Book Review: LIKE WATER/SAR O PAJ - a bilingual English/Romani anthology of poems by Romani women

[Roma Virtual Network]

LIKE WATER/SAR O PAJ - a bilingual English/Romani anthology of poems by Romani women.

Edited by Hedina Tahiroviae Sijercic, published 2009 by Kafla InterContinental, www.indianwriters.org

 

"So often we women are excluded from our Romani communities, and under our male leaders it is not easy to speak our minds, express our ideas and make art."  This feeling is what inspired Hedina Tahiroviae Sijercic to compile the first volume of poems by Romani women.  The title of the anthology is taken from a poem by Papusza, one of the most lyrical and emotive Romani writers. 

The eight poets come from different backgrounds and countries but most are now resident in Canada or Australia.  Their poems fall into four main categories,  autobiography, lament, anecdote, and praise for nature.

The collection begins with work from the well known Hedina Tahiroviae Sijercic. Originally from Sarajevo, in CV1 Hedina provides a  poetic history of her life, typical of the experiences of so many Roma. Other poems, sometimes tender, sometimes savage, show the difficulties of a people often  insulted, hungry, and without documents. As she cries out in CV2,  Naj amen papiri!  Kai bizo papiri?    We have no papers!  Where can we go without papers?

Sarah Barbieux, originally from Paris, writes of the pain of hiding her Gypsy identity as a child, and calls out to be taught the songs of her parents. Julia Lovell, born in Scotland, touches on sterilization and the extermination of the Gypsies under the Third Reich. Gina Csanyi-Robah, born in Toronto, gives a moving narrative about her dying Grandmother in Dza e Devalesa meri phuri Dai/Goodbye NagyMama.  Yvonne Slee, born in Germany, calls for other Roma women to stand here by my side and strive to keep the Roma culture alive. The poems of Canadian Thais Barbieux dance across the page with their mythical dragons, princesses and knights. Bavaria-born Rasa Lee Sutar writes of dignity in the face of persecution. Lynn Hutchinson, living in Toronto, offers five poems for her father. The amazing images of his good eye clenched/glass eye staring/ tears pouring from both eyes/the living and the dead, and the description of the puppets he made, swallowing their truths with his last breath, are disturbing and memorable.

Sometimes each poet soars to the level that Papusza reached so effortlessly.  In her curse poem Phuv/Earth, Hedina Tahiroviae Sijercic shows Romani poetry at its best, casting spells, redemptive, universal. Sarah Barbieux, in But Baxt Tuke/May you be lucky, says, Nashti davas tuke mai but/ferdi murro orimos, mo swinto orimos../I have been able to give you nothing more than my wish, my sacred wish... Gina Csanyi-Robah hears o Romano muzikako bashalipe/the Gypsy music forever playing...   In Romane phenja/Roma sisters, Julia Lovell uses typical Gypsy nature images of sun and moon to great effect. Yvonne Slee in Cikni Tradicija/A little tradition, writes a beautiful poem about her Sinti gran teaching her about herbs and berries while sitting beneath an ancient old oak tree. Thais Barbieux in O Drom o kezhlano/The Silken Road describes how her heart dances away from the prison of numbers on a road of silk. Rasa Lee Sutar in Bistardino/Forgotten, contrasts butterflies with the black train of the Nazis, and Lynn Hutchinson's inspiring poems blend lyrical folk tradition with realism.

This valuable book reveals the thoughts and ideals of a few contemporary Roma women.  I'd like to have seen the poems in their original languages, to experience the rhythm which is so often lost in translation.  I'd also like to see a followup volume featuring poets from more varied lands. 

An unusual enterprise and a fascinating read!

Review by Janna Eliot, roma...@yahoo.co.uk.