Having studied Arghezi at school, as any Romanian kid, I’ve been more illuminated by this article than 12 years of school. I did not know half of the details you presented here and therefore I thank you. I must now go and dig into everything I learned as a student and see it with my adult eyes, check what I’ve missed out on 👹 great job man!
Thank you very much for the encouraging words, Luciana! To be honest, I must acknowledge the influence of Victor Lişman, my literature professor. His textbooks taught us how to read a poem, not about it. I also credit my love for Baudelaire
Before Stefan introduced me to him I had no idea who Arghezi even was. It showed me what a narrow scope of poetry I was taught and gave me a new favorite. Such an eye opening article.
"Kerr Martin’s nether brother from an ancient, mioritic mother". I pictured Arghezi's mom as a shaggy shepherd dog (perhaps he'd challenge me to combat for that, lol). Also, scratching a poem with only his nails is badass, like some bestial, draconic act in rebellion to his draconian conditions.
Now, Ellis, we Romanians have a longstanding tradition of prison poetry, but what makes Flowers of Mildew stand out is the fact that the lyrical persona rejects the prison community (who would have memorized his poems) preferring to scratch the poems on prison walls
Like most of Romanian greats. One of the aims of the Nether Strand is to shed some light on authors that are lesser known on the international stage. And inspire others to do the same.
Glad you found it interesting! And thank you for reading!
Strange to see myself mirrored in Arghezi like this but extremely humbling. Romanian street fighter of the page, now me, scrapping in the algorithmic gutters of Substack. Writing to be clean or consistent is repelling to me. Art as a reflection of our lives and our sins couldn't be further from clean or consistent. Silence is indeed worse than critics, because poetry lives in bruises, hunger, fatigue. Tudor pulled God into mildew and rot. I drag Him into bedrooms, diners, and one-road towns. Same wrestling, new ring. Thank you for shining this spotlight on us both, I have a new admired poet in Arghezi, and hopefully the Substack faithful have one in me. Great work as always.🙏
Having studied Arghezi at school, as any Romanian kid, I’ve been more illuminated by this article than 12 years of school. I did not know half of the details you presented here and therefore I thank you. I must now go and dig into everything I learned as a student and see it with my adult eyes, check what I’ve missed out on 👹 great job man!
Thank you very much for the encouraging words, Luciana! To be honest, I must acknowledge the influence of Victor Lişman, my literature professor. His textbooks taught us how to read a poem, not about it. I also credit my love for Baudelaire
Before Stefan introduced me to him I had no idea who Arghezi even was. It showed me what a narrow scope of poetry I was taught and gave me a new favorite. Such an eye opening article.
Well, Kerr, if it inspires an artist of your caliber, then I shall make point of regularly translating an Arghezi poem.
This is going with my 10pm coffee and fucked sleep later, looking forward to this!
10 pm coffee coffee-drinkers are my target audience.
"Kerr Martin’s nether brother from an ancient, mioritic mother". I pictured Arghezi's mom as a shaggy shepherd dog (perhaps he'd challenge me to combat for that, lol). Also, scratching a poem with only his nails is badass, like some bestial, draconic act in rebellion to his draconian conditions.
Now, Ellis, we Romanians have a longstanding tradition of prison poetry, but what makes Flowers of Mildew stand out is the fact that the lyrical persona rejects the prison community (who would have memorized his poems) preferring to scratch the poems on prison walls
Interesting. I never heard of him. He seems to be completely unknown outside Romania.
Like most of Romanian greats. One of the aims of the Nether Strand is to shed some light on authors that are lesser known on the international stage. And inspire others to do the same.
Glad you found it interesting! And thank you for reading!
Strange to see myself mirrored in Arghezi like this but extremely humbling. Romanian street fighter of the page, now me, scrapping in the algorithmic gutters of Substack. Writing to be clean or consistent is repelling to me. Art as a reflection of our lives and our sins couldn't be further from clean or consistent. Silence is indeed worse than critics, because poetry lives in bruises, hunger, fatigue. Tudor pulled God into mildew and rot. I drag Him into bedrooms, diners, and one-road towns. Same wrestling, new ring. Thank you for shining this spotlight on us both, I have a new admired poet in Arghezi, and hopefully the Substack faithful have one in me. Great work as always.🙏