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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 AUGUST 2023 5 BOOKS This article is supported by Arts Council Malta Book review Quantum of Solace In appreciation of John Butt- iġieġ's latest book of poetry, Jif- ridna Biss is-Skiet Grief instinctively makes me reach out for a book of poetry to help me stay my pain. The rythmical verses of a clevely crafted poem somehow reaches my very depths of feeling, and helps me breath again as I mull serenely in that space between melody and meaning which only poetry can offer. The loss of a loved one this week pro- pelled me to my book nook for some reprieve, and my eyes fell on Only Silence Separates Us , which is English for the title of the poetry book in Maltese Jifridna Biss is-Skiet by John Buttigieg. John Buttiġieġ strikes me as a searching poet, an ethical po- et with a romantic twist, and it is his respect for word and structure, as well as profound- ness of thought that draws me to his work. He writes at a depth, expressing his reflec- tive search for the meaning of life and the sense of the be- yond. Themes spring from his personal human journey as a man, a husband, a father, a son. Each of his words is thorough- ly weighed, pruned and pol- ished before it is placed where it can strike best, as the rythm of his verses sound a melody as unique as his song. And in this his latest anthology of poems he does not disappoint. Among my favourite of his poems are those that reso- nate Malta's romantic poet- ry of yore, woven by our very own stalwarts of romanticism Dun Karm Psaila, Rużar Brif- fa, Karmenu Vassallo, and on a lesser scale the likes of An- ton Buttiġieġ, Ġorġ Pisani and others. These are John's quat- rains made up of eight-syllable lines, or alternating lines of eight and seven-syllable verses with a constant stress pattern, the rhyming word falling at the end of the second and fourth line, re- sounding the Mal- tese ballads of our forefathers. Such are for example Noti Ħfief, Il-Qorriegħa, Mhux Illejla, Sinjal, Ħniena, and Mhux li kont. The poet's eleven-syllable lined verses equally echo the familiar rythm of the classic Mal- tese poem, increas- ing the effect by the sheer lengthening of the lines. Such are Biżżejjed Kliem li Jgħaddi, L-Afrika, Ħabbejtu ż-Żejjed dan ir-Raħal Ċke- jken, and Il-Barrani, culminating in the beautiful Tistaqsi- nix, where the poet moves away from the quatrain to cre- ate his own form and pattern, while capturing the excite- ment of the subject by replicating the tempo of a pulsating heart. In the Mal- tese literary context I find these poems classic. Their is a seri- ousnes, almost so- lemnity in the way John handles his deepest thoughts and emo- tions, uncovering between his verses values that command our equal attention: time-test- ed ethical standards such as humility, duty, respect, hon- our, charity, community, and love. Happily for us, it is in these intensely reflective po- ems that John wades away from the traditional structure and plunges freely into newer forms of poetry that give us no less pleasure. The minute you finish reading the poem, you want to read it again, trying to capture as much of its meaning as possible and more, much much more. In Kisknijiet, Siġill, Għadu Kmieni (both poems with a similar name), Tlabthom l-Ilma, Fl-Opposti, Dlam Ċap- pa, Żommli Jdejja and Dbabar Koħol among others, John ex- periments more modern forms of poetic expression, effortless- ly approaching the mystique of the contemporary poet Gioele Galea. These are well crafted poems richly laden with the poet's deepest thoughts, nur- tured through his own life ex- perience, spiritual reflexion, prayer and far-reaching vision, as his themes well up one af- ter the other from the depths of his thought and emotions anchored in his own personal life experiences: nature, family, friendship, intimacy, suffering, life, death, and more. I like John's traditional in- spired poems for the sweet echoes they resonate of early romantic poetry in Malta, re- suscitating that simplic- ity that then honed the human heart, and in the process staying the pres- ent with the stability of the past. In this respect, Il-Barrani, where John pays tribute to Rużar Briffa made me smile. But I also like his sec- ond genre of poetry for the freedom with which he strays from his tradi- tional metric forms and experiments with the new, as he responds to the call of his creative heart from where issue his principled reflections. As such he reminds me of a Poldark of sorts stand- ing in a steady wind at the edge of a cliff, his eyes riveted on the hori- zon trying to fathom the vision of the far beyond, his feet firmly rooted to the ground. Sublimising his personal experience through his verses, John's poetry takes the shape of an extension of life itself. With candid and hum- ble sincerity he outpours all that flows from with- in him giving us the best of his best, and in this regard Only Silence can Separate Us is a veritable tribute to his gentle but steady morphing into the mature Maltese poet that one day he will most certainly become. I had started my reading in search of that comfort I usual- ly find in reading good poetry, and Only Silence Separates Us pleasantly surprised me with its qualitative degree of poetic soothing qualities. Indeed my reading had rendered me more than I had expected. In more respects than one, it was a veri- table quantum of solace. By Rita C. Grima M.A. (Melit.), B.A. (Hons.)