Sheer poetry in five languages

DR CARMEL MALLIA: MY LATEST POEMS: A COLLECTION OF POEMS IN FIVE LANGUAGES Publisher: Self-published Year: 2018 Pages:78 Alfred Palma

Dr Carmel Mallia is one of Malta’s most prolific writers: author of several novels, poems and other important literary works. He is also the president of the local Esperanto Society. He excels in languages, particularly English, Italian and French, and of course Esperanto and Maltese. Lately he has been particularly busy with the issue of various works, one of them being a superb collection of his latest poems, the very title of this little book.

This is indeed a collection of poems with a difference, written in the five languages and the treat is thus a double one: the sheer enjoyment of the poems themselves, which are typically himself, always going through various moods and styles; and furthermore there is the enjoyment of reading the various languages chosen for the production of the entire collection.

These poems have been written within a long range of time and they reflect the poet’s experiences throughout his life. Much has been based on the classical Maltese style of poetry, but the other languages all go on a path of their own, being completely different from one another; every poem tells its own story.

The collection takes off in English, with Strada Stretta as one of the best; follows Esperanto, Uragano, one of the finest; onwards to French, with the delightful Pourquoi?; Italian gives us the very beautiful Angeli and Maltese the hugely reflective Xjuħija.

Indeed, all the poems in this book are journeys in reality and human experiences, and in spite of being a small book, it is a tribute to both poetry and the beauty of languages which, I gather, Dr Mallia is still set on paying again with his unique style of poetry and further experiences in life.