Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/576901
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 27 SEPTEMBER 2015 11 "LOOK… poetry is a public act. And in this sense, it is inevitably a political act. Political in the sense that it is saying something, in pub- lic, to people, and it's stating things – or at least, suggesting them," Adrian Grima tells me when I in- evitably make reference to poetry's ongoing cultural marginalization as an art form. "So inevitably, even a poem about… say, a mother talking to her child, is in a wide sense, a po- litical statement." The lecturer and co-organiser of the annual Mediterranean Lit- erature Festival – also one of the founders of local literary organi- sation Inizjamed – also urges me to remember that language is po- litical in all its forms, since it gives way to communication. "Even the decision to not express an ideological standpoint is in it- self ideological," Grima insists. It's a sober and worthwhile reminder, especially coming from someone equally interested in social justice and politics as he is in the formal make-up of poetry and literature. It's also a philosophy he appears to sustain wholeheartedly in rela- tion to his upcoming poetry collec- tion, Klin u Kapricci Ohra ('Rose- mary and Other Indulgences'). Not all of the poems are explicitly political – some even appear to be an affront to that approach. Apart from the political angle, Grima also contests the idea that poetry should always be about "ex- istential themes like death, love, joy, nature and so on." The clue is in the rosemary: the 'klin' of the title indicating Grima's insistence to write about the simple pleasure of enjoying the food that you love. "I just wanted to write about the food that I love – like basal tal- pikles [pickled onions] and home- made free range jam… one of the 'title' poems is Roazemarynblêd – a Frisian word for rosemary – and it's about the pleasure of eat- ing patata l-forn [roast potatoes] which are given 'added value', as it were, with rosemary," Grima says with a smile. Still, he hastens to add that "not all the poems are about food" and that he's not averse to delving into 'existential' themes either. Love is certainly not outside his remit, and in fact the collection's curious title was originally meant to reflect this in a more direct way. But an intervention by celebrated British novelist Jim Crace – who offered workshop sessions to Maltese writers while he serves as Writer in Residence at the University in Malta last year – convinced him otherwise. "The original title was originally going to be L-Imhabba u Kapricci Ohra ('Love and Other Indulgenc- es') but Jim Crace convinced me otherwise, saying that 'Love' is an absolute no-no for a title…" Still, love remains central to the collection, though Grima is ap- proaching the enduring subject from a somewhat unique angle. "More than anything, I wanted to explore the idea of love as some- thing which grows over time. We have this notion that love is meant to be something instant and that gives rise to strong emotions… the sort of 'Notting Hill' cliché we're still stuck with in many ways, un- fortunately. So this is a bit of an at- tempt to go against the dominant narrative on my part, and it comes out most strongly in the other 'title poem', L-Imhabba Kapricc." Neither is that other end of the existential spectrum – death – left unexplored. "But more than death, in the poem 70 Sena Tbengil ('70 Years of Bruises'), I wanted the po- em to be about pain." "The poem is about my fa- ther," Grima explains, "who died in 2010 after having lived through years of pain. I wanted to see how far the Maltese language can go to explore the complex set of experi- ences my father endured, like the humiliation… the involuntary na- kedness that being in pain all the time and having to be taken care of by others exposes you to…" Given that he doesn't shy away from the sheer flexibility of the po- etic idiom, I wonder how he views the current crop of up-and-com- ing Maltese-language poets. "I think there's a lot of interest- ing stuff happening, both in poetry and prose, at the moment. When I look at the new generation of Mal- tese poets – basically, those who have started writing in the 90s – I don't hear myself: I hear their voice. And that's great." However, Grima still believes a lot more can be done to promote Maltese poetry among the general public… but that this is easier said than done. "We all need to learn how to in- teract with a wider audience. At the same time, however, we need to be careful how we go about do- ing this, since we can easily get it wrong…" Grima cites the example of Nica- ragua – one of the many foreign countries in which he'd been invit- ed to read his poetry – as the place which gave him a sense of hope for the future of poetry. Even though we appear to have internalised a defeatist attitude towards poetry's place in the world – in which we sort-of accept that it's a dying art form that will command a niche audience at best – this is not so in Latin America, for example. "In Nicaragua, public poetry readings literally attract people from all walks of life – you really get a sense that poetry is simply part of day-to-day existence. But it would be a mistake to simply try to transpose that approach to Malta… in fact, it would almost be patronising to expect peo- ple would respond to that here." However, Grima be- lieves that writers need to keep searching for ways to connect with their audience – even thinking outside the box if necessary. "Because writ- ing is not actually a solitary ac- tivity. It's not something you do in a bubble. In fact, I believe that the development of writers is inti- mately tied to the development of their readers. And this isn't some patronising thing about how writ- ers should 'teach' their readers… it just means that writers really need to get out there: by reading in pub- lic, by engaging with their read- ers… by reading what their readers are reading!" Which brings us back to the 'po- litical' engagement of poetry, and crucially, of another regular activ- ity Grima is directly involved in: the annual Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival, which invites both local and international writ- ers to read on stage, and which has always had a strong commitment to addressing topical issues occur- ring around the ever-contentious Mediterranean. As we all know, this year has been particularly harrowing in this re- gard. What kind of role can poetry play, in responding to the harrow- ing human tragedies we continue to hear about these days? Grima responds by saying that above of all, poetry can stand as a resistance against the "banalisa- tion of discourse". "I think that poetry – literature in general – and a festival like ours are a very serious antidote to this very real problem: an over-reli- ance on sound-bites, tweets, over- simplifications. The thing is that most people actually know these to be gross misrepresentations of reality… but we're still drowning in them. And good literature can use language to say so much, and to say it beautifully. This is some- thing we need to encourage. Be- cause once you narrow your per- ception, once you over-simplify, it becomes so easy to condemn. It becomes so easy to just 'strike off' entire religions, communities, people…" Klin u Kapricci Ohra will be launched at St James Cavalier on 30 September at 7:30pm News COURT NOTICE The Registrar, Civil Courts and Tribunals notifies that the First Hall of the Civil Court ordered the sale by Judicial Auction of the following property to be held in the corridors of the Courts of Justice, Republic Street, Valletta . Date and Time Judicial Sale No Property 1st October, 2015 77/13 - 10.30am PP Apartment internally marked number three (3), on the second floor/third storey above road level including its overlying air space forming part of Block of Apartments named 'Anvil Apartments', numbered four (4), in Triq il- Minfa!, Naxxar, free and unencumbered together with its share of the common parts of the external staircase leading to the block, the door, the entrance, the entrance hall, the stairs and the stair well from basement level up to the roof, lift and lift shaft and water and drainage system which property is valued one hundred and ninety thousand Euros ("190,000). Six Garages in the basement under the block of apartments named 'Anvil Apartments', numbered four (4), in Triq il- Minfa!, Naxxar internally marked; Garage number two (2) of approx 73.47 meters squared valued forty five thousand Euros (" 45,000). Garage number three (3) of approx 13.71 meters squared valued twenty three thousand Euros (" 23,000). Garage number four (4) of approx 13.80 meters squared valued twenty three thousand Euros (" 23,000). Garage number five (5), of approx 11.78 meters squared valued twenty thousand Euros (" 20,000). Garage number six (6) of approx 15.74 meters squared valued twenty five thousand Euros (" 25,000). Included in this sale is the undivided share of 1/7 for each garage being sold of the ramp common to all garages together with the undivided share of the car lift, its shaft and of the access to the car lift from the said ramp, of the front garden leading to the door of the basement garages, and the undivided share of the stairs leading to the basement garages. The access to the carlift is from a ramp common with others from the front garden infront of the basement garages' door. With every garage underlaying the Block of Apartments known as, 4, 'Anvil Apartments' in Triq il- Minfah, Naxxar is included an undivided share of one from seven (1/7) of the common parts in the basement that provide access from the carlift to every garage. 1st October, 2015 24/14 - 11.00am JGL The portion of land in an unnamed road which abuts onto Triq San Blas in Nadur, Gozo having an area of five hundred and ninety metres squared (590) bounded on the east by the said Triq San Blas and on the north by property of Mario and Edwin brothers Muscat or their successors in title, free and unencumbered with all its right and appurtenances three hundred and fifty thousand Euro ("350,000). The portion of land forming part of the lands name 'Ta' Wied Bin#emma' in the limits of Nadur Gozo having an area of ten thousand and six hundred metres squared (10,600) bounded on the west east by a unnamed road, on the south and on the north west by property of Mario and Edwin brothers Muscat or their successors in title, or more accurate boundaries, free and unencumbered with all its right and appurtenances valued at one hundred and thirty five thousand Euro ("135,000). The portion of land forming part of the lands name 'Ta' Wied Bin#emma' in the limits of Nadur Gozo having an area of seven thousand eight hundred and fifty metres squared (7,850) bounded on the east by property of Mario and Edwin brothers Muscat or their successors in title, on the south by a passageway and on the east by another passageway, or more accurate boundaries, free and unencumbered with all its right and appurtenances valued at sixty five thousand Euro ("65,000). 6th October, 2015 35/14 - 11.00am EGL The farm known as 'Tal-Busuf' that today bears the name 'Razzett $niena Divina', with no number, in Triq it-Torri ta' L-Ghallies, l-G!allies limits of Naxxar The house number fifty one (51), in Triq il-Kbira, $as- Sajjied, Birkirkara in a corner with Alley number one (1), Triq $as-Sajjied, free and unencumbered with all its right and appurtenances valued at ninety thousand Euro ("90,000). The house named 'Cadeau' and the garage in Triq Dun Amabile Sisner, Pembroke subject to annual and perpetual ground rent of two hundred and sixteen Euro and sixty nine cents ("216.69) valued at three hundred and forty five thousand six hundred and sixty six Euro ("345,666.00). 6th October, 2015 9/15 - 12.00pm JGL Garage unnamed and unumbered underlying a maisonette numbered twenty five (25) in Triq il- G!ajn,Swieqi and accesible from a ramp in the front garden subject to a annual and perpetual rent of twenty seven Euros and ninety five cents only ("27.95) free and unencumbered with all its rights and appurtanances bordering Southwest with the mentioned street and from Northwest with property of Joseph and Sandra Cassar or their successors in title of the company named Estates Developments Limited. In the garage there are drainage pipes of the overlayed propertiesThe garage amounts to twenty nine point five metres squared (29.5m 2 ) and is situated in a development zone known as tas-Sieqi.The property is valued at twenty thousand Euros ("20,000) 8th October, 2015 41/13 - 11.00am PP Elevated Ground floor Maisonette without airspace, named 'Rose House' and underlaying garage in Triq Mimosa, in Gwardamangia, Hamrun, The property is free and unencumbered valued at one hundred and ten thousand Euros ("110,000). 8th October, 2015 47/14 - 11.30am PP Apartament officially numbered two (2) on the first floor in a block of apartments numbered thirty five (35) named 'Falcon Forge', subject to an annual ground rent of thirty Euros and fifty four cents only ("30.54) accesible from Triq It- Torri), Msida. The tenement includes an undivided share of the common parts that provide access to the appartments that is the door, entrance, stairs and lift. The property includes the right to hold a water tank on the roof of the same block valued at Two Hundred and twenty thousand Euros (" 220,000). 13th October, 2015 33/14 - 12.00pm EM The tenement official numbered eighty four (84) known as numbered sixty three (63), in Triq Santa Marija, Gudja, including the relative airspace of the said property, subject to the active and passive servitudes resulting from its relative position the rest is free and unencumbered with all its rights and appurtenances, also subject to annual ground rent of one Maltese Lira (Lm1.00) equivalent to two euro and thirty three Euro cents ("2.33) valued at eighty five thousand euro ("85,000). Further details can be obtained from the website: http://www.justiceservices.gov.mt/courtservices/JudicialSales/search.aspx The bidders taking part in the auction must present their identity card. Rudolph Marmara' For the Registrar of Civil Courts and Tribunals staircase leading to the block, the door, the entrance, the entrance hall, the stairs and the stair well from basement level up to the roof, lift and lift shaft and water and drainage system which property is valued one hundred and ninety thousand Euros ("190,000). Six Garages in the basement under the block of apartments named 'Anvil Apartments', numbered four (4), in Triq il- Minfa!, Naxxar internally marked; Garage number two (2) of approx 73.47 meters squared valued forty five thousand Euros (" 45,000). Garage number three (3) of approx 13.71 meters squared valued twenty three thousand Euros (" 23,000). Garage number four (4) of approx 13.80 meters squared valued twenty three thousand Euros (" 23,000). Garage number five (5), of approx 11.78 meters squared valued twenty thousand Euros (" 20,000). Garage number six (6) of approx 15.74 meters squared valued twenty five thousand Euros (" 25,000). Included in this sale is the undivided share of 1/7 for each garage being sold of the ramp common to all garages together with the undivided share of the car lift, its shaft and of the access to the car lift from the said ramp, of the front garden leading to the door of the basement garages, and the undivided share of the stairs leading to the basement garages. The access to the carlift is from a ramp common with others from the front garden infront of the basement garages' door. With every garage underlaying the Block of Apartments known as, 4, 'Anvil Apartments' in Triq il- Minfah, Naxxar is included an undivided share of one from seven (1/7) of the common parts in the basement that provide access from the carlift to every garage. 1st October, 2015 24/14 - 11.00am JGL The portion of land in an unnamed road which abuts onto Triq San Blas in Nadur, Gozo having an area of five hundred and ninety metres squared (590) bounded on the east by the said Triq San Blas and on the north by property of Mario and Edwin brothers Muscat or their successors in title, free and unencumbered with all its right and appurtenances three hundred and fifty thousand Euro ("350,000). The portion of land forming part of the lands name 'Ta' Wied Bin#emma' in the limits of Nadur Gozo having an area of ten thousand and six hundred metres squared (10,600) bounded on the west east by a unnamed road, on the south and on the north west by property of Mario and Edwin brothers Muscat or their successors in title, or more accurate boundaries, free and unencumbered with all its right and appurtenances valued at one hundred and thirty five thousand Euro ("135,000). The portion of land forming part of the lands name 'Ta' Wied Bin#emma' in the limits of Nadur Gozo having an area of seven thousand eight hundred and fifty metres squared (7,850) bounded on the east by property of Mario and Edwin brothers Muscat or their successors in title, on the south by a passageway and on the east by another passageway, or more accurate boundaries, free and unencumbered with all its right and appurtenances valued at sixty five thousand Euro ("65,000). 6th October, 2015 35/14 - 11.00am EGL The farm known as 'Tal-Busuf' that today bears the name 'Razzett $niena Divina', with no number, in Triq it-Torri ta' L-Ghallies, l-G!allies limits of Naxxar together with the land annexed of approximately of two thousand four hundred and ninety three point seventy five square metres (2,493.75mk), free and unencumbered with all its rights and appurtenances valued at five hundred and fifty thousand Euro ("550,000). The house number fifty one (51), in Triq il-Kbira, $as- Sajjied, Birkirkara in a corner with Alley number one (1), Triq $as-Sajjied, free and unencumbered with all its right and appurtenances valued at ninety thousand Euro ("90,000). The house named 'Cadeau' and the garage in Triq Dun Amabile Sisner, Pembroke subject to annual and perpetual ground rent of two hundred and sixteen Euro and sixty nine cents ("216.69) valued at three hundred and forty five thousand six hundred and sixty six Euro ("345,666.00). 6th October, 2015 9/15 - 12.00pm JGL Garage unnamed and unumbered underlying a maisonette numbered twenty five (25) in Triq il- G!ajn,Swieqi and accesible from a ramp in the front garden subject to a annual and perpetual rent of twenty seven Euros and ninety five cents only ("27.95) free and unencumbered with all its rights and appurtanances bordering Southwest with the mentioned street and from Northwest with property of Joseph and Sandra Cassar or their successors in title of the company named Estates Developments Limited. In the garage there are drainage pipes of the overlayed propertiesThe garage amounts to twenty nine point five metres squared (29.5m 2 ) and is situated in a development zone known as tas-Sieqi.The property is valued at twenty thousand Euros ("20,000) 8th October, 2015 41/13 - 11.00am PP Elevated Ground floor Maisonette without airspace, named 'Rose House' and underlaying garage in Triq Mimosa, in Gwardamangia, Hamrun, The property is free and unencumbered valued at one hundred and ten thousand Euros ("110,000). 8th October, 2015 47/14 - 11.30am PP Apartament officially numbered two (2) on the first floor in a block of apartments numbered thirty five (35) named 'Falcon Forge', subject to an annual ground rent of thirty Euros and fifty four cents only ("30.54) accesible from Triq It- Torri), Msida. The tenement includes an undivided share of the common parts that provide access to the appartments that is the door, entrance, stairs and lift. The property includes the right to hold a water tank on the roof of the same block valued at Two Hundred and twenty thousand Euros (" 220,000). 13th October, 2015 33/14 - 12.00pm EM The tenement official numbered eighty four (84) known as numbered sixty three (63), in Triq Santa Marija, Gudja, including the relative airspace of the said property, subject to the active and passive servitudes resulting from its relative position the rest is free and unencumbered with all its rights and appurtenances, also subject to annual ground rent of one Maltese Lira (Lm1.00) equivalent to two euro and thirty three Euro cents ("2.33) valued at eighty five thousand euro ("85,000). Further details can be obtained from the website: http://www.justiceservices.gov.mt/courtservices/JudicialSales/search.aspx The bidders taking part in the auction must present their identity card. Rudolph Marmara' For the Registrar of Civil Courts and Tribunals What we do with language Adrian Grima: "Poetry is a public, and therefore a political, act" Far from being a marginal art form, poetry could give way to a healthier discourse on the migration crisis. TEODOR RELJIC speaks to poet Adrian Grima about the essentially 'political' nature of poetry