"A good poem is also perfect in its imperfection. It's beautiful because it's true, and it hits the target straight as an arrow," says Cluj-Napoca poet László Noémi.
The poem lights up the world and sets it in order, warms or cools, intoxicates or comforts. The poem is a redeeming gap on the wall of everyday life - said László Noémi József József László, the Attila Prize-winning poet from Cluj, who has so far published eleven books of poems and a book listing fairy tales, when asked by the Krónika on the occasion of Hungarian Poetry Day.
Poetry Day has been celebrated since 1964 on April 11, the birthday of Attila József in Hungarian-speaking countries. On this day, various cultural institutions and schools organize events focused on poetry throughout Transylvania.
They pay tribute to the poem with marathon or shorter readings, invited poets, and round table discussions.
László Noémi József, the Attila Prize-winning poet from Cluj, testifies about why it is good for the world that poetry exists at all. He answered the question by saying: poetry is an alternative that many of us rarely use because we "have work to do".
"But when something hurts, something is too much or too little, something hurts, something hangs you, something knocks you down or something lifts you up, we stop and let the poem enter. And it sets the world on fire and sets it in order, warms or cools, intoxicates or comforts. The poem is a redemptive gap in the wall of everyday life," said the poet.
He was also asked what, in his opinion, are the criteria for good and bad poetry, i.e. what makes a poem good or bad.
“A bad poem is false. His words do not hide the lack of competence, devotion, inspiration, and initiation. A good poem is also perfect in its imperfection. It's nice because it's true, and it hits the target straight as an arrow," said Noémi László.
"I like many kinds of poems, which cannot be compared. I have Hungarian, Romanian, English, French, German poems in the original and many other Hungarian translations. Singing poems and clicking poems, melodious and howling poems, joyous poems and shameful poems resonate in me, and I love them all in a different way. I don't have a favorite poem. I have lovely poems, many," said the Cluj-Napoca poet.
Noémi László, poet and translator, was born in 1973 in Cluj. He graduated from the Hungarian-English major at Babeș-Bolyai University and works as an interpreter and translator. Eleven volumes of his poems have been published, in addition to those published in anthologies, and in numerous Hungarian magazines in Transylvania and beyond the border. From the fall of 2020, he is the editor-in-chief of Napsugár and Szivární published in Cluj.
Cover photo: László Noémi
Source: Krónika.ro/László Beliczay
