Wednesday, 23 April 2008

UNESCO World Book & Copyright Day

To mark UNESCO's World Book & Copyright Day Poet-in-Residence will visit the special exhibition held in the centre of town near the Vienna University. His reading choice for today is one of his favourite poetry books 'the horizon is far away' by the Czech poet living in Canada, Ivan Schneedorfer. The 'copyright' notice in the front of the poet's book, published in 2005 by Shoreline, allows for 'brief quotations embedded in articles and reviews'.

The book takes its title from the poem beginning -

the horizon
is far away

it is quite
inaccessible


In Poet-in-Residence's opinion the 1937 born poet whose work has been published in Czech, French and English is one of the most intelligent and articulate poets writing today. His spare words, always in touch with nature, are full of sense and wisdom. A particularly wise poem is the one beginning -

the grass
is green and
indifferent

deep
and blue
is the ocean


. . . (and going on to end...)

the shell on the beach
parts her lips

as if she has
something
to say


Enjoy the world of books on this special day, also the day Cervantes and Shakespeare died. Find your own favourite book. It's that special one on your shelf you always meant to read again. Enjoy it and spread the word...

2 comments:

  1. Have a nice World book day! Danke schön for you comments, too. I am (financially) fostering a baby elephant in Kenya; she and these huge, wise creatures generally are my inspiration. Hence the photos. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good luck with your baby elephant!
    No pachyderms on my books! However I am guilty of sponsoring a dolphin in the Moray Firth, three parrots in Costa Rica, a lot of bees and chickens in Africa...hope it all somehow helps!
    gwilym

    ReplyDelete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.