HELEN BURKE

TOUR – U.K. – ANGLO-ROMANIAN


 What a pleasure it was to be involved in the Anglo-Romanian Poetry PRO tour in March.
I am a Poetrypf poet, living in York – and was pleased to offer an event in York as part of this tour. I initially contacted a friend of mine – Greg McGee – who runs an art exhibition centre in York – and he suggested that a suitable venue might be the Holy Trinity Church in the centre of the city. (Operated by the Conservation of Church Trust.) He also offered to bring some childrens’ artwork to the event, inspired by the work of Romanian artists.
I then contacted – a group of poets living in and around the Beverley area – to see if they would be available to read at the event. These poets were – NIGEL WALKER , also a poetrypf Poet, Carol Coiffait; Sue Lozynskyj; and Mike Hildred.
I was also able to get a musician friend – Simon Davey – to play some Romanian songs – as well as other traditional folk tunes.
ANNE STEWART – (Poetrypf Originator/and Tour Organiser) – was able to be our third PF reader at the event.

The Holy Trinity Church in York is one of the oldest churches in the City and stands in front of a row of houses, designated as one of the oldest blocks of houses in Europe. The church itself is fortunate to have box pews – and we were able to do e reading in the heart of this area.
The music that Simon had prepared for the occasion was extremely popular – and the tunes were well-known to our two translators – Elena Nistor and Lavinia Zainea.
The translations of my own work, that of Anne Stewart and Nigel Walker – had been meticulously researched and – the readings of these by the two translators produced a spell-binding effect on our audience. Their professionalism and delivery were exceptional.
The untranslated readings prepared by the Beverley poets – were also remarkable. Carol Coiffait is known for the high quality of her work – frequently writing about the Kurdish community in Hull; Sue Lozynskyj - currently preparing a collection, read some exceptional new pieces; and Mike Hildred as ever amazed with the dexterity of wordplay, warmth and delivery.

Photographs were taken after the event outside the church – both by myself and Elena Nistor (who has chronicled much of the tour on camera and c.d.) The sun shone as we all went our separate ways – but as both Elena and Lavinia have commented (and this is how I also feel) – this was just the beginning of a very long and genuine poetry friendship. Sometimes – through poetry – the world changes for the better. This is one of those changes.

(York Poet and Romanian Poetry Friend.)