ponta t’Ghajn Melel
thossok tistrieh
u ghajnejk taghlaq
f’genna ta’ l-art miflug.

(Minn Mix-Xwejni ghaz-Zebbug)

Midhla ta’ Malta u Ghawdex tal-lum bit-tibdil u l-progess li sar b’xi zjara kultant u nzomm ruhi aggornat bil-mezzi komdi tat-telekomunikazzjonijiet tal-lum u anki permezz tax-xoghol gurnalistiku tieghi, fuq il-programmi tar-Radju ta’ l-SBS li wiehed mill-ghanijiet huwa li jzommu lill-Maltin ta’ l-Awstralja aggornati b’dak li jkun ghaddej fil-gzejjer Maltin. Ghalija li ghext aktar min-nofs hajti barra minn Malta, f’pajjiz mimli rizorsi u opportunitajiet, aktar ma jghaddi z-zmien aktar naffaxxina ruhi dwar kif dan il-poplu fuq gzira zghira, mix-xejn gharaf johloq ghejxien ghal uliedu, generazzjoni wara l-ohra u llum huwa pajjiz sovran bi stil ta’ hajja ma’ l-aqwa fid-dinja. Malta ommi, l-Awstralja marti, illum facli tinfired mill-mara, imma m’ommok ma tinfired qatt.

2. F'liema attivitajiet jew ghaqdiet jew inizzjattivi inti impenjat fil-prezent?

Minhabba x-xoghol tieghi bhala National Executive Producer tal-programmi Maltin fuq ir-Radju ta’ l-SBS li jxandar programmi Maltin kuljum ghall-komunita Maltija ma’ l-Awstralja kollha, ma nista’ nkun impenjat direttament ma’ l-ebda ghaqda jew organizzazzjoni partikulari li ghandna hafna minnhom fil-komunita’ Maltija fl-Awstralja. U fl-istess hin b’xi mod jew iehor inzomm kuntatt kontinwu mal-ghaqdiet kollha permezz tal-informazzjoni li nghaddulhom fil-programmi taghna ghas-semmiegha taghna. Ahna qeghdin hemm ghal kulhadd biex nitkellmu u nahdmu id f’id ma’ dawn l-ghaqdiet u l-organizzazzjonijiet li jkollhom xi haga xi jwasslu lis-semmiegha tagħna. Is-sejha ta’ dawn l-ghaqdiet bhalissa hija li jridu z-zghazagh. Il-bicca l-kbira tal-mexxejja ta’ dawn l-ghaqdiet huma mdahhla fiz-zmien u m’hemmx min jiehu posthom.

3. Fil-belt fejn tghix, il-Maltin, u komunitajiet ohra, jiehdu interess fil-letteratura?

L-interess mill-Maltin fil-letteratura fl-Awstralja huwa limitat fis-sens li m’hemmx apprezzament bizzejjed ghal dik li hija letteratura propja. Ghal bicca l-kbira tal-Maltin fl-Awstralja, il-letteratura hija poezija li taqbel jew xi storja li tbikki jew iddahhak. Hemm socjetajiet ta’ qari u kitba letterarja Awstraljani li huma serji u li minnhom tista’ titghallem hafna. Imma bhala komunita` Maltija ghadna ‘l boghod hafna minn dan. Issib membri f’dawn is-socjetajiet Awstraljani, ulied it-tieni u t-tielet generazzjoni li tkun taf li huma ta’ nisel il-Maltin minn kunjomhom biss, ghax jiktbu biss bl-Ingliz u ma jzommux kuntatt mal-komunita` Maltija.

4. Min huma l-kittieba Maltin fl-Awstralja llum? Xtahseb dwarhom u x'qed jinkiteb minnhom?

Il-kittieba rilevanti Maltin fl-Awstralja huma ftit. Dawn huma kittieba li f’Malta diga` kienu bdew jippubblikaw u ghamlu certu isem. Dan in-numru ta’ kittieba qed dejjem jonqos minhabba l-eta` u ghalhekk dawk li fadal jinghaddu fuq l-idejn. F’dawn l-ahhar hamsa u ghoxrin sena jew aktar nistghu nghidu li ma kellniex minn dawn il-kittieba li emigraw minn Malta. Dawn il-kittieba dejjem komplew jiktbu, ghalkemm forsi mhux dejjem jippubblikaw. Matul iz-zmien kien hemm ghaqdiet jew gruppi Maltin, li kienu jhaddnu whud minn dawn il-kittieba. Illum hafna minn dawn il-kittieba jahdmu wahidhom fis-skiet. Tajjeb li jkollok ghaqdiet li jigbru u jlaqqghu lil dawk li jhobbu u ghandhom ghal qalbhom il-letteratura, minghajr ma jimtlew l-imhuh li ghax wiehed jidhol f’ghaqdiet bhal dawn isir kittieb jew poeta. In-numru zghir ta’ kittieba/poeti rilevanti, qeghdin johorgu kotba ta’ poeziji, rumanzi, u ricerka bil-Malti u bl-Ingliz li huwa inkoragganti hafna.

5. Xi tghid dwar il-programmi radjufonici u anki l-gurnali tal-Maltin fl-Awstralja?

Jien in-National Executive Producer tal-Programmi Maltin li jixxandru fuq ir-Radju ta’ l-SBS li jinghata fondi mill-Gvern Awstraljan biex ixandar nazzjonalment mal-Awstralja kollha programmi bi 68 lingwa fosthom bil-Malti. Ahna ghandna programmi ta’ siegha kuljum li jixxandru mic-centri taghna ta’ Melbourne u Sydney, b’xandara u gurnalisti Maltin impjegati fiz-zewg centri. Il-programmi jinkludu bulettini ta’ ahbarijiet ta’ Malta, l-Awstralja u l-kumplament tad-dinja, intervisti ma’ personalitajiet Maltin minn Malta u l-Awstralja dwar suggetti topici, features u ahbarijiet kurrenti, dak li jkun ghaddej fil-komunita’ Maltija fl-Awstralja, programmi talkback ecc. Il-Maltin qatt ma jixbghu jisimghu dwar dak li jkun qed isehh fil-gzejjer Maltin. Sfortunatament iz-zghazagh, ulied it-tieni u t-tielet generazzjoni m’humiex interessati fi programmi ta’ din ix-xorta. Anki t-taghlim tal-Malti fl-Awstralja wasal biex jispicca ghax m’hemmx interess bizzejjed; ghalhekk anki jekk ikunu jridu jisimghu l-programmi bil-Malti lanqas jifhmu x’ikun jinghad. U ghall-Maltin li ilhom hawn aktar minn erbghin sena, jghidulna li lanqas qeghdin jifhmu l-Malti standard li nitkellmu (specjalment fl-ahbarijiet) tant tbieghdu mir-realta ta’ Malta tal-lum u tal-lingwa Maltija li kompliet tevolvi.

Hemm programmi Maltin ohra fuq hafna stazzjonijiet komunitarji mxerrda fl-istati kollha tal-Awstralja li jsiru minn voluntiera. Dawn aktar huma programmi hfief. Gazzetti ghandna wahda biss, li tohrog darba fil-gimgha, li wkoll tinstab f’diffikulta` minhabba l-ispejjez li tirrekjedi u n-nuqqas ta’ sapport mill-komunita`.

6. Liema hija l-belt li tghix fiha? Iddeskrivi t-tajjeb u l-hazin taghha?

Jien nghix fl-istat ta’ Victoria, u nahdem fil-belt ta’ Melbourne, belt kbira u sabiha, kosmopolitana, b’gonna kbar pubblici u c-centru tan-negozju u l-kummerc, b’opportunitajiet ghal kulhadd li trid tistinka ghalihom. B’kuntrast man-nies ghaddejja mghaggla ghax-xoghol jew biex jilhqu t-trejn, it-tallaba bil-qieghda f’xi kantuniera jew xi zaghzugh li jwaqqfek ghal xi dollaru jew sigarett:

Iz-zaghzugh tallab
fit-toroq ta’ Melbourne
jipprova jwaqqaf
lil kull ikun ghaddej
u n-nies liebsa puliti
ghall-ufficcju
jibqghu ghaddejja
qisu m’hu xejn;
u jghaddi ragel jitlob
f’halqu biss sigarett
u x’hin iz-zaghzugh waqqfu
nifs qasam mieghu… tnejn.

(Iz-Zaghzugh Tallab)

Melbourne, hija belt maghrufa ghall-facilitajiet sportivi u kulturali matul is-sena kollha. Fis-sajf tkun mimlija vizitaturi minn madwar id-dinja ghal-loghob tat-tennis u l-krikit u mbaghad ghall-grand prix tal-karozzi. U fix-xitwa t-teatri mdawla b’shows muzikali u b’kuncerti popolari u klassici li jattitraw nies minn kull rokna tad-dinja. Is-sigar kbar tal-gonna u matul it-toroq wiesgha jibdlu l-kuluri u jinzghu u jxiddu l-weraq, fuq l-isfond dejjem griz tal-bini gholi matul kull stagun u ma’ kull tmiem ta’ wiehed hemm il-bidu ta’ hajja gdida bis-sabih taghha. Hija belt ta’ kuntrasti fejn tara eluf ta’ nies u tista’ thossok wahdek, fejn tidra taghraf in-nies bla ma tkun tafhom, fejn ix-xitwa tidhol bla mistennija f’gurnata sajfija u qabel tilhaq tilbes il-kowt ix-xemx terga’ tisreg.


7. Xi tghid dwar ir-relazzjoni bejn il-kittieba Maltin fl-Awstralja u dawk f'Malta? Hemm rabta ta' xi tip?

Personalment, ir-relazzjoni tieghi mal-kittieba Maltin hija tajba hafna. Dejjem sibt ghajnuna, kooperazzjoni u interess kull meta kelli kuntatt ma’ kittieba u poeti Maltin. Permezz tal-programmi tieghi fuq ir-radju kelli l-opportunit¿ li nintervista ghadd ta’ kittieba u poeti matul iz-zmien. Pjuttost huwa min-naha tieghi li minhabba x-xoghol ma nzommx kuntatt bizzejjed. Kull meta bghatt xoghlijiet ghall-pubblikazzjoni f’pagni letterarji, rivisti u antologiji dejjem ixxandru. Donnu hawn grupp zghir ta’ kittieba/poeti fl-Awstralja li jqisu ruhhom ma’ l-istabbiliti f’Malta u li jidhrilhom li ma jinghatawx gharfien bizzejjed f’Malta. Min-naha l-ohra nahseb li jkun interessanti li xi hadd barra l-Awstralja xi darba jhares u jistudja b’mod objettiv lejn din il-kitba bil-Malti fl-Awstralja u l-izvilupp tal-lingwa Maltija f’dan il-kontinent.

8. Fil-qosor, liema huma l-publikazzjonijiet fejn dehru l-kitbiet tieghek?

Ko-awtur tal-ktieb tal-poeziji Bejn Vjagg u Iehor (1979), selezzjoni varja ta’ poezija u proza tieghi tinstab fl-antologiji ppubblikati fl-Awstralja, Irjieh (1986) u Frott iehor (1992) u l-antologiji ta’ l-Ghaqda Letterarja Maltija Xrar (1992), Spirali (1997), Mal-Mewga taz-Zmien (2001) minbarra f’ghadd ta’ rivisti letterarji u Pagna Letterarji tal-gazzetti Maltin.

------

Poeziji ta’ Joe Axiaq



MIL-LISTA TA’ TELEFONIJIET

Mil-lista ta’ telefonijiet
b’magenbhom l-ismijiet
fid-djarju personali
illum aktar ningassa
u l-godda… ftit specjali
ghax aktar ufficcjali
fid-djarju personali
u l-qodma qed jisfaru
mhux cari
bhal dari.


Joe Axiaq


Lil Ommi Fis-Smewwiet

Il-poeżiji mtawla
li kont tafhom bl-amment
għallimtni b’dal-lament;
u kbirt u tlaqt minn darek
żagħżugħ wild l-għanja Għawdxija
biex ngħix il-poeżija
fil-bidu tar-rebbiegħa.
Hemm poeżija storja
li għadni ngħix illum
ta’ tifel jitlaq daru
u mill-bogħod ommu kuljum
tindokra l-passi tiegħu
ta’ tifel ma jikbirx
u tgħallmu l-poeżija
u kelma ma tlissinx,
u qatt iżjed minn issa
li mortli s-smewwiet
ma tgħasses sewwa fuqi
fis-serħ ta’ dan is-skiet
u ttenni l-poeżija
li ddawwal dil-mogħdija
li għad twasslni ħdejk
biex qatt fuq ħaddejk sielma
ma nara d-dmugħ li bkejt.

Joe Axiaq


IT-TFAL TELQU BIL-VAPURI
(Wara li qrajt ir-rumanz ta’ Oliver Friggieri, It-Tfal Jigu bil-Vapuri.
Lil dawk il-Maltin u Ghawdxin li kellhom jitilqu Malta fuq il-vapuri,
ghal hajja ahjar).

Ommha qaltilha
li t-tfal jigu bil-vapuri
u stenniet it-tfajla
l-vapuri jidhlu x-xatt
u dahal vapur u iehor
u ghaliha tfal
ma kellhom qatt;
sakemm habbet zaghzugh
u taha tifel u tifla tnejn
u kienu l-ghaxqa t’ommhom
sakemm kibru u nizzlithom
darba x-xatt
u gie vapur hadhomlha lejn l-Awstralja
u izjed ma rathom qatt.


Joe Axiaq


FIT-TOROQ TA' MELBOURNE

Fit-toroq ta' Melbourne
jorqod it-tallab fqir
ihares 'il fuq fil-bini jilhaq is-sema
bil-kwiekeb ileqqu
jaqbzu f'muniti ta' zewg dollari
mill-oghla sulari
u ma jarax id-dollari
jaqbzu mill-but imtaqqab
u jduru tond madwaru
ta' min ghaddej fit-triq ghal daru.


Joe Axiaq



Jekk darba

Jekk darba tkun poeta
bla linka u klamar
u biex tikteb poeżija
demmek tuża bħan-nar,
ikteb ftit versi qosra
bħal dawn li llum qed taqra
qabel tħossok tiddgħajjef
u taqa’ stordut
bħal f’sakra
u tpoġġix il-karta xuga
minn fejn id-demm jisponta
flok it-tajjara bajda
li d-demm ftit ftit tiskonta.


Joe Axiaq