Project Description
Jeton Kelmendi
Albanian poet Jeton Kelmendi was born in Peja in 1978. He completed primary and secondary school in his native town and his studies in Prishtina. He works in media in Kosova and co-operates with others abroad. Kelmendi is known for his articles on cultural matters. His poems are translated into various languages and are included in some anthologies. The essentially poetic thought of Kelmendi is the ethics of expression. His themes are about domination, creation, the reality of time and include love lyrics. Jeton Kelmendi is a member of Professional Assocation of Journalists of Kosova.
Shekulli i Premtimeve, 1999 Përtej Heshtjes, 2002 Në qoftë mesditë, 2004 Më fal pak Atdhe, 2005 Ku shkojnë ardhjet 2007 Zonja Fjalë 2007 Sa forte jane rralluar letrat, antology in Rumanian language.
(Jeton Kelmendi Translated by Fredi Proko)
ILLYRIAN
Your body weight
Your air power
The speed slowdown
Are immesurable
There are no limits to your light
Either
There is no measure of your radiance
Or
You are superlative that exceeds all dimensions
I swear to my word’s soul
You’re
A crumb of forgetfuless
Beyond the ear or the eye
For hundreds and thousands of years
You’re
A bright thought
And never
Has anybody ever been able to appraise you
My god given homeland that conferred me my name
Albanian
Auderghem, February 2007
FOR ENCOURAGEMENT
One day
My day will come
If indeed it’s true that
Every dog has it’s day,
And I will know how to welcome it
Then the soil will be as bountiful in bread
And the spring in water
That it will fill all the gaps
But alas
What are we to do with you
Distrust in tomorrow,
Deplorable is that day
Vienna, summer 2006
MISS WORD AND MR THOUGHT
1.
I’ve spoken rather
Differently
Too triumphantly
Miss
I hope
You take no offence
They are after all
Merely a poet’s words
And you know that it’s permissable
To strip the dressed thoughts
Stark naked
And the bare ones
To dress with suits I fancy
Or
Has it been just as well for you
That I simply tell you I love you
The words everybody tells
To anybody
As a husband to his own wife,
Miss
I beg to differ
2.
Well
Thought is no good without the word
Or the word
Means nothing if mind is not engaged
You are such a dear,
You are Miss word
And I Mr. thought
This is how I’ve always seen it
Myself with you and yourself with me
Even
This love formula
Anywhere
If at all it survived
Modernity
So Miss word, you are attractive
When Mr. thought
Lends you his charm
3.
Come on
Let’s make up ’cause
Silence
Is anxiously watching
What’s gonna happen with us
Anyway
Miss word
I feel like giving you a kiss
Only one
As I’m not sure how
A second or third may come
Let freedom live unfettered
Let the word
The mind
Speak whatever
They want
I now want
The first kiss
Paris, July 2006
CHATTING WITH MY BROTHER IN ARMS
Before I have a chat with you
I would like to ask you about the highlands
The torrents which used to rush in the past springs,
How’s been the weather like this year
I far away, and you close by
The word has gone cold
The summer doesn’t feel like staying with us
Where the slate pierced by the drop dwells
Who is singing on the slopes
How early we’ve set out
And we’re not nearly there yet
Brussels, 20 February