and she is howling with a hoarse voice to make me remember
that she used to be a wolf
I used to be a cave man
poetry has a growling stomach
but she never shows that she is famished
the most important thing for her is
to jump on the empty chair
and to be a part of the family around the dining table
Translated from Macedonian into English by Daniela Andonovska-Trajkovska
_________________________
Borche Panov (1961, Republic of North Macedonia) is an awarded poet translated into more than 40 languages. Works as a Counselor of Education in Radovish, and Arts Coordinator for the “International Karamanov’s Poetry Festival”. He has published 17 books of poetry and drama.
Aeronwy Thomas, photo by Martin Holroyd (Wikipedia)
AERONWY THOMAS:
BEYOND THE TEXT – HOW TO ENHANCE DYLAN THOMAS’ WORK
Music has been much used in Shakespeare’s works so why not Dylan Thomas’?
I will try to make an incomplete but impassioned case why music and poetry including poetic prose as used in my father’s play for voices, Under Milk Wood, can well do without the addition of music. My suffering in this regard should prove part of the case.
Ever since I returned to England in 1970, I have been approached by modern composers to listen to Fern Hill or more obscure poems arranged to music. My first experience was to be approached by an earnest American graduate who wished to use “If my head hurt a hair’s foot” in an original musical composition, using the words as a loose lyric for the music. In those early days returning from a long stay in Italy, I must have been somewhat naïve. I agreed to accompany him to the recording studio where his pre-recorded composition was overlain somehow onto a reading of the poem. Last minute, I was informed that the reader would be me and requested a moment to look at the poem. A more obscure poem about a child’s fear of causing his mother pain in birth could not have been chosen from my father’s poems. For me the meaning was almost impenetrable at such short notice so that I must have read it clearly but without understanding. This was no problem as the music was dominant and drowned the words effectively. The young artistic entrepreneur then revealed his plan. Because I had read the poem no royalties would be expected as a beneficiary. The reason that poem and a couple more had been chosen for the recording was that it was little known to the general public and therefore doubly immune to the payment of royalties. In any case, the young man told me, he’d spent his last dollars on the recording and was sleeping on friends’ sofas as a result. I had a sinking feeling that this sort of situation was going to be inevitable now that I was living in London and not in faraway Sicily or even Rome. Cheap flights to these destinations were still to happen in the future.
My foreboding was increased when asked to read “Fern Hill” at a public function for the Welsh Development Corporation. It would take place at the Hilton and feature clog dancing and harp playing which made me slightly uneasy. However, the fee of £30.00 was an inducement and I turned up in a long cotton Laura Ashley dress and a copy of Dylan’s Selected Poems. Immediately before I closed the evening with my reading, a band of merry clog dancers filled the floor and skilfully demonstrated how you can dance in uncomfortable wooden shoes. I would have to change the mood skilfully and dreaded being helped by the except the harpist. I was lucky that time as the harpist topped and tailed by did not over-ride the poem with a tinkling waterfall of background musak.
That occasion kick started my own poetry performance career and I was asked by any number of different organisations to give a reading of my father’s poems. Included were literary festivals and groups as well as entertainment spots at art galleries or even book launches of biographies about my father. My constant dread was to be requested (after all the arrangements had been made) would I mind a quiet musical accompaniment as I read
the poems. My fear was often justified as three piece flautists or recorders drowned the words. By the end, I had to ask that the musical interludes were just that… a musical item between not during poems. Nowadays, unless it is a reading abroad with translations so that Fern Hill can take 10 minutes to read with its translation, I insist the music is kept to three slots: beginning, interval and end.
Under Milk Wood, a play to be heard – but mostly seen, integrates songs into the text with words by my father and music by his friend, Swansea composer Dan Jones. These seem to work very well and give a little break from the richness of the text in so much that the words are song-like in scansion and use simple, often childlike words. The director Michael Bogdanov was the first to add Welsh folk songs for the glee party mentioned in the play to great effect. Nearly all the productions I see nowadays include additional music such as the UMW Jazz suite by Stan Tracey directed by Malcolm Taylor, a veteran of these productions, played as the audience settles itself and during the interval. These productions I can only recommend but I have also suffered all singing and all dancing(the expression used by one of the performers of Under Milk Wood. On a slightly higher level one hopes, The Welsh National Opera has also approached the literary trustees to sing Under Milk Wood. I await the outcome.
Returning to my experiences abroad, I have now new artistic decisions to make regarding my own poetry. As a result of teaching creative writing to school children in Turin, one of the teachers, Lidia Chiarelli Actis (who later became my official translator) introduced me to her husband, a part-time painter, Gianpiero Actis. He was keen to illustrate some of my poems and in this way we have to date had dozens of exhibitions based on Word and Image.
The local civic council became involved and subsidised events in which painters all over Turin were invited to illustrate a surreal poem of mine, The Object. The response was surprisingly positive with nearly a hundred painters of every imaginative style taking up the invitation. Lidia, herself a poet, has also experimented with a Canadian artist who works over the internet. I wouldn’t be surprised if music will be part of future collaborations.
.
In conclusion, I have to admit that the cross-fertilisation of the different arts: words, illustration and music can work if thought out and executed sensitively. This appears to contradict my initial assertion that music and poetry (and as it happens images) cannot enhance each other. They can and do as experience has taught me.
i miei occhi sono così simili al colore dell’orizzonte
che si adattano all’abisso, sì, all’oscurità,
e non si muore per tanto sognare, ma si respira!
.
Più lontano da quella linea orizzontale
un mondo mi separa e mi abbandona,
e qui, nulla attende, solo la morte.
.
C’è così tanta luce
che dalla speranza ho sentito dolore e angoscia.
Questa vita è la fonte di un’altra luce.
.
C’è così tanta chiarezza in me,
così tanta che sto annegando nel cielo e in Dio.
.
Sì! Là, dall’altra parte dello sguardo,
oltre questi occhi che mi inabissano,
il sole copre la mia anima con un altro corpo.
______________
Fernando Salazar Torres: (Ciudad de México). Poeta, crítico literario, ensayista y gestor cultural. Licenciado en Filosofía por la Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Unidad Iztapalapa (UAM-I). Maestría en Teoría Literaria (UAM-I). Estudia el Doctorado en Literatura Hispanoamericana en la Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP) con estancia de investigación en la Universidad de Salamanca (Usal). Ha publicado el poemario Sueños de cadáver y Visiones de otro reino. Su poesía y ensayos se han publicado en distintas gacetas y revistas literarias impresas y electrónicas. Su poesía ha sido traducida al inglés, italiano, catalán, bengalí y ruso. Director de la revista literaria Taller Ígitur Coordina las mesas “Crítica y Pensamiento en México” y “Diótima: Encuentro Nacional de Poesía”. Dirige el Taller Literario “ígitur”. Colabora en la revista literaria “Letralia. Tierra de Letras” con la serie de poesía mexicana “Voces actuales de México” y “Poesía española contemporánea”. Forma parte del equipo de colaboradores de Caravansary. Revista Internacional de Poesía (Colombia), la cual forma parte del sello Uniediciones. Es miembro del PEN Club de México.
Oh, come posso raggiungerti dall’altra parte della città –
Le strade sono ancora sepolte, lo so!
________________________
Maybe you can make a snowgirl Every day, the gardens are lovely here – Though the ravens don’t care, you can tell. And the street is beautiful – look, my dear! Are you watching through your window as well? The sky’s deep white; The snow’s soft as down. Maybe you can make a girl from snow? Oh, how can i get to you across town – The roads are still buried, I know!
Khosiyat Rustamova was born in 1971 in the village of Olmos in the Chust district of Namangan Province (Uzbekistan). She studied at the Journalism Faculty of the National University of Uzbekistan (1988-1993) and at the University of Higher Literature (2001-2004).
Her books have been translated and published in different languages. She has been serving as editor-in-chief of the World of the Book newspaper since 2015. Khosiyat Rustamova was awarded with the ‘Shukhrat’ (‘Fame’) medal in 2004 and is a member of the Writers Union of Uzbekistan. She has been awarded with the international award of Azerbaijan named after Mikail Mushfeek in 2015. She has also been a member of Writers Union of Azerbaijan since 2019.
Khosiyat Rustamova was born in 1971 in the village of Olmos in the Chust district of Namangan Province (Uzbekistan). She studied at the Journalism Faculty of the National University of Uzbekistan (1988-1993) and at the University of Higher Literature (2001-2004).
Her books have been translated and published in different languages. She has been serving as editor-in-chief of the World of the Book newspaper since 2015. Khosiyat Rustamova was awarded with the ‘Shukhrat’ (‘Fame’) medal in 2004 and is a member of the Writers Union of Uzbekistan. She has been awarded with the international award of Azerbaijan named after Mikail Mushfeek in 2015. She has also been a member of Writers Union of Azerbaijan since 2019.
and observed how you were turning the paramecium of meaning
into multi-cellular organism that breathes with its own lungs
–
I was dreaming the metaphors
from which the lightnings
were learning the art of whispering as they were souls
and I was waking up over and over again
–
In the circled colors of pointillism I kept you
because I wanted you to show me,
with fast and sharp movements,
the art of writing for the moments
that no one could ever have
–
and when I wanted to admit
that you remind me of something
that I had had long time ago
your words got stuck into the bird’s throat
–
Don’t let us be nude, I cried,
don’t let us be alone
with no art of living
___
L’ARTE DI VIVERE
Con occhi apertamente chiusi, ascoltavo
la disposizione dei tuoi pensieri scorrere lentamente
sui tasti bianchi e neri del pianoforte della vita
–
Ti stavo guardando
mentre vestivi le parole con una nuova pelle
e osservavo come stavi trasformando il paramecio del significato
in un organismo multicellulare che respira con i propri polmoni
–
Sognavo le metafore
da cui i fulmini
stavano imparando l’arte di sussurrare come se fossero anime
e mi svegliavo in continuazione
–
Ti ho tenuto nei colori cerchiati del puntinismo
perché volevo che tu mi mostrassi,
con movimenti veloci e taglienti,
l’arte di scrivere per i momenti
che nessuno avrebbe mai potuto avere
–
e quando ho voluto ammettere
che tu mi ricordi qualcosa
che avevo avuto tanto tempo fa
le tue parole sono rimaste incastrate come nella gola di un uccello
–
Non lasciateci nudi, ho gridato piangendo,
non lasciateci soli
senza l’arte di vivere
DANIELA ANDONOVSKA-TRAJKOVSKA, Republic of North Macedonia
Daniela Andonovska-Trajkovska (born February 3, 1979, Bitola, North Macedonia) is poetess, scientist, editor, literary critic, doctor of pedagogy, university professor. She works at the Faculty of Education-Bitola, St. “Kliment Ohridski” University-Bitola, Republic of North Macedonia and teaches the courses: Methodology of Teaching Language Arts, Creative Writing, Critical Literacy, Methodology of Teaching Early Reading and Writing, ect. She is co-founder of the University Literary Club “Denicija PFBT UKLO” and also of the Center for Literature, Art, Culture, Rhetoric and Language at the Faculty of Education-Bitola. She is member of the Macedonian Writers’ Association, and The Bitola Literary Circle, and was president of the Macedonian Science Society Editorial Council (for two mandates). She is editor in chief of the literary journal “Rast” issued by the Bitola Literary Circle, and also – editor in chief of the International Journal “Contemporary Dialogues” (Macedonian Science Society), and “Literary Elements” Journal (Perun Artis), several poetry and prose books. Besides her scientific work published in many international scientific journals (over 100 articles), and one university book “Critical Literacy”, she writes poetry, prose and literary critics. She has published one prose book: “Coffee, Tea and the Red Sky” (2019), and 8 poetry books: “Word for the Word” (2014), “Poems for the Margins” (2015), “Black Dot” (2017), Footprints” (2017), “Three” (2019), “House of Contrasts” (2019), “Electronic Blood” (2019), and “Math Poetry” (2020). She has won special mention at the Nosside World Poetry Prize (UNESCO, 2011), the award for the best unpublished poem at the Macedonia Writers’ Association Festival (2018), “Krste Chachanski” prize for prose (2019), National “Karamanov” Poetry Prize for poetry 2019, Macedonian Literary Avant-garde (2020). Her poetry was published in a number of anthologies, literary magazines and journals both at home and abroad, and her works are translated into: English, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Albanian, Romanian, Polish, Chinese, Arabic, Turkish, Vietnamese, Uzbek, Bengali, and Italian language. She has translated many literary works from English, Serbian and Bulgarian language into Macedonian and vice versa.
Milica Jeftimijević Lilić was born at Lovac near Banjska, Kosovo & Metohija, on August 28, 1953. She graduated at the Faculty of Philosophy in Priština, and won a master’s degree in philological sciences at the University of Belgrade. She was a professor at the University of Priština, and editor on Belgrade TV. She has published the following collections of poems: Dark, Salvation (1955), The Hibernation (1998), The Travelogue of the Skin (2003), and a collection of stories The Subject-matter of the Case (2002). She has also published books of criticism: Poetics of the Premonition (2004), The Epsistomlogical Illuminations (2007), Critical Roots and Ranges (2011),The Exactness of the Secret (2012)…Partenon buildings of stars, (poetry) ,Arka Smederevo , Stari Kolašin, Zbin Potok, 2015, The letters to Ulysess (poetry), 2017, Alma,Belgrade, An unexpected encounter, Centre of culture, Raška / Zadužbina Vladete Jerotića, 2017, Hidde on the shine of eyes, (stories), 2019, BKC, Novo Miloševo, KRK, Vest Čester, SAD, About Kosovo, again, ( and other poems), Prishtina, Jedinstvo, 2019. She also writes stories for children which have been published in Children’s Papers, Jedinstvo, and other newspapers. She is represented in many anthologies and has many literary awards of national importance as international…Her poems and pieces of criticism have been translated into Russian, English, Italian, German, French, Hungarian,Macedonian, Turkish, Swedish, Polish and Arabic….more than 28 lenguages of world. She was vice President of the Association of writers of Serbia, a member of literary society of writers of Kosovo and Metohija and a member of the Association of Journalists of Serbia. She lives in Belgrade since 1999.
Non prestava attenzione alla mia caotica solitudine, riflessa sui palmi delle mie mani con una sigaretta, che estendeva la sua fiamma al mio sangue.
Il fumo volava via come poesie bianche
Cancellando il riflesso di luce che si diffondeva
Per scoprire la nuvola di passioni maestose davanti ai miei occhi.
Con forza, lei ha iniziato a nascondere
L’argento del silenzio riversantesi sulle pulsazioni,
Come una cornice per noi
Per completare il ritratto della passione nelle sue mani.
Ha poi sistemato una ciocca di capelli che le era caduta spontaneamente sull’occhio sinistro,
Mentre stava guardando assente un mazzo di rose
Su un tavolo che ci separava,
Nascondendo metà della mia faccia.
Quanto desideravo incatenarmi
Ai suoi occhi,
Per notare quale doloroso desiderio si era impadronito della mia ultima metà.
Per vedere come quel miserabile che restava in fondo alla tazza affogava in profonde agonie.
A Corner in a Tavern
She paid no attention to me,
As she sat close to my table,
In the oriental corner of the tavern.
She paid no attention to my chaotic solitude, Reflected on my two palms holding a cigarette, That extended its flame to my blood.
Smoke flew away like white poems
Wiping off the spotlight that fell down,
To uncover the cloud of stately passions Before my eyes.
Forcibly, she started to hide
The silver of silence that spilled over pulses,
Framing us,
To complete the portrait of passion in her palms.
She, then, reassembled a lock of her hair that spontaneously fell Over her left eye,
When she was absently looking at a bouquet of roses
On a table separating us,
Hiding half my face.
How much I wished I would become a complete string
In her eyes,
To notice what painful yearning had raged on my last half. To see a wretched person inhabiting the bottom of my cup,
Drowned in profound agonies.
________________
Ali Al-Hazmi (Biography)
* Born in Damadd, Saudi Arabia, in 1970.
* Obtained a degree in Arabic language and Literature at Umm Al-Qura University – Faculty of Arabic Language,1992.
* As early as the year 1985, the poet started publishing poems in a variety of local and Arabic cultural Periodicals such as The Seventh Day (Paris), Creativity (Cairo),
Nazoa (Amman) and The New Text.
The poet participated in a number of recital sessions of poetry inside and
outside of Saudi Arabia:
International Poetry Festival, Costa Rica 2013.
International Poetry Festival, Voix Vives in Toledo, Spain 2014. International Poetry Festival, Punta del Este, Uruguay 2015. Madrid Voice life Poetry Festival, Spain 2016.
International Poetry Festival, Havana, Cuba 2016.
International Poetry Festival, Medellín, Colombia 2016.
Istanbul Poetry Festival, Turkey, 2016.
International Poetry Festival, Roma 2017.
International Academy Orient – Occident, Romania 2017.
International Poetry Festival, Madrid, Spain 2017.
International Poetry Festival, Malaga, Spain 2018.
International Poetry Festival February, Madrid. Spain 2018. 82
Publications:
A Gate for the Body, Dar Almadina- Jeddah- 1993.
Trees of Absence, Translated into French-Lil-Dision – France 2016.
Comfortable on the Edge, Translated into Spanish by University of Costa Rica
Editorial 2013, House of Poetry Foundation.
Comfortable on the Edge, Translated into French- Larmatin – Paris 2016.
A Fragmented Life, Translated into Turkish – Art Shop Pub. House, Istanbul -Turkey 2017.
A definite Road in the Mist, Translated into English and Romanian language – Academy Orient – Occident – Romania 2017.
Take Me to My Body, Seleted Poems Translated into Serbian Language, Alma Publishing House, Belgrade, Serbia 2018.
A Road into the Wall, Translated into Macedonian Language, AkademskiPečat Publishing House, Macedonia, 2019.
Comfortable on the Edge, Translated to Spanish, University of Costa Rica in Collaboration with The House of Poetry in Costa Rica, 2013.
Comfortable on the Edge, Translated to French, La Martin Publishing House, 2016. *Al Hazmiparticipated in more than 20 Anthologies in differentparts of theworld:
Colombia, Spain, Dominican, Germany, China, Turkey, Romania, Cuba and Serbia.
*The poet has recently signed a contract with Google to have the previlege of publishing some oh his poems on Google Assistance Site.
Prizes:
* Medal of Poetry, Urugway, 2015.
* The World Grand Prize for Poetry, The International Academy Orient – Occident in Romania 2017.
* His Poem “A Road into the Wall” won Verbumlandia Prize in Italy, 2017.
* The Prize of the Best International Poet in 2018, The International Center for Translation and Poetry Research, China.
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