Lidija Šimkutė

Lidija Šimkutė holds a special place in Lithuanian literature. She was born in Lithuania but lives and matured in Australia where she was educated.  I doubt if there is another Lithuanian  poet who belongs to two regions which are separated by the earth‘s diameter.  Lidija has been a persistent traveller, is well informed about other continents and has visited forty countries. It seems she lives in a space between nations and continents. She belongs to a new generation that doesn‘t fear globalization and feels at ease in any countryIt is no wonder that her poetry is translated into fifteen languages and she has represented Lithuanian and Australian poetry at various international poetry festivals. Her poems have been and are admired by many – from Marija Gimbutas to the Nobel laureate J.M. Coetzee, from Lithuanian poets Marcelijus Martinaitis and Antanas A. Jonynas to the well known Australian writer David Malouf, Austrian and Japanese poets Christian Loidl and Koichi Yakushigawa." class="icon" open="false"}

Allegiance to one‘s motherland is first and foremost allegiance to it‘s language. But even here, things are not so simple. Lidija Šimkutė is both a Lithuanian and Australian poet. She writes in Lithuanian and English.  If a poem comes to her mind in English, it immediately finds a Lithuanian version, if it comes in Lithuanian – the English version follows. They are not always direct translations: every language dictates somewhat different metaphors. It can be said that Lidija lives not only in a space between continents, but also in a space between languages: the fullness of her texts is displayed at intersections of both versions.

Lidija Šimkutė leans towards minimalism which she associates with impromtu, improvisation, the sphere of freedom. / Lidija is inclined to an Oriental poetry tradition where words are nearly “washed away“ and merge with a gesture, a dance movement, a momentary ritual . This is also evident from the chosen epigraphic quotes. The poems transform into a Kyoto garden surrounded by stones and sand circles that allude to silence and refer to something quintessential which cannot be completely comprehended and fully expressed in words.

This is a radical and even an extreem path to take. As in all radical forms  there lies an underlying risk. Minimalist poems can be concentrated and dynamic, balancing on borders of disappearance, rise in a memorable image, a psychological picturesque gesture, an aphorism – like Basho and Li Bo. Lidija Šimkutė is not afraid to to take a risk and hence often reaches her goal – producing a lucid, elegant and authentic text.

In these texts – modern versions of tankas or haiku – “paper soaks up the remains of an instance“, the boundary disappears between the object and the subject. They both (but only just) disappear. Body – skin, “the moons of fingernails“, bone and breath flow into silence. In silence sound is dormant. In grammar, the first person seeks the second – and finds him, even though it seems an impossibility. The landscape implies transformation or a point of climax.

The landscapes of Lidija Šimkutė‘s poems are very variable – including eucalyptus from Australia, Vienna‘s Prater, streets of Budapest and a bar in New York City which is very accurately portrayed.   The most realisitic portrayals are of Vilnius and the Baltic (in these Lithuanian collages one can hear a particularly personal angst and tones of danger). The poems merge with paintings as well as music. . And when this music is achieved, quoting Lidija Šimkutė it “outlives people and trees“.

WHERE CITIES END

-                 nests fly

ominous bird song

emerges as grass sings

music outlives

people

and trees

Foreword:“Kažkas pasakyta / Something is said“ Lithuanian Writers Union Publishers, Vilnius, 2013