IL-MALTIN F'KITBIET AWSTRALJANI

IL-MALTIN F’KITBIET AWSTRALJANI

Waqt il-qari tieghi ta' xoghlijiet ta' awturi Awstraljani sibt xi kitbiet interessanti fejn jissemmew Malta u l-Maltin. Din kienet sorpriza li ferrhitni. Hawnekk ma nistax ingib il-poeziji shah minhabba l-Copyright, u ghalhekk ikolli nikkwota biss xi siltiet 'l hemm u 'l hawn.

Dawn li gejjin huma xi versi mill-poezija 'Playing With My Coronet' ta' Randolph Stow fl-antologija POETS AUSTRALIA CATALOGUE migbura minn Susan Jeffrey (Australian International Press & Publications Pty Ltd, 1978. p. 98). Stow twieled fil-Western Australia fl-1935 u kien ghal xi zmien lettur fl-Ingilterra, fil-Kanada u fid-Denimarka. Huwa maghruf ukoll bhala kittieb ta' rumanzi, l-aktar wiehed famuz tieghu TO THE ISLANDS (1958). Ninnotaw li f'dil-poezija l-poeta Randolph Stow jirreferi ghalih innifsu bhala "Mikiel tal-Awstralja". Ippruvajt infittex l-origini u aktar dettalji ta' dil-poezija imma ma rnexxilix. Mill-kontenut tal-versi u n-noti jidher li l-poeta kien qatta' xi zmien Malta ma' zewg bdiewa, u kiteb dil-poezija wara li kien ircieva ittra minghand il-mara tal-bidwi fejn qaltlu li hi u r-ragel taghha kienu hadu pjacir meta hu kien maghhom fir-razzett.

...I write for you, Vittur, though you won't hear
and Carmelo hasn't ever known my language,
thinking of lamplit meals, when Pastard came
with a sailor's yarn, or to wrestle Guzepp Haddiem;
and of Xidi, with his reliably non-news;
and of MALTA TIBKI LILL-PAPA on your door.
Remembering wine-dark dreams in the midday shade
under the weird green asps of the harrub,
...And the taste of capers fresh from crannied walls...
The Turks of time have scarred our ramparts now,
but pasts endure. Let us, for us, endure,
stubborn as Malta, stubborn as Mnajdra
-- stubborn, Maltin, as you.
Randolph Stow
(Mikiel tal-Awstralja)

Poezija ohra li sibt hi ta' Frank Kellaway bl-isem 'Eros' (OVERLAND, Nu. 100, Melbourne, Settembru 1985, p. 80). Fit-tmeninijiet kelli x-xorti niltaqa' ma' Kellaway meta attendejt Poetry Workshop imtella' minn poetessa Awstraljana Judith Rodriguez u smajtu jaqra xi versi tieghu. F'dil-poezija l-poeta jiftakar meta kien Malta fl-ahhar gwerra. Jidher li kien bahri. Kien jinzel Malta u jmur il-Belt Valletta fi Strada Stretta bhal hafna rgiel ohra tas-servizz. Kien jaf wahda min-nisa t'hemm u kienet hi l-ispirazzjoni ta' dal-versi tieghu. Baqa' jiftakarha. Naghzel xi ftit versi mill-poezija ta' Kellaway.

When mines were popping Eros kept me sane...
A sonnet never could contain this girl,
Julie, who worked in Malta's hungry gut
who sang and pranced like an impulsive gale...
The price arranged she'd give a man her key,
leave him and earn more drinks, bubble and leap,
grabbing another man to whirl and dance...
She was my girl when I got in from sea...
among bombed buildings, a crumbling rubble-heap
in that town of shadows, my permanence.

Giet f'idejja poezija ohra li ssemmi l-Maltin, did-darba l-Maltin ta' Sydney. Fil-ktieb tieghu ta' poeziji THE WAY IT IS (Darling Downs Institute Press, Toowoomba, 1984, p. 102) il-poeta Michael Sharkey ghandu wahda bl-isem ta' 'Merrylands', post fejn hemm hafna Maltin. Il-poeta, waqt li jiddeskrivi l-hajja mghaggla t'hemmhekk, il-hwienet u l-hajja socjali, josserva:

Merrylands has got the biggest Big Mac in the West;
the Chicken Shacks along the main road,
Pizza Hut, the Coolibah; Enrico's eats,
best tucker in West Sydney.
Merrylands has got the biggest homes you ever seen,
Georgie, he's my broth-in-law,
knows everyone, the Muscats,
Camilleris, and the Sammuts, and Spiteris, everyone.

Ghalkemm ftit huma l-ezempji ta' din ix-xorta ta' kitba fuqna l-Maltin, qed nindunaw, jekk naqraw dak li nkiteb minn awturi Awstraljani, li ghallanqas kultant tidher xi haga. Ahjar ftit milli xejn.