Seattle Arts & Lectures has a 2009-2010 poetry series. This Saturday, Nov 14, the guest lecturers/readers will be Tomaz Salamun and Matthew Zapruder. Salamun was born in 1941 in Zagreb (Slovenia). He is considered a leading poet of central Europe who has published more than 30 books.

If the poem I've posted below piques your interest, you might want to go to poetryinternationalweb.org and look for a well-written article by Robert Hass describing his visit with Salamun. At the same site, you can see Salamun's translated poems side-by-side with the originals. Or, for an auditory experience, hear him on youtube.

Again the Roads are Silent

again the roads are silent, dark peace
again there are bees, honey, silent green fields
willows by the rivers, stones at the bottom of the valleys
hills in the eyes, sleep in the animals

again the children are restless, blood in the whistles
again there is bronze in the bells, an aura in the tongue
travelers greet one another, the plague strengthened the joints
wild deer are in the palm, the snow shines

I see the morning, how I hurry
I see skin in the pious dust
I see shrieks of joy, how we head toward the south
Toledo man, two little hitchhikers

the images are clear, the flowers are timid
dark sealed sky, I hear a scream
the time for love awaits, time of tall statues
silent clear hinds, dreamy linden trees

tomaz salamun

Link to Robert Hass article:

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link to youtube (37 minute program)

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"Again the Roads are Silent" - "Again" suggests aftermath; is it that of some past conflict (considering the ever troublsome area that is part of the poet's background) or, as the gravidous content and motion suggest, just the passing of winter ('the snow shines" merely suggests the residual, probable on hills or mountain, nice touch among the rest of what is given that harkens spring/summerward). Trust me, even in the full graces of summer war has a way of suppressing the sounds of nature and the presence of mind one can bring to bear on what is to be seen and heard in the natural surroundings. Do not think that the "Again" can be streached to represent the re-emergence of an individual from dark times within the psyche - still, there is some smear-room in this notion; the poet has emerged into the wherewithal expressed in the poem's largesse. I feel a 'teetering' within this poem that suggests the lurk of reversals to the positive things that the poem presents.

Have to say I 'like' the poem - impressionistic yet anchored within a variety of staples that will not easily drift from their prime semantic(s) - vague yet semi-taut poise.

Being myself from a rural background, I hav no problem identifying with the sturdy rustic this poem offers; I nention this only because I have often wonder if those from an essentially urban background can ever really manage to get past nature as an abstraction, pliable but still of a distance that, I feel, might reduce many of the learning and enjoyment points that come so first hand to having experienced the rural backgroound. Hell, I'd have the same problems trying to fully experience virons of the mostly urban.

Gotta go.

Carpe Verve.

Doug

Well, islandtime, I gave it my best shot, but there is something funny / pathetic about the line, "Tomaz Salamun is Slovenia's best known poet," and Hass's comment about Salamun being translated only into Serbian (in the early days).

I did my part -- I read about Salamun, and I really enjoyed Hass's comments about the concerns of the various generations of East European (now called Central European) poets. But I also spent time trying to learn about Slovenia, since I can never remember all the countries that were part of the former Yugoslavia -- which is Orthodox Christian, which is Catholic, which is Muslim, who fought who(m), etc.

And I thought of Salamun when I read this --

The disintegration of Yugoslavia during the late 1980s and the formation of independent Slovenia in the early 1990s has motivated a search for a particularly Slovenian national identity. One reflection of this is the rejection of a Slavic identity in favour of a "Venetic" one in Slovene nationalism. The autochthonist (protochronist) "Venetic theory" was advanced in the mid 1980s.

In the late 1980s, several symbols from the Middle Ages were revived as Slovenian national symbols. Among them, the most popular are the so-called Slovene Hat which featured in the coat of arms of the Slovene March, and the Black Panther, a reconstruction of the supposed coat of arms of the Carolingian duchy of Carantania. After being used in the flag, the graphical representation of Triglav has become recognised as a national symbol. Another symbol connected to Triglav comes from the tale of the Zlatorog or Goldenhorn, a legendary creature living on a mountain-top garden near Triglav.

I also went through my own files and discovered I have a whole Word file devoted to (former) Yugoslavian poets, and they're all Serbians. So it must be even tougher to be a Slovenian poet.

For what it's worth, the guy who's going to be with Salamun at the Seattle reading, Zapruder -- whom I'm guessing is Salamun's translator -- has posted here to some of Pinsky's monthly classic poem discussions.

Thanks for the doing the OPP on such short notice, IT.

Hi, Mary Ann, Thanks for giving it your best shot :-)

You know, I'm not sure whether Zapruder is Salamun's translator or not (he was not on the poems of S's I looked at). Five of the poets in the lecture series appear(ed) individually -- Martin Espada, Mark Doty, Linda Gregg, Sharon Olds and Rita Dove. But Salamun is paired w/ Zapruder and in January, Kim Addonozio and Gary Lilley are presenting together.