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Victor Fenech: Malta - Poema Viżiva. Horizons, 2015. 72 pp.
Victor Fenech, one of the protagonists of the 1960s’ Moviment Qawmien Letterarju, is well known for his efforts in experimental innovation in the Maltese poetical field, ranging from the utililisation of the Japanese haiku and tanka verse form, to the poeproża genre, to the projective verse and the collage of words from various languages and linguistic registers.
In his latest publication, the author’s intent is clearly outlined in the title, MALTA – Poema Viżiva, where his intent is to portray Malta’s historical is show not only verbally, but also through a vivid visual representation.
In other words, these 72 pages of words and images combined together, are none other than a practical Maltese rendition of the technique known as concrete poetry, which is “poetry in which the poet’s intent is conveyed by graphic pattern of letters, words or symbols, rather than by the meaning of words in conventional arrangement” (Encyclopaedia Britannica) or even a “language whose principal means of enhancement is visual rather than syntactic or semantic” (American Writing Today).
As Fenech himself declares in his preface Il-Poeżija ‘Alternattiva’, he was influenced during his one-year stay in London by poets Bob Cobbing and Ian Hamilton Finlay, who had been invited over as guest lecturers by his university.
The discovery of this new, exciting genre, which liberates absolutely from the traditional rules normally associated with poetry writing, kick-started Fenech onto a long journey towards poetic freedom and the creation of an alternative poetry, something which he finally believes to have achieved in 2014, thanks also to the hitherto non-existent technical aid provided by the information technology era we are living in.
I must admit that, as a person who is still striving for an un-fulfilled political alternative in 2015, I quite envy Fenech for having managed to find his poetical alternative by 2014.
The shipwreck of St Paul in Malta is described by Fenech as a Dawl Ġdid (New Light), since għebu l-allat foloz li wkoll/sostnew lil niesna/qabel feġġ id-dawl il-ġdid.
I am still asking myself whether the author is being sarcastic in this statement: have the false gods of “money, power, arrogance, greed” really disappeared from our islands after the shipwreck?
It would seem that Malta’s real and only chance of redemption from its present state of crass, monetary materialism is a return to primitive nature
This underlying irony is certainly evident in Malta Taħt l-Ingliżi, where the British are depicted as those who had come over to help out the Maltese against the French and instead ended up taking over everything under their control, while obviously always acting politely and showing off the best of their manners: daw’ l-ingliżi ġew biex jgħinu/imbagħad baqgħu bla staqsew/bil-manjieri u l-bonordni/Malta ħakmu waħda sew.
The suspension of Maltese constitutions by the British authorities is dismissed as something totally inappropriate through the nursery rhyme “one two – buckle my shoe/ three four – shut the door / the Constitution is no more!”
Of course, there were good times and bad times but, as in all things in life, every beginning leads to an end. Consequently, even British rule had to come to an end eventually, with independence heralding a new period in Maltese history: kull bidu għandu t-tmiem/l-Indja u l-kanal tas-swejz/urew ċar ’l imperu ingliż/lilu wkoll wasallu ż-żmien.
The dose of irony/sarcasm increases as the new Malta, ruled solely by the Maltese, moves on in time: the presentation of a Powster Turistiku għal Malta Ġdida is accosted to an “[[[Oj! Ħaqq ***, ħu ftit ħsiebu dak it-torri, onorevli, while the declaration that Feġġgħet fuq il-gżira bħal qawsalla is visually devalued through the placard which states: “Property for Sale – Sixpenny Settlers most welcome.”
The multiplicity of Maltese national feasts is ridiculed in Il-Pentagonu tal-Jiem Nazzjonali, where the poet qualifies this pentagon of feasts with the caption 5...4...3...2...1 ara ħi, daqshekk!
However, irony is totally lacking in his Maltarequiem, which laments the brutal killings of Karen Grech and Raymond Caruana in a country which was on the verge of civil war. Malta in the 1980s had become “Maltaħuta/Maltaroqgħa/Maltapika/Maltainkwiet; Maltafirda/Maltalava/Maltaħerba/Maltaskiet”.
The poet yearns and hopes that one day (u xi darba [nittamaw]...) all this would transform itself into Maltamaħfra/Maltapaċi/Maltagħaqda/Maltasliem.
Is present Malta, post Independence, post republic, post freedom, post EU membership, on the way to sanity? Fenech leaves us in doubt about this. In his Kapriċċ (serju) dwar Malta Moderna the prevailing question is Quo Vadis, Malta?, with the Renzo Piano parliament dominated by the towering red and blue pyramids, while the minute green triangle tries to force its way through.
The last pages of the book are dominated by the author’s environmental concern.
His Sight card/Mind check, which revolves around Malta’s identity and DNA, is framed in a square made up of the words: L-ambjent naturali hu r-ruħ u l-ħajja tan-nazzjon; żvilupp żejjed huwa l-qirda tal-ambjent; ċaħda kiefra lin-nazzjon.
(The natural environment is the life and soul of the nation; excessive development is the death of the environment; a heartless insult to the nation.)
The third from last page reproduces the prosepoem entitled Mhux iżjed dan il-pajjiż tiegħi, with the picture-silhouette of one of our mushrooming, deturped highrises in the background and the euro, lira and dollar symbols in the foreground to high-light the sale of all morality, ethics and principles in our money hungry country.
Any hope for the future left for our country? Maybe. A sporadic commentary (pp. 19, 29, 33, 50, 52, 60, 61) by Il-Merill, Malta’s national bird, links together various phases of our history; here the Blue Rock Thrush acts as the people’s collective conscience.
Is this bird the only antidote against the power-hungry, money-making mentality that pervades our country?
Judging by Fenech’s choice of poet (Anton Buttigieg) for his final optimistic page, it would seem that Malta’s real and only chance of redemption from its present state of crass, monetary materialism is a return to primitive nature.
Only a return to the simple values of nature can we redeem our land to some of its original beauty – as highlighted in Buttigieg’s words: Ja Xemx imġarrba, qatt fis-safar tiegħek/ ilmaħt u żort u xgħelt gżira bħal din?