Raymond C. Grech: Lejn L-Għamajjar (third volume)
Lejn l-Għamajjar is Raymond C. Grech’s third volume in a trilogy of poetic collections, which are indeed different from the usual approach to poetry by the majority of Maltese poets. Grech’s poems in the previous two collections recently published: Qasab Iċaqċaq and ’il barra mill-prIŻMI have ventured with a mystic aura into the spiritual, allowing it to complement verse with wisdom, and eventually progress into what is essentially metaphysical.
In this third collection, sub-titled The Entrance, Grech roams wistfully, most poetically and certainly very deeply into the Bible as a source (and inspiration) of what he wanted to say in his original lines, doing so with a harmony that very often borders on the musical, as each poem wafts into the biblical quotations (from Saydon’s Maltese translation of the Bible), and on to the next.
In his excellent preface to the collection, Prof. Oliver Friggieri rightly claims that Grech wanders very well and relentlessly in the lexical and infinite store of the Bible. And this, in fact, is hugely reflected in Grech’s faith in God and his life experiences, intensified by his poetic prowess. In fact, he seems absolutely set on unifying both his faith and his poetry in a unique style that can now be acknowledged as his own; and this makes him one of Malta’s most mystic poets.
It is indeed a treat for every lover of poetry and Bible quotations to go through this very interesting collection of poems. All of them are replete with essential and useful messages, which the poet seems to feel duty-bound to waft out from his lines to see a better world, more harmony and beauty in what has become a chaotic, dissonant and very often repellent sort of existence for the majority of human beings.
Lejn l-Għamajjar, beautifully printed at Progress Press, is a poetry collection with a difference, and together with the previous two volumes of this trilogy has added further to the beauty of both the Maltese language and Maltese poetry, all three volumes highlighting most artistically what is essentially mystic poetry.