Patras World Poetry Festival

DECEMBER 10th - 13th 2020

We would like to inform you that due to the implementation of a new lockdown in our country and the increase in the number of coronavirus cases, the organizing and scientific committee of the “Jean Moréas International Awards” and the Patras International Poetry Festival postpones the date of the event on December, 10-13 of 2020.

Digital Event

The Patras World Poetry Festival 2020 this year is entitled "National Poets" and plans to host 60 poets from 15 different countries around the world.

This year the festival be held online and virtually, as far as COVID-19 impact affects significantly the implementation of this event.

In the four-day online event there will be 6 meetings lasting up to 3 hours, where the guest poets will be presented with readings in 2 languages, via live connection. The events will be attended by invited representatives of institutions and the jury, while the program will include speeches, presentations, tributes, music, etc.

In addition, the following activities will take place within the schedule of the Festival events:

online Award of the annual Greek Poetry Awards "Jean Moréas" (Saturday December 12th)
Art Exhibition "National Poets" with the participation of 20 Greek artists and 10 artists from different countries (live and digital tour)
Collectible trilingual edition of the poems of the participants, in the first language of each artist, in Greek and English

The 3rd Patras World Poetry Festival 2020 is organized by the Poetry Fountation “Grafeion Poiiseos”, the literary website Culture Book (culturebook.gr) and the multicultural center Epikentro Plus History & Arts, while every year it is under the auspices of the Ministries of Culture and the Ministry of Tourism*. Supporters of the event are the Greek Library of London, the Cultural Center “Kostis Palamas”, the University of Western Macedonia, the Hellenic Open University and many other important institutions, as claimed under the Aegis of the President of the Hellenic Republic.

Awarding of Poetry Awards "Jean Moréas" for the year 2019

This annual event will be held digitally at one session of the PWPF Poetry Event 2020, with a presentation of the award-winning poets and recitations by them. This is the annual event during which the "Jean Moréas" Prizes are awarded for Greek poetic art and Greek poetic production in its entire range. They are recognizable nationwide and concern the poetry collections that were published throughout the previous calendar year from the year of the award. They refer both to young poets and newcomers and to those who are recognized with their poetic work along time.

The event is highly appreciated by the Greek literary and artistic circle of readers. In this year's event, in addition to the institutionalized awards, a very important foreign poet will be honored, who with his/her lifelong work honors the literature outside Greece.The Award Committee is composed of Greek University professors, as well as very important poets and poetry critics who will evaluate the work of the honorees.

Sincerely,

On behalf of the organizing committee.

Kotopoulos H. Triantafyllos, President of the “Patras World Poetry Festival”

Skiathas D. Antonis, President of the Poetry Fountation “Grafeion Poiiseos”

Alaniadi Maria, Event Manager of the “Patras World Poetry Festival”

Marija Dejanović, Croatia

PWPF 2022 Participants Patras World Poetry Festival

Τετάρτη, 03 Αυγούστου 2022

0 Σχόλια

Marija Dejanović, Croatia

The Poems

Concrete

My friends live in gaps between the wardrobe and the wall
that are impossible to reach
as I stretch my arms, a web of silence
enters my mouth; they are the shady silence of plaster
I tell her: choose a picture frame
and stick your scalp through its hollow body
push the supple roots of hair untouched by sun
sprinkled with flour

sneak out of his kitchen or jump through the window
from the tenth floor, you'll land on the atoms of possibilities
like the ashen flowers in the district park

Your eyes: symbols for bursting, heavy breasts
sagging from your father's eyes, from equine milk, and presents
that shed from your skin instead of your husband's cruel lips

His words gather in your bellybutton
and crawl to your neck, like cypresses in the cemetery
and suddenly, instead of dust, it is you hanging from the chandelier

My friends are mine because they are no one's
they only listen to themselves and touch only themselves
my friend is the table leg
whose splinter pierces your thumb while moving house

My friend: a small plastic ball
filled with brown fluid

My friend is a curly hair
in the drain of her throat

He tells her: together we drew boundaries
to clean furniture together
She tells him: it's easy to fall apart, it's hard
to pierce a pea with your fork

My friends are the first sorrows
whom I genuinely loved

They are the first to make decisions
and the only ones to carry them through

My friends are tall buildings
whose hands hold the foundations

My friends are an airplane
with concrete legs

(Translated by Hana Samaržija)

Cementna

Moji prijatelji žive u prostorima između ormara i zida
koje je nemoguće dosegnuti

Koliko god istezala ruke, paučinasta šutnja
ulazi u moja usta; moji su prijatelji tamna tišina kreča
Kažem joj: odaberi okvir za sliku
i promoli kroz njegovo prazno tijelo
svoje tjeme
mekano korijenje kose do koje sunce ne dopire
posuto brašnom

iskradi se iz njegove kuhinje ili skoči kroz prozor
s desetog kata
dočekat će te čestice mogućnosti
kao pepeljasto cvijeće kvartovskog parka

Tvoje oči: simboli za prepune, otežale grudi
obješene od očevog pogleda
konjskog mlijeka i poklona
koji su izostali s tvoje kože
umjesto muževih okrutnih usana

Njegove riječi skupljaju se u tvom pupku
preko trbuha penju se do vrata
te su riječi čempresi s groblja

i odjednom, umjesto prašine
ti si ono što visi s lustera

Moji su prijatelji moji jer nisu ničiji
jedino sebe slušaju, sebe dodiruju
i samo sa sobom plaču
Moj je prijatelj noga stola
čija se špranja zabada u meso kažiprsta
pri selidbi

Moj prijatelj: mala plastična kugla
ispunjena smeđom tekućinom

Moj je prijatelj kovrčava dlaka
u odvodu njezinog grla

Kaže joj: skupa smo stvarali granice
da možemo zajedno brisati namještaj
Kaže mu: lako je raspasti se, teško je
vilicom nabosti grašak

Moji su prijatelji prve tuge
koje sam mogla istinski voljeti

Oni će prvi donijeti odluke
i jedini ih dosljedno provesti

Moji su prijatelji visoke zgrade
koje se rukama drže za temelje

Moji su prijatelji avion
s cementnim nogama

* * *

Tracing Straight Lines

Yellow inertia of arrival
of fruits, apples, pears
sprouted from a stone that was dug in like a heel
swam out of water

All fruit is yellow
and appears only in hints
thickness of noon approaches us like a tame train
regularly, with delicate deviations
and warn us to be careful
with mild smiles
clean surfaces, and heated steel hearts
ready to smother snakes with shovels
and to seek them under every stone

She has fireproof hands, and
hides them in the oven like a snake hides its legs
stretches her neck, scalp and chin tracing straight lines
and searches the sky for scars
coming out the back of an airplane

She can't burn herself on me
she can't learn my name
Our irises are fixed within eyelashes
that calibrate like flower buds
buds of May
escorting heads and tails

I'm so happy to have you
you stole a part of the car so nobody could drive it
and now you are hitchhiking, wondering
whether it was worth it

Your grassy tongue hides lies
sweet, summery slights that enable you to love me

When you melt my name in your mouth
I'd swear it's not my name
When your mouth kisses my cheek
I'd swear it's not my cheek

(Translated by Hana Samaržija)

Pravilne linije

Žuta tromost dolaska
plodova drveća, jabuka, krušaka
izniknula je iz kamena ukopanog kao peta
isplivala iz vode

Svo je voće žuto
i pojavljuje se samo u naznakama
Debljina podneva prilazi nam kao pitomi vlak
redovito, s blagim odstupanjima
i upozorava nas da moramo biti oprezne
blago nasmiješene, čiste površine
i metalnog, zagrijanog srca
spremne da motikom zatučemo bjelouške
i u pretrazi prevrnemo svaki kamen

Ona ima vatrostalne ruke
skriva ih u pećnici kao zmija noge
isteže vrat, tjeme i bradu slijedeći pravilne linije
Prati na nebu male ožiljke
ispuštene iz stražnjice aviona

Ne može se na mene opeći
ne može mi saznati ime
Zjenice su nam fiksirane, uokvirene trepavicama
koje kalibriraju kao pupoljci
pupoljci svibanjski
pogledom ispraćaju noge i glave

Tako sam sretna što te imam
ukrala si dio auta samo da ga ne može nitko voziti
i sad autostopiraš, misleći što li mi je
sve to trebalo

Travnati ti jezik skriva laži
slatke ljetne preinake kako bi me više voljela

Kad u ustima topiš moje ime
zaklela bih se da je to neko drugo ime

Kad mi ustima ljubiš obraz
zaklela bih se
da to nije moj obraz

The Poet

Marija Dejanović is a Croatian poet and a literary critic, born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, currently living in Greece. She is the author of three poetry collections. She has received many national and international poetry awards, including Goran Award, Kvirin Award, Zdravko Pucak Award, Milo Bošković Award, DiBiase Poetry Contest Award, Castello di Duino Award, as well as the Marin Držić Award (2020) by the Croatian Ministry of Culture for her theatre play script. Her poems were translated into around 20 world languages, and her latest book is to be published in Serbia, North Macedonia, Greece (2022), and the USA (2023). She participated in numerous international poetry festivals. She is a member of the Croatian Writers' Society, Croatian PEN Centre, and international poets' and festivals' platform Versopolis. She's one of the editors of magazines Tema and Libartes. She is the assistant director of Thessalian Poetry Festival.