Selected poems from the book ‘With No Sweat At All’, authored by Alisa Velaj, an eminent poet and scholar from Albania

Alisa Velaj was born in southern port town of Vlora, Albania, in 1982. She holds a Ph.D. in Albanian Language and Literature, which she has been teaching as subjects at university level, while writing poetry, prose, essays, articles, and research studies. Velaj was shortlisted for the annual international Erbacce-Press Poetry Award in UK in June 2014. Her work has been published in over 100 international online forums, printed magazines and anthologies across many countries (USA, UK, Sweden, Australia, Israel, and India). Alisa earned an Artist-in-Residence Scholarship in February 2019 and attended the AIR Litteratur Västra Götaland Program in Villa Martinson, Jonsered, Sweden. In 2020, she won The National Prize in Poetry, awarded by the Albanian Ministry of Culture.

OBLIVION AT DUSK

I fear the oblivion of a stone

At the dusk of a nameless city

My grandmother had told me that the stone

Has breathed sadness since immemorial times

For it carries the city in its bone…

***

THE SQUARE

Taking shape after shape,

Matter translates into different selves

At the speed of light.

Paralysis shines in human eyes.

***

A MIRAGE

Shadow ravens

Preach by the river

Of the white lilies

***

A RING

A ring with a black ribbon

Running through it

Flies in the air

As if it were a flag at half mast

No cherub

Is raising toasts at the wedding party…

(Translation from Albanian by Ukë Zenel Buçpapaj)

***

PSYCHE

That these oak trees possess a soul like mine

(Even though temporary),

This is a more-than-obvious empirical statement.

​The snow sods besieging them like army legions,

The light that dusks down yet without dawning up,

Thor’s onslaughts raging in frosty storms,

Not only won’t subdue them in any way,

But they will invincibly stand up by the roadside,

Like light-reveling cherubs

​To the aggrieved passerby!

According to Aristotle,

Oak trees and ostriches

Possess a psyche or soul. 

(Translated by Arben P. Latifi)

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Poetry selection by: Angela Kosta, a renowned poetess and writer, born in Albania and based in Italy

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