Two foreign poets surprised the teeming number of audience with their poems on Bangladesh at the concluding session of
the two-day National Poetry Festival.
The veteran Austrian poet Dorothea Muller-Ott’s poem 16th December is on the Victory Day of Bangladesh when the Swedish poet Kristian Carlsson’s series of poems under the title Dhaka narrates his recent experiences in the capital of Bangladesh.
A Norwegian poet John Y Jones and UK based Bangladeshi poet Sadaf Saaz also recited poems on Sunday at the Hakim Chattar of Dhaka University.
Muller-Ott, a former professor at Vienna University, wrote the poem on the Victory Day of Bangladesh by reading books on the issue. The German poem has been translated into Bangla by Aminur Rahman and recited at the programme by eminent poet Asad Chowdhury.
The audience gave a standing ovation for the veteran Austrian poet whose romantic poem glorifies the beauty of Bangladesh in every lines beginning with the colours of the National Flag.
Muller-Ott recited her self-composed German poem titled Confusions of Language, in which the poet also expressed her wish to learn Bangla, the language of the people who sacrificed lives for it.
Swedish poet Kristian Carlsson read a few poems from his series of short poems titled Dhaka. Carlsson’s poems connect people of Dhaka with others from across the globe, who all are victims of the monetised society.
Norwegian poet John Y Jones, on the other hand, read a long poem on the late UN secretary general Dag Hammarskjold. The poem dealt with the late man’s humanitarian vision.
Bangladeshi-born Sadaf Saaz read two poems: the first one was on the Birangonas (war heroines), and the second one was on the victims of Rana Plaza tragedy.
After the session the poets expressed their gratitude and pleasure. ‘It was my first visit to Bangladesh. I have known many Bangladeshi poets reading from books, this visit has enriched my knowledge about the people as well as the culture,’ said Kristian Carlsson.
‘We are really happy that the foreign poets have come and read their poems at the festival. I wish they will come in the next years too,’ said poet Asad Chowdhury.
-With New Age input
