Mappa tal-MediterranA Maltese poem in 16 stanzas, describing the shapes of the Mediterranean Sea, its coastlines and some of its major and minor islands, in relation to the early and modern histories – and migrations – of the Mediterranean peoples.
The booklet, designed by graphic artists Marco Scerri (cover and typography) and Rafael Rivera (inside maps), was published in September 2013 with the support of the Għaqda tal-Malti. English and Italian versions coming soon.
The ‘south-up’ orientation of the Mediterranean Sea shown on the cover reveals the shape of a boat – perhaps a bronze-age Minoan sailboat, the first to harness the winds toward new trades with Egypt and Canaan, or perhaps a more modern, ramshackle fishing vessel, with a squeezed cabin, departing from Tangiers, Tunis or Tripoli toward new challenges – and new dangers – further north. Much of the poem is a lyrical development of ideas I first expressed in my introduction to Marco Scerri’s photographic series Distant Land, portraying the everyday life of sub-Saharan migrants living at the Peace Laboratory in Ħal Far, south-east Malta.
Essay Malta’s Jonah Complex
and selected poems published in Transcript Review,
in English,
French (trad. Jean-Christophe Cung),
and German (trad. Francis Kirps & Michael Apweiler)
Maltese poems Bejn (Between), Ċomb (Lead) and L-Ajkla (The Eagle) on lyrikline.org
(with studio recordings)
Nannu, Nanna (eleġija doppja)
Ktejjeb imniedi fl-ewwel anniversarju ta’ tluq in-nanna, it-3 ta’ Frar 2011
Selection of poems translated into English on mediterranean.nu
December 2013
Out of place – or to return without returning
Article on ‘internal’, emotional migration, and the impossibility of return. Plus a review of what was possibly the smallest yet homeliest poetry festival I’ve been to, in the village of Carosino, Taranto, only slightly larger than Qrendi. Published on the guest blog of the Sunday Circle (Malta).
Novembru 2013
Leħen il-Malti – Għadd 32
Jinkludi l-poeżija Rifuġju.
October 2013
Solidarity Park
Publication of the poem Map of Turkey, in Maltese and English, in admiration of the çapullers in Gezi Park and beyond.
September 2013
Dreamers Adrift
Publication of the English poem No one is illegal.
Lulju 2013
Il-Malti – Ħarġa Letterarja LXXXIV
Jinkludi l-poeżija Il-Ħajbu.
May 2013
Fl-Għaqda u s-Sliem – In Unity and Peace
A collection of Maltese poems, with English translations, published by the Embassy of Malta in Washington DC, USA. Includes my poem Erba’ Blatiet / Four Rocks, a cartographic poem on the shapes of the Maltese islands.
mayo 2013
La Rabia del Axolotl (Reportaje del festival de poesía de Granada, Nicaragua)
Publicación de mi poema Bajo tierra, co-traducido con Jhavier Romero.
April 2013
Poems for Freedom
An anthology to help raise funds for the restoration of the Freedom Bookshop, Whitechapel, London, after the firebomb attack of 1st February
Includes an extract from Passport.
March 2013
En Malta: Ernesto Cardenal in Malta
Article published in MaltaToday, 17.3.13.
November 2012
Estuary – a confluence of art and poetry
Moon & Mountain press
ed. Harriette Lawler & Agnes Marton
Includes the mosaic Gonbidapena, accompanied by a sculpture by editor Harriette Lawler.
September 2012
Introduction to Distant Land, artistic newspaper by Marco Scerri
On the shape of the Mediterranean sea, the Ħal Far area, & Marco Scerri’s black and white photographs of the Peace Lab.
abril 2012
Revista Abril, Luxemburgo
Contiene el poema Madrid Madrid.
October 2011
Translation & Multilingual Literature, ed. K. Alfons Knauth
Includes my essay Le son juste: Translatory problematics in the contemporarty scene of European polyglot poetry, on the multilingual poetics of Lambert Schlechter, Peter Wessel, Adrian Grima and Elia Maqueda. Originally presented at the ICLA conference in Seoul, S. Korea, August 2010.
September 2011
Babelia en galego
Poems translated into Galician by Yolanda Castaño.
August 2011
Struga Poetry Evenings anthology
Poems translated into Macedonian by Bela Gligorova.
July 2011
Beagle 12, Japan
Several poems translated into Japanese by Yasuhiro Yotsumoto.
February 2011
How I write
Article published in The Malta Independent on Sunday, 13.2.2011.
octobre 2010
Ce qu’île dit
Bacchanales No 46
Revue de la Maison de la poésie Rhône-Alpes
Contient le poème Quatre rochers, traduit avec Carlos Laforêt.
juillet 2010
Voix de la Méditerranée – Anthologie 2010
Contient un extrait de Passeport, adapté du maltais par Elizabeth Grech.
January 2010
My perfect woman, short prose piece written for M magazine, Malta.
November 2009
Gréng getëppelt, blo gesträift
An anthology of nature and eco-poetry in Luxembourgish, French, German and English, published in Luxembourg by Éditions Guy Binsfeld.
Featuring the English translations of my Maltese poems L-għodwa fl-univers (Morning in the universe), Żrieragħ (Seeds) and the first two pages of the long poem Mappamundi.
Settembru 2009
il-malti, ħarġa LXXX 2008
Ġiet ippubblikata saflaħħar il-ħarġa letterarja 2008 tar-rivista tal-Akkademja tal-Malti. Tinkludi l-poeżija tiegħi Jum ir-Riflessjoni (sfortunatament bl-istrofi maqsumin ħażin), kif ukoll traduzzjoni Maltija tal-poeżija Mediterran, ta’ Valerio Cruciani.
June 2009
Onzè festival de poesia de la mediterrània
Antología de poemas de los quince autores que participaron en el 11º festival de poesía del mediterráneo en Palma de Mallorca, 3-4 de junio 2009.
Incluye cuatro mosaicos y tres poemas en maltés, con traducción catalana de Antoni Picornell.
May 2009
Kieku l-ikel jitkellem
A book of poetry, prose and essays on food and food sovereignty, written by 36 authors from Malta and Italy, as part of a project by Koperattiva Kummerċ Ġust.
Featuring my two Maltese poems Żrieragħ (Seeds), on the flagrant and blatant abuses carried out by genetic engineering companies such as Monsanto, and Menù tal-Jum (Menu of the Day), a map of the world in food. Published by Inizjamed.
Aprile 2009
Una poesia per l’Abruzzo
Antologia poetica in solidarietà col popolo dell’Abruzzo dopo il terremoto del 6 aprile 2009. Edita da Rocca Fodale e Veronica Giuseppina Billone, pubblicata dalla casa editrice NarrativaePoesia.
Contiene la traduzione italiana della mia poesia L’Aquila, città in cui ho vissuto nell’inverno del 1999/2000 (guarda il video qua sotto).
Clicca qui per leggere un articolo sulla mia esperienza a L’Aquila sul giornale maltese Illum, con la versione originale della poesia L-Ajkla.
March 2009
Id-Demm Nieżel Bħax-Xita
A book of poetry and prose by fifteen Maltese and Palestinian authors, in solidarity with the people of Gaza.
Featuring my two Maltese poems Ċomb (see video below) and 31.12.2008, 23:00, Razice/Gaża. Published by Edizzjoni Skarta.
English translation published on Babelmed.
February 2009
Il-Qari tal-Letteratura: Bejn Esperjenza u Kritika
My Maltese poem U niġi nfittxek features in a new text book on literary criticism for sixth-form and university students.
Edited by Terence Portelli, with contributions by Mario Cassar, Immanuel Mifsud, Dr. Marco Galea and Dr. Adrian Grima. Published by Allied Publications.
January 2009
Mużajk, an exploration in multilingual verse (selected poems)
A selection of fifteen mosaics together with a detailed introduction and translations in English.
Published by Edizzjoni Skarta on the occasion of two poetry readings in Sannicandro di Bari (as part of an artistic project directed by Italo-Lebanese duo Radiodervish) and in Lecce, Italy. The cover illustration, Gonbidapena, is by international calligrapher Massimo Polello.
September 2008
The Other Voices International Project, vol. 36
Six mosaics published together with an explanatory introduction, translations and recordings.
Other Voices is an Unesco-listed cyber-anthology of poetry created and maintained by poet and translator Roger Humes. Other writers featured on the site include Alev Adil, Bernardo Atxaga, Clare Azzopardi, Charles Bernstein, Billy Collins, Mahmoud Darwish, Adrian Grima, Robert Minhinnick, Fatima Naoot, Fiona Sampson, Todd Swift and George Szirtes.
10 February 2008
Popular blog Language Hat features the mosaic C’est la vie.
January 2008
The Chimaera, Issue II – Found in Translation
A feature on poetic translation into English from various languages, among them classical Greek and Latin, Chinese, French, German, Irish, Italian, Old English, Spanish, Swedish, and Urdu. The issue also includes original work by over 20 poets. The Chimaera is an online miscellany of poetry and prose edited in Australia by Paul Stevens and Peter Bloxsom.
The feature includes three mosaics together with recordings and translations in English, followed by a prose introduction of the mosaic concept.
December 2007
The Drunken Boat Fall/Winter 2007 – A feature of contemporary poetry from Malta
A survey of the work of thirteen Maltese poets translated and edited by Maria Grech Ganado, together with essays by Adrian Grima and Bernard Micallef. The Drunken Boat is an online literary magazine owned and operated by US poet and translator Rebecca Seiferle, a winner of the Pushcart prize.
The feature includes four mosaics together with recordings and translations in English.
24 August 2007
Mosaics: A symphony of multilingual poetry
Feature on the mosaics published in The Daily Star, Kuwait (distributed with the International Herald Tribune). With thanks to journalist Marija Grech.
Click here to see the pdf, or here to read the article online.
July 2007
First seventeen mosaics appear in self-published Maltese anthology Ħbula Stirati, together with the poetry of Mario Vella, Alex Vella Gera, Kevin Saliba and Ċali Grima.
Photos of the book launch at the Tal-Milorda gardens in Floriana can be seen here.
At the launch, Maria Grech Ganado gave a warm rendition of the mosaic C’est la vie, and I performed Azul, as well as my Maltese poem U niġi nfittxek.
May 2007
C’est la vie and Ciao amore ciao published in Italian literary journal Nuovi Argomenti (Mondadori) together with Italian translations by Damiano Abeni.
The same issue features work of Walter Siti, Moira Egan, Derek Walcott, James Wright and Seamus Heaney, among others.
antoine cassar 