Poetry
Nesër jam aty
Not translated into English
Xhevahir Spahiu · 1987
Synopsis
The title poem is a poem of return: the poet, weary of travel, announces that tomorrow he will be in his native village, where the edges of the woods advance to meet him and where the oaks, the spring, an old thirst and the memory of his father await him. Around it come Malind, the village of his first steps, the Tomorr of his childhood, winter in Skrapar, a child before a mirror, and the prayer not to curse the river. The native land returns in it with a regret that touches the past as much as the present.
Context
The collection appeared in 1987, eight years after another book by its author had been seized as soon as it came out and pulped. Studies link it to the theme that runs through his whole work, the native land: Malind, the village at the foot of Mount Tomorr, the Skrapar, the memory of childhood and the figures of the family, the grandmother, the father, the mother and the brother. One critic reads in it a regret that concerns both the past and the present time. Several of his poems have been translated into French by Alexandre Zotos, in anthologies and then in a selection published in 2011.
Who it is for
Short, highly imagistic poems, which assume that the reader knows where the Skrapar and Mount Tomorr are; no French translation of the collection.
Prizes and reception
Migjeni Prize 1987, awarded by the Union of Writers and Artists to the best book of the year.
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