Friday, September 16, 2016

Authors, Poets, Critics on Fahredin Shehu's Work in Poetry



                                         Photo by Rromir Imami, Skopje, Macedonia, 2018




https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6923683.Fahredin_Shehu
a few words from the Publisher . . .
I first met Fahredin Shehu in September of 2015 at the inaugural Kosovo International Poetry Festival. I have known him through cyberspace since 2011 when we at Inner Child Press, now Inner Child Press International launched our first initiative of the anthology World Healing, World Peace.

Meeting Mr. Shehu, who I now embrace as my brother was a very rewarding experience in spite of my awe-struck consciousness of participating in my very first International Poetry Festival. I have since went on to be a part of, as well as being a key note speaker and lecturer at many other subsequent events to include Morocco, Tunisia, Macedonia, Jordan, Palestine to name a few. Because of Fahredin’s catalystic-ism, my personal poetic life has been greatly enhanced . . . but this is not about me, though it may appear so.

Mr. Shehu has that particular type of empowering, insightful and learned spirit that affects the unassuming and the “aware” in a very profound way. I once told my beloved hülya, that Fahredin is the type of soul who I could sit at his feet and listen as well as probe the depths of his knowledge and be quite content. I too am a lover of knowledge. In his conversation, this manuscript and all of his previous publishings if you listen carefully to the voice of his evocations and sharing there is a fruit, sometimes hidden and some times obvious. For myself, it is a divinely sweet fare that I always look forward to ingesting and hopefully digesting to add to the girth of my consciousness as I seek to expand. His poety makes it that much more palatable.

In conclusion, all I can say is that I hope you find Mr. Shehu, aka Fahredin, my brother’s work rewarding for your soul, your consciousness and the journey you are on.

Bless Up

Bill
Chairperson
Inner Child Press International


When a writing by a non-English native author is of the caliber that is exceptional in its exquisite versatility, an editor faces a challenging task: To maintain the integrity of textual complexity while situating the mechanical aspects of language into the authentic authorial voice. Fahredin Shehu is a courageously visionary writer of passionate dedication to any subject of universal relevance he takes upon himself. He is acutely aware of and knowledgeable in lyrical symbolism, the Islamic as well as Christian spiritual and mythological traditions, and linguistic heritages. Shehu does, however, not merely display his keen awareness and knowledge through his written art when his individual poetic objects are concerned but rather enriches the long-established perimeters of poetry as a genre at large. Where, when and to what extent, then, does an editor join in?

Fahredin Shehu is a writer who does not shy away from adopting a modernist approach for his lyrical compositions. Regardless of the name or the fame of an author, such tendency is too often misunderstood. The lack of punctuation, capitalization, a missing rhyme scheme, etc. but also the use of non-Western referents in any given verse are largely viewed by those in the field as “a mistake”. HERENOW displays a considerable number of poems in which the author does not allow such potential critique to standardize his writings. He does not deviate from his creativity. In fact, he is masterfully attuned to it. In sum: He eloquently and confidently assumes poetic license.

It may be safely argued though that poetic license should not obscure important content. The entire work of a writer who is not a native of an English language-environment can easily be mistaken as being flawed, if that work’s content is not adjusted to fit into the broad context of the philological target. And, it is herein where the editor’s work comes in. HERENOW, thus, has only been subjected to minor changes in language use and to selected application of the traditional form in order to represent itself for what it originally was: An outstanding literary creation.


hülya n. yılmaz, Ph.D.
Liberal Arts Professor, retired from Penn State
Director of Editing Services and Co-Chair,
Inner Child Press International

Stop worshipping Time, as Time is God no more. Distant Earths rotate, but for you there is no East or West. To be Here, to be Now, to bark like a dog, to be sonorous like the sky. There you find yourself resembling nobody and name your self Fahredin Shehu. The last angel of love on earth, or trying to be one.

Prof. Keijiro Suga
Meiji University, TOKYO

In Fahredin Shehu´s poetry I find a rare combination of passion and compassion. He is a learned poet who knows that true creativity in art is to know the traditions – his own first, and then the other important traditions –. Then the creative poet is adding something new into the traditions, something which was not there before his poem was created.
This is how I met the Kosovar poet Fahredin Shehu both as a person who became my friend, and his poetry which has developed into something very important during the last years.
Empathy is a word which I like to use when describing his poetry. Here we will find a closeness to earth, body, we find not just sensibility but also wonderful expressions of man´s lust. This is all combined with an awareness of the sacred. He is learned in symbolism and mythology, both from the Islamic and Christian traditions, but also from the rich folklore of his native part of Europe and wider.
He can be direct, he can be overwhelming, but first and foremost he expresses a sincere belief in poetry as a power to heal the wounded souls and show us something more important than greed and wealth. We read about East and West, here are also the North an the South. But the poet knows that whatever and wherever this is on our small planet Tell us, people are very much alike – seen from the perspective of the Universe. There is happiness and hope in these poems written by a poet from a small country where the people have been suffering for decades by wars and suppression.

Dr. Knut Ødegård
Norway

"Some poetry collections work on the emotions, some work on the intellect – HereNow works on all levels to beguile. These are poems that are deeply felt with something spiritual infusing them all. Spiritual not religious, though the poems often find a wellspring in Sufi approaches to Islam which underlines the journeys made, the reaching out from the personal, the familial to the universal. There is an immediacy here; poems are sensual with smell, taste, sound, touch taking you to the heart of being there. There are also fierce and angry poems that rail at injustice and offer love instead. One poem, Toward Hope, might well have been the title of the collection – “Say a word, oh poet/ the word as rocket to hit/ the hearts made of stone”. HereNow is such a rocket."

Dr Patrick Lodge
Ireand/ Walles
 (less)


Fahredin Shehu is a highly Noted and Acclaimed World Renowned Poet, Author, Teacher and so much more.

Fahredin hails from Rahovec, South East of Kosova and has been embraced affectionately for his acutely gifted insightful poetic expressions by the Global Poetry Community. The depth and knowledge of many spiritual aspects that affect Humanity subtly shines through in his work. Pleroma’s Dew is such a graceful work that serves to add to the accolades of this much celebrated Poet / Author / Philosopher.

We are deeply humbled and honored here at Inner Child Press to be able to work with such a Gifted Human Being.

William Samuel Peters
Inner Child Press, New York, USA

Il poeta Fahredin Shehu stesso definisce il suo modo di comporre “noetico”. La Noetica è quella psudo scienza filosofica che studia le correlazioni dell'universo della mente (coscienza, anima, spirito)e ha come oggetto di ricerca il cosiddetto "sesto senso" e un diverso rapporto al conscio.
Se si guarda l'etimologia della parola Noetica potrebbe stare anche nel senso “di Noè”, e siccome è risaputo che il grande personaggio biblico faceva uso, a volte non moderato, di vino, poesia noetica potrebbe significare anche poesia sotto i fumi dell'ebbrezza. A parte la battuta io credo che la poesia di Fahredin, più che alla Noetica si rifaccia al filone letterario e poetico del “Nonsense” cioè
espressione (parola, frase o altro) che appare priva di significato. La letteratura del nonsenso, sia poesia che prosa, si basa sull'equilibrio tra ordine e caos, tra senso compiuto e non. Spesso presenta un mondo capovolto o alterato. Presenta frequentemente, ma non sempre, una matrice umoristica, ma non è il caso di Fahredin. La correttezza formale è spesso bilanciata da un caos semantico o dai doppi significati. Secondo Wim Tigges l'effetto del nonsensi è spesso ottenuto per eccesso di significati, e non per assenza.
Per intenderci un esempio di Nonsense è la canzone “Cuccurucù paloma” di Battiato, ma anche e soprattutto Il linguaggio onirico di James Joyce nella novella Finnegans Wake e in certi passaggi di Dubliners e dell'Ulisse. Ma anche Edward Lear (1812-1888) e Lewis Carroll (1832-1898), John Lennon, Frank Zappa, Rino Gaetano e ancora giù giù Nino Frassica o la celebre “Supercazzola con scappellamento a destra come fosse Antani” degli Amici miei di Monicelli.
Mario Rigli, Poet and Translator, Italy

TALKING TO THE POEM . . .
Striving towards blasphemous response to the expressed wishes, Fahredin Shehu finds his journey within the stated desire of creation seeking.
What kind?
Entanglement of words, thoughts and aspirations. And not just any: sincere, genuine emotion which aspires towards Love. Not even for a moment not wanting to ignore the fact that he "talks poetry, " he "is talking to the poem".
How?
Transfusing his own inspiration with the richness of the metaphor
out of implied acts? Yes.
And even more: Significantly emphasizing the size of other
detriment of his own hopes. Convinced that with this helps himself to finally understand his own personality. In the other. Because of himself.
While we read between the lines. Because he is heading towards
that.
Again. Because of himself.
And, sometimes, because of us.
Readers, of his.

Sabahudin Hadzialic
Diogen Magazine, Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina

Fahredin Shehu’s poetry in Pleroma’s dew is full of critical awareness and with humor. Amazing imagination, make his poetry open wings free to fly, and rich imagery in poems; whether write flowers, trees, and even every little life, of all comes from his subtle observation and rational thinking.
For Fahredin, poetry is from God's gift, and is a cultural spirit.

Hadaa Sendoo
Editor-in-chief of World Poetry Almanac


La Poesía de Fahredin Shehu

Ampliamente conocido en Europa del Este y asimismo traducido a diversas lenguas, tanto del Viejo Mundo como de América, Fahredin Shehu es un notable exponente de la poesía contemporánea que ha merecido trasponer les fronteras de su país, Kosovo. Siendo poco difundida  en nuestro medio la poesía proveniente de Europa Oriental, es interesante para el lector adentrarse en ella a través de uno de sus mejores ejemplos.

El poema seleccionado para traducirlo de su versión inglesa, titulado ”Asi hablo Tamara”, exhibe reminiscencias de Walt Whitman  -por la amplitud de su abarcamiento y el tono a veces bíblico de sus versos- que se combinan con matices de trascendentalismo sin duda provenientes de la formación universitaria de su autor.

Luis Benitez
Buenos Aires, Argentina 

https://www.worldartfriends.com/en/club/criticize/authors-poets-critics-publishers-fahredin-shehu-s-work-art

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