Alisa Velaj was born in Albania, in 1982. She holds a Ph.D. in Albanian Language and Literature, which she has been teaching as subjects at university level, while writing poetry, prose, essays, articles, and research studies. Velaj was shortlisted for the annual international Erbacce-Press Poetry Award in UK in June 2014. Her work has been published in over 100 international online forums, printed magazines and anthologies across many countries (USA, UK, Sweden, Australia, Israel, India). Alisa earned an Artist-in-Residence Scholarship in February 2019 and attended the AIR Litteratur Västra Götaland Program in Villa Martinson, Jonsered, Sweden. In 2020, she won The National Prize in Poetry, awarded by the Albanian Ministry of Culture.
OBLIVION AT DUSK
I fear the oblivion of a stone
At the dusk of a nameless city
My grandmother had told me that the stone
Has breathed sadness since immemorial times
For it carries the city in its bone…
Translation from Albanian Ukë Zenel Buçpapaj
THE SQUARE
Taking shape after shape,
Matter translates into different selves
At the speed of light.
Paralysis shines in human eyes.
Translation from Albanian Ukë Zenel Buçpapaj
A MIRAGE
Shadow ravens
Preach by the river
Of the white lilies
(Translation Ukë Zenel Buçpapaj)
A RING
A ring with a black ribbon
Running through it
Flies in the air
As if it were a flag at half mast
No cherub
Is raising toasts at the wedding party…
(Translation from Albanian Ukë Zenel Buçpapaj)
PSYCHE
That these oak trees possess a soul like mine
(even though temporary),
this is a more-than-obvious empirical statement.
The snow sods besieging them like army legions,
the light that dusks down yet without dawning up,
Thor’s onslaughts raging in frosty storms,
not only won’t subdue them in any way,
but they will invincibly stand up by the roadside,
like light-reveling cherubs
to the aggrieved passerby!
According to Aristotle,
oak trees and ostriches
possess a psyche or soul.
(Translated by Arben P. Latifi)