The Poetry Project Christmas reading is now an established tradition – we wouldn’t dream of missing it. This time, we invited our poets to send us texts on winter and the year’s end. Participants from all our language groups took up this invitation. Over cookies, mulled wine, and fruit punch, we reflected on 2023 with poems from Atto Abdulsalam, Leyla Akyildiz, Rahmetullah Berxwedan Andan, Mohamad Zahra, Mykhailo Krasilnikov and Tayebah Joya. Our wonderful intern Elisabeth Renger presented the German translations with gentleness and sensitivity.
There was also a lot of crafting - paper snowflakes for The Poetry Project’s office, and bracelets, necklaces, and earrings for personal use (or maybe last-minute Christmas presents). As in previous years, there was also a raffle. Prizes included poetry anthologies and chocolate Santas.
As cozy and exuberant as the get-together was, the poems recited were also thought-provoking. They reflected sadness and frustration in view of 2023’s wars and crises worldwide, as well as the pain of loneliness and personal loss. Mykhailo's poem The Year is Over reads: "I won't miss this year. / I will only miss the people / That this year has robbed. / Who it has dragged away like prisoners, / Torn away into the darkness of a soulless chest."
A special thanks to our poets for sharing their work; we hope that 2024 will bring them many wonderful things.
Image: © Aline Deprez
Image: © Aline Deprez
