A Peruvian voice in poetry

by Anisur Rahman


‘In the blackness of nights
seeking refuge in its shadows
the future forms,
vanish the day gone by.

In its silence
vanish its discarded voices
its sounds vanquish,
vanish the day gone by.

In the darkness of every night
in the misterious dance of every night
the night gets pregnant with a new day.’--- (Night and Day by Azril Bacal)



That's one of the poems I read written by Peruvian poet Azril Bacal during the launch of his first collection of poems ‘Refracciones Itinerantes’ (Refractions Travelers) at the Café Cardemumma, Uppsala City Library on Monday. The poems are orginally written in Spanish and some have been translated into English and Swedish by the poet.

Azril, a social scientist by profession who lectures at Uppsala and some other universities in Sweden and Latin America, I came in touch with him during my workshop on Creative Writing at the Uppsala City Library in January-May 2010.

Spanish Society in Uppsala has published the book. Among others who spoke and read from Azril’s poems included Leonardo Rosiello, lecturer at the Department of Modern Languages at Uppsala University, Lars Burstedt, well-known driving forces among poetry lovers in Uppsala and poet Magdalena Rooth Robertson .

This idea of presenting times, history, nature and life in a slim volume of poems indicates his own voice, technique and way of expression in the diverse world of poetry.

Indeed, despite being an illiterate, listening to reading of poems by Azril and Lars, I've felt so appealing by the way style his writing voice shimmers from one state to another in the mind of a reader.

He published extensively on the issue of cultural diversity, anti-racism and citizenship. Amongst his publication, 'Citizenship and national identity in latin America: the persisting salience of race and ethnicity' in Olmmen (ed.), Citizenship and National Identity: From Colonialism to Globalism, 1997; Ethnic Discrimination: Comparative Perspectives, Uppsala Universitet: Research Report from the Department of Sociology, 1992; 2 ; Ethnic Discrimination in Sweden: Basic Issues and Reflections, Uppsala Universitet: Op. Cit. 1992: 53-69; From Organism to Identity: The Road from Psychology to Social-Psychology. Towards an Epistemology of Self-Determination, University of Karlstad, Department of Social Sciences, Section of Communication, Working Paper 1994; 1. #

Photo courtesy: http://www4.theworldmarch.org/adhesiones/galeria/20090615060916_azril_bacal_roij.jpg