"A trip with poets in Gulbene" is told

On September 14, the project “Journey with Poets in Gulbene” organized by the Gulbene County Library and supported by the State Culture Capital Fund took place in the streets of Gulbenes. The event took place within the Poetry Days, bringing together 8 poets and a circle of poetry lovers and travelers. The author of the idea of such a trip is the poet Ērika Bērziņa, in Riga The trip with poets took place on September 15 and already 15 times!

We started the trip at the bookshelves of the Honorary Library next to the Gulbene County Library. Anita Graumane (Druviena), our countryman, read her poetry lines in a megaphone. Her poems have been published in the collection "Don't Believe in Your Eyes" published by Vidzeme's young writers (1992), in the collections of Gulbene County Literary Club "Autograph" and in press publications.

After applauding and concentrating on the next stop, the travelers went to the former heating network office building to listen to a poetry reading by Henrik Elias Zegner (Jelgava, Riga). HE Zegner is a poet, publicist, DJ and musician who published his debut collection "Elements" in 2013. This year's double traveler, because on September 15, also participated in the Riga Tour with poets.

Next, watching the ducks in Skolas Street pond, Elīna Bakule - Veira (Piebalga, Riga) frightened the audience with winter. She has been working in the literature as a poet E.Bakule - Veira since 2002 and in 2015 she received the LaLiGaBas (Latvian Literature of the Year Award) nomination for the brightest debut for her debut poetry collection “Elephant Ocean”.

Artūrs Punte (Riga), a member of the text group Orbīta, a poet, editor and multimedia artist, gathered around the benches of Lattelecom's home. The poet writes in Russian and Latvian, this time offering Latvian poems by P. Dragun, as well as a poem in Russian. Artūrs Punte was pleasantly surprised by the diversity of Gulbene's landscape.

Reaching the oaks of Dzilnas Street, which mark the way of the baron, the listeners got to Latgale a bit, because in Raibi or real name Oskars Orlovs (Rēzekne, Riga), they read their poetry written in Latgalian. O. Orlov is a Latgalian multi-artist and writer, the leader of the rock group "Kapļi". In 2011 he made his debut with the collection of stories "Pyrma syltī" and in 2015 he published the second collection of stories "Zalta tesmiņi", in 2017 the poetry collection "Pistacejis" was published, from which poems were read.

Kreile (Preili, Murmastiene) in the European Garden or Pūce Square, delighting the audience with warm and variegated poems, took them on a poetic journey through the gardens and forests. After writing ghosts in Riga, Kreile has returned to nature and turned to rural life, poetry and krafting.

Representatives of the congregation of the Gulbene Evangelical Lutheran Church took care of the moment of surprise of the trip, inviting Ruta Štelmaher (Jēkabpils) to read her poetry in the church. Thanks for hosting! R.Štelmahere is a poet and artist, she has published 3 collections of poems, the latest of which was in 2016 (“Shirt”).

The final session of the trip took place at the Red Castle, where Helen Kozlov (Saulkalne) reached the audience with stables, grass stalks, guitar and voice, twisting the language of music and the language of poetry into a poetic whirlpool. H. Kozlova is a singer and songwriter of Latvian independent music, she plays both solo and in the groups "Sad Stones" and "Leviti".

After the musical performances, the free microphone was activated. The readings of the participants of the free microphone Inese Strautmale and Viļa Graša-Kadiķis sparkled in a satirical and life-affirming mood, happily concluding this Trip.

On the way back to the library, the participants saw more than one poetic stop, which suggested that this would not be the last "Journey with Poets in Gulbene".

Thanks to all the poets who shared their work and measured the way to Gulbene. Thanks to the Gulbene Regional History and Art Museum for the charming attic of the Red Castle!

Liene and Herta,
Gulbene County Library

Photo from the event HERE .

"Travel with poets in Gulbene":

Artūrs Punte : "After participating in Gulbene's" Journey with Poets ", I got the feeling that I had managed to see the real face of the city - a sympathetic and not so easy to see part of it. "It was a pleasure to hear the poetry and songs in different languages, to watch different performances.

Kreile : “It is a pleasure that this trip, which leads to a joint adventure of poets and readers / listeners, takes place not only in Riga. The second joy was the variety of poets - almost every stop (which was also quite different and interesting) sounded poetry, again different from what was heard in the previous stops. I think every listener could find something to their ears. The third pleasure was that Gulbene was hospitable during this trip. And the joint "making music" - a beautiful end to the event. Overall a warm and easy event.

Ruta Štelmahere : “I thought the Gulbene bus station was almost the edge of the world, but a tour of the Depot under the guidance of the charming Ilgonis took my breath away, both literally and figuratively.
If you ever had a trip with poets in Gulbene, you could use rails, steam locomotives and a trolley. At first, getting to know poets turned into a passionate love affair with their poetry. And Gulbene seemed an almost surreal environment, where everyone reads stone books at the library, there is a house where a tree grows, apples bask in a chair by the block house, ducks float right in the pond and Elīne Bākule's poet awakens even deeper consciousness. Where both dukes and poets are welcome in the church, and in the museum it is possible to play music on the grass. It was a walk in which space and time expanded. ”

Elīna Bākule-Veira , commentary on the drawing: “The swan is lifted out of the water (with its flags on its feet), continues to swim along the hill, its feet soaked in that beautiful park or poetry (both). There are flags on the march. And a sunken poet. The glasses fly like televisions. And at the bottom, two bubbles (maybe from the big fish sights, maybe from the poop that swam sideways).


Drawing by Elīna Bākule - Veira