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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 SEPTEMBER 2020 5 THIS WEEK POETRY blue room these poems; their texture. With Glen I discussed at length what is the adher- ing factor of these poems. What is the binding element? I kept asking myself. What makes them come together as one collection? How are they able to live to- gether? That is when we discussed the idea of a dictionary, of an alphabetical order that gives a structure and shape to these po- ems (also given that I am a bit obsessed with the letters and words). Truth be told, I wrote the collection with anoth- er title in mind and it was anything but easy to let go of it. But after a lot of to and fro with publisher Chris Gruppet- ta, we decided that it had to be the blue room. The blue room is my observations, my commentary. It represents a space where all these objects (physical, but not just) live together to form the bigger picture. It is a depository, a collection, a catalogue. It is a point of reference. Every now and again, I create and recre- ate this room. It is ever changing. This room is also what preserves things, a memory, an act to remember. Each time the poems are read out loud, new life is breathed into them, I feel. Speaking of breathing, negative space on a page is as important as the space the words occupy on the page. Most of the time we try to cram everything, to overfill stuff, to pack as much as we can. This room is not about filling each and every space to the brim. I think there is a lot of value in space, in nothingness (which can also be something), in white blanks and gaps. Who are some of the Maltese poets – both contemporary and otherwise – whom you look up to, and how do they inform your work? Are you also trying to fill certain 'gaps' that you see in the literary scene with your work? Three poets that I look up to a lot are Glen Calleja, Caldon Mercieca and Adrian Grima. I love Glen Calleja and Caldon Mericeca's work because it is al- ways novel and fresh. They are the true definition of wordsmiths. They mould and shape their words in ways one would not even imagine. The same can be said for Adrian Gri- ma who has a way with the words, who flirts with the words and makes them his. Needless to say, I also read closely the work of my contemporary female poets (sometimes I also have the priv- ilege to read the work before it is pub- lished). It is very tricky to pinpoint po- ets because I love different poets for the different techniques and styles they use. But the ones I mentioned, I feel, are the Maltese poets that influenced me in my writing the most. With regards to filling the 'gaps', I write what I like to write, the way I know how to write it. I do not write to fill gaps or to please an audience. If my work is different or if it is filling a gap, that's good. But that's because I am al- ways finding new ways of how to play with words. I see the world through lan- guage in all its potential. It is always a question of how, rather than what. Sometimes, the most beau- tiful poems are those written with the simplest of words. It is a question of how you place each word after another. Or how you break the rhythms we are accustomed to. A lot of the poems in the collection are deeply heartfelt and personal, even if the framing device may take on a playful tint. How challenging was it to delve deep and explore these more difficult and intimate subjects in your poetry? Poetry strips you bare. Each time I publish a book for teens/adults I always say to myself 'what have I done?' Be- cause if you are true to what you write, if your writing is raw and sincere, then there is always yourself in your writing. Be it something that you went through, something that you think about or something that you dislike. Poetry, then, I feel, is more and more intimate than other genres because it is concen- trated, it is an essence. What one might say in a two-hundred page novel, can be said in a couple of verses. So most of these poems… yes, they are very personal. I remember when I wrote them and why I wrote them. I re- member what they used to be and what they transformed into later on. But then again, there are some poems whose or- igins I've forgotten. It was also the time for this publication to come out; now I can move on to write other works. What do you make of the Maltese lit- erary scene? What would you change about it? We need literary editors. We need more bookshops. We need better li- braries. We need good reviewers and reviews. We need more literary maga- zines. We need spoken word poets. We need more works that deal with con- temporary politics. We need more 2-in- 1 coffee and bookshops. We need more books everywhere. We need people to read. We need diversity and representa- tion. We need more translation to Mal- tese and from Maltese. We need poetry to be desired and not frowned upon. So yes, I would change a lot of things. Nonetheless, we have come a long way. The open mics have taken over the islands, Inizjamed's Malta Mediter- ranean Literature Festival remains an annual event audiences return to again and again, the work HELA (Hub for Ex- cellence in the Literary Arts) is doing is priceless and a publishing house like Merlin Publishers keeps on publishing books that are a things of beauty. A lot of youths are trying their hand at writing and succeeding at it too. A number of book clubs seem to be thriv- ing too. And here I am taking the risk of mentioning just a few good initiatives and circumstances over these past few years. But still, there are a lot of things left to be desired. I always think of Iceland. And make a wish (or loads of them) upon a star. What's next for you? Currently I am preparing for the next scholastic year, as I teach 6th form stu- dents. Having said this, I am finalising a study guide for post-secondary students about the short stories of Trevor Żahra. In the coming months, four new poems of mine will be published in an anthol- ogy entitled Tgħanniq Ieħor: Poeżiji mill-Iżolament. I am also writing an- other set of poems which will be part of an interdisciplinary project. My second novel is always on mind too, together with other stories for kids and transla- tions which are in the pipeline. Never a dull moment! l-inventarju tal-kamra l-kaħla is pub- lished by Merlin Publishers "There is a lot of value in space, in nothingness (which can also be something), in white blanks and gaps" Leanne Ellul Photo by Giola Cassar