Apparently, there are relatively few readers of literature today who could adequately absorb and genuinely appreciate the world of poetry. Some of them even tinker with “literary” writing, but without ever grasping the true nature of a pure poetic process. Luckily, there are still poets and readers who not only love and understand poetry but also, in time, become its faithful monastic devotees.
We feel privileged that our “European Atlas of Lyrics Award” was chosen to be honoured in a great country like England because presenting our award and its recipients in the English-speaking world means instantly establishing closer ties to the wide-ranging international literary scene. Ms Fiona Sampson, an esteemed professor of poetry, but also herself a poet, prose writer, and essayist, has been kind enough to invite us to present our award in her native country, and this invitation we have accepted with open arms. In her literary journal Poem, she has given us an opportunity not only to showcase our achievements in poetry as we see it but also a way to reach a worldwide reading audience. Without sounding pathetic or theatrical, we would like to use this opportunity to express our genuinely heartfelt gratitude to Ms Sampson and her journal.
We cannot recall that, in the past, any other literary award from the Balkans had received such exposure. It is even more astonishing that this would take place in a prestigious journal like Poem, published in one of the greatest metropolises in the world. This way, book lovers everywhere will have an opportunity not only to learn about the “European Atlas of Lyrics Award”, but also to fall once more under the poetic spell of its past recipients.
The “European Atlas of Lyrics Award” was founded in 2014, with an intention to draw awareness to the latest and the best in contemporary poetry, not only in Balkan countries but also throughout Europe, and on other continents. We are all aware that appreciation of poetry is limited in the modern world, and that is why this award enables us to give a sound boost to poetry's ratings and its overall popularity. What is more, contemporary poetry is competing with other literary disciplines, but it is also struggling to find its place under the sun once again . However, our award has also opened up vast possibilities of cooperation in various literary genres, each one interpreting the world through a specific creative process. Thus, this award has become a celebration of poetic creativity, breaking down formal boundaries between countries. It promotes humanistic poetic values, especially in those parts of the world where the pestilence of nationalism, totalitarianism, consumerism, and technical–technological subversive methods had caused omnipresent madness everywhere; not to mention wars, emigration crises, human degradation, and so many people's lives left in ruins.
Poetry is not, and could never be, a slave, or someone's patron for that matter, even when it is hypothesizing or immersed in deep philosophical thought. Poetry has never been concerned with scientific discoveries either, but still it would be impossible to imagine enrichment of man's knowledge without using some creative, poetic license. Could we ever dwell in futility and nonsense of our ordinary experience without consulting poetry, which, at once, becomes part of the world and distant cosmic spheres, remaining, at the same time, extraordinarily personal and honourable? Poetry was always comfortable in existing on its own, and that is why we accept it as it is, because we know that it is born out of an individual human need to express that what was inexpressible. Looking at a constant flood of information and consumerism, causing the uniform existence of hollow populism, we see, from the standpoint of poetry, these new trends as torrents of disinformation, pretending to play the role of a saviour in today's world filled with broken and fractured human spirit. Poetry never cared for borderlines, continually and stubbornly building bridges between poets and their brethren from all over the world. This mission of poetry also happens to be a mission of our award.
The “European Atlas of Lyrics Award” was established in the city of Banja Luka, Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina, where turbulent historical events took place only a few years back. Its founder was the Association of Literary Translators “Kuća poezije” (“House of Poetry”), which also, throughout the years, published the works of the recipients of this award. Most founding writers and translators live and work in the countries previously part of former Yugoslavia, but there are also those authors who hail from various European countries and other continents. It was the symbiosis of all these creative people which brought this award to life, with which, year after year, we have been honouring the best poets on the contemporary international scene. Their names and their excellent poetic output add tremendous value to our award, proving year after year that poetry is still thriving and enriching the lives of many. According to Serbian poet Dušan Matić, poetry presents eternal renewal of the world.
The first recipient of the “European Atlas of Lyrics Award”, Polish poet Ewa Lipska, stated in one of her poems:
Initially, the “European Atlas of Lyrics Award” was imagined as a seal of approval among world poets. It soon found itself playing an important role on the imaginary and real map of European literary landscape, continuing to thrive to this day thanks to the excellence of all those poets who received our award until now and of those celebrated in the future.
Today, the city of Banja Luka is known as the City of Poetry. Poetry certainly lives in places where people live and write, but all those great poets, the light bearers, from all over the world, nurture it. Every year they come to Banja Luka, this City of Poetry, with their great manuscripts, which are in return published by the award founders, “House of Poetry”. These exclusively chosen poets represent the best of award-winning poetic yield. The award by itself is less valuable than these excellent poets from abroad, who ultimately get translated into the Serbian language. In other words, the award is a result of hard work by all who value poetry and a whole process of creative writing. We read various poetic codes, messages, and anagrams, trying to grasp mysterious linguistic matter from which poetic Word grows. We suddenly get swept away by discovery and fresh perspective. Through poetic Word, we can identify ourselves with the time immemorial, where our lives continue to pulsate along with the entire universe. Thus, we have just recently celebrated a 1000-year anniversary dedicated to Virgil, a 600-year anniversary dedicated to Dante, a 200-year anniversary devoted to A. S. Pushkin, a 100-year anniversary devoted to W. B. Yeats, and a 60-year anniversary dedicated to T. S. Eliot, and when we remember these poets, time becomes a somewhat relative factor. We should also mention here the ending of the twentieth century when Polish poet W. Szymborska lyrically presented all of the countenance of our everyday lives.
The award founders’ original intention was for the city of Banja Luka to become the City of Poetry, together with the House of Poetry, with its metaphysical entrance leading us to the ancient but always new and current word, Bible, showing us that everything has its beginning and its end. But, until the Four Horsemen arrive, there is infinity before us, who travel forked paths, following major and minor roads of the world, and continue to ride through our victories and defeats. We travel through the land of the stećak Footnote1 Radimlje,Footnote2 ancient customs and legends, the language resurrected along with Christianity. We follow it with our precious poetic discoveries in Serbian poet Vasko Popa's “apple of gold”. His lyrics are inscribed on the walls of Serb medieval monasteries, in monk's cells, in the ruins of prosperous cities of Middle Ages, eternally obsessed with time, with the house in the middle of the road, traversing the heavens and virgin land.
Cold and dangerous Vrbas flows through the city of Banja Luka, City of Poetry. Roman fortress Kastel sits on one of the river banks, guarding the city. The currents below seem dangerous enough, except for those who brave the cold and swim in the middle of January, breaking the ice and catching the sleeping fish. Savindan is the most celebrated holy day in the Serb Orthodox calendar. It was dedicated to St Sava, the first Serbian writer, and patriarch, who gave up the royal crown for a life of writing and contemplation in a monastic cell. Every winter on that day, young men and women dive into freezing waters of Vrbas to retrieve the Honorable Cross from the river bed. It is an image, we think, worth the best of poetry.
Our City of Poetry equally welcomes weary travellers and curious tourists, nocturnal cleaners in the city square, but also professors of poetry. This city embraces all poets who come here to leave a poetic gift of their manuscripts to us. Visiting authors are always sensitive to local speech, trying to understand certain Serbian words, trying to translate them into their native tongue; words like salt and bread, house and a threshold, and books and letters of the alphabet. Awarded poets Ewa Lipska, Sean O'Brien, Amir Or, and Vyacheslav Kupriyanov were curious to find out where the language of poetry, no matter how foreign, begins, and whether there was ever any beginning at all. What about ancient epics and legends? What kind of magic can resurrect the language of poetry in every age, in every poet, and a poem? Poetic creativity, followed by feverish moments of a poet's writing and nightly mores, heightens our awareness, showers us with incredible gifts, and embraces us unconditionally. We can confidently confirm here that a poetic, creative source could never, nor would ever, dry up, as long as the Earth and Cosmos co-exist.
Do poets travel the Earth as well as the Cosmos? Mostly, as eternal pilgrims, they live to serve and spread poetic Word, asking for nothing in return. All they desire is for their creative spirit to be free; since classic Ellada, no prison could crush them. Ancient Greeks, Celts, Saxons, Slavs, Aztecs, and poets of many other nationalities have valued poetry throughout the ages. They have created their calendars inspired by Cosmos and used as a window into their poetic universe.
What I have been trying to do here is to explain poetry without justifying its existence, and at the same time wishing to assert that which already exists in every poet’s realm. The fact is that we live in the land called Poetry, within the City of Poetry, with its House of Poetry, where everyone is always welcome.
Thank you all for coming and honouring us with your presence!
Notes
1 Stećak is the name for monumental medieval tombstones that lie scattered across Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the border parts of Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia.
2 Radimlje is a Stećak necropolis, located in Vidovo polje near Stolac, Bosnia and Herzegovina.