‘n Opwindende jong Macedoniese digter

Via ‘n skakel op Jan Pollet se nuwe webblad, lees ek ‘n onderhoud raak wat deur S.J. Fowler met die veelbekroonde jong Macedoniese digter, Nikola Madzirov, vir 3:AM Magazine gevoer is. Madzirov, wat in 1973 gebore is, se gedigte is nie net in meer as dertig tale vertaal nie, maar hy is ook al gunstig met internasionale reuse soos Vasko Popa, Czełav Milosz, Zbigniew Herbert en Adam Zagajewski vergelyk. Einste Zagajewski het hom soos volg oor Madzirov se digkuns uitgelaat: “Madzirov’s poems are like Expressionist paintings: filled with thick, energetic streaks they seem to emerge from the imagination and to return to it right away, like night animals caught in the headlights of a car.”

Inderdaad, ‘n wonderlike digter en ‘n besonder insiggewende onderhoud.

Neem byvoorbeeld die volgende opmerking oor die kwessie van stilte in die gedig: “Most important to me is silence. Not any silence but the silence that does not follow the punctuation, nor the rhythm of breathing. I regard telling stories as an essential gene in transferring the cultural and intellectual heritage, which is not to be found in any testament. It is an urge risen from the fear of forgetting, which is greater than the fear of death […] I discover poetry as a voice that belongs neither to the air nor to the blank paper, nor to the black ink of the pen or the printer. I like to retell, but not to report promises and testaments; I want to write, but not with my eyes or ears closed. As Jean Cocteau has put it: ‘The poet doesn’t invent. He listens’.”

En ook die volgende (erg poëtiese) beskouing rakende die digkuns: “Poetry is presence. And witnessing. As Carolyn Forché says, witness might be read as a public voice, but also a deeply intimate one. Into that space of inner and civilization voices, I move my body behind the poetic relocations, like an unexpected shadow from the street light that has just been switched. “

Gaan lees gerus die volledige onderhoud. Daar lê sommer heelwat pitkos in opgesluit; veral Madzirov se siening van ‘n nasionalistiese digkuns het ek besonder interessant gevind. As leesprikkel plaas ek sy vers “Shadows Pass Us By” onderaan. Hier kan nog gedigte van dié begaafde digter gevind word.

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Sedert Vrydag het Andries Bezuidenhout ‘n skakel geplaas na David Kramer en die fracking-besigheid, en dan – ter ondersteuning van hul onderskeie bundels wat einde verlede by die boekwinkels afglewer is – is daar ook onder houde met M.M. Walters en Anne-Ghrett Erasmus om te geniet.

Mooi bly.

LE

 

Shadows Pass Us By

We’ll meet one day,
like a paper boat and
a watermelon that’s been cooling in the river.
The anxiety of the world will
be with us. Our palms
will eclipse the sun and we’ll
approach each other holding lanterns.

One day, the wind won’t
change direction.
The birch will send away leaves
into our shoes on the doorstep.
The wolves will come after
our innocence.
The butterflies will leave
their dust on our cheeks.

An old woman will tell stories
about us in the waiting room every morning.
Even what I’m saying has
been said already: we’re waiting for the wind
like two flags on a border.

One day every shadow
will pass us by.

 

© Nikola Madzirov