Munir Mezyed
10/06/2007, 03:24 AM
Murals of Poetry
Book By Munir Mezyed
by Professor Irina Vasilescu
“Murals of Poetry” unfolds as the efflorescence of Munir Mezyed’s lyrical creation, the crowning of his artistic expression. It stands out as the Magnum Opus of his poetic alchemy, the focal point of a universe of images, words and ideas. Almost all the themes, symbolic patterns and elements of imagery woven into the texture of his previous poetry are reevaluated in this volume and invested with ever fresher significances and a new suggestive force.
The title itself- Murals of Poetry - encapsulates a whole artistic vision, a meditation on the condition of the creator and on the ontological status of poetry. The collection of murals, of paintings on walls, is evocative of the Platonic myth of the cave: human beings, Plato says, are mere prisoners in the cosmic cave, able to perceive only the reflections of Ideas, of eidos-the immutable principle- projected on the walls of the cave. The murals of poetry Munir Mezyed makes reference to may be the very shadows of ideas flickering on the walls upon which the mortals gaze during their frail life. Man, Plato tells us, is the prisoner of perceptions, for he mistakes the sensible, the reflections of Ideas for the intelligible-eidos. The way out of the cave is the progress from ignorance to wisdom. In “Murals of Poetry” deliverance comes in the form of love and art. The “I” of “I am Christ”, the Christ-like lyrical persona, the radiating center of existential poetry , with his aura of “sun” and “jasmine”-paints a most faithful image of the degraded humanity, at the same time offering the key to redemption: “the cross and poesy”.
The poet is not involved in the demiurgic act of building or destroying worlds; he neither creates nor annihilates. He would rather flee from the oppressive reality, taking refuge in the rainbow of words, sheltering under “lilies that hymn God’s praise”, borrowing the graceful identity of sparrows and butterflies. Under the magical touch of poesis, the dull, sluggish Earth, with all its history of blood-shed and consuming hatred, becomes translucent, opening up to “the divine rain”.
The poet-lover assumes a fluid identity, transcending the borders of the visible. He becomes one with the glittering “soul of earth and heaven”, gathering in his all-inclusive embrace all the levels of the Universe: the divine-“adores God”- the human-“loves femininity”- and the tangible-“the earth’s soil”. Love emerges in its dual aspect as the creative principle and the main force of the Universe –“which moves the Sun and all the other stars”, to use a Dantesque phrasing –and as Eros- burning passion and fervent desire.
The lyrical universe of “Murals of Poetry” evolves under the sign of the double: there is no grandeur without suffering just as there is no resurrection without death-what enables existence is the perpetual undulation of plus and minus, death and rebirth. It is a poetic world constructed upon pairs of polar opposites: on the one hand, there is the vitality and exuberant assertion of life juxtaposed to an annihilating feeling of desolation and dissolution.
Even the creator is torn asunder between “the lust for death” and “the desire for living”, the latter being encapsulated in “the power of love”. He pendulates between the high and the low, drinking the godly nectar of inspiration from the horizon of immovable stars and plucking the burning seeds of quintessentially human passions and dreams from the sullied dust of the terrestrial condition.
The poet does not fall prey to bleak despondency at the gruesome spectacle of human history; he rather strives to squeeze beauty out of the tiniest particle of the world’s texture; he celebrates the rainbow as the epitome of the manifest, as “the passion of the white light”- to quote Goethe’s metaphorical definition of the solar spectrum. Similarly, from the passion of the poet “crucified” in language spring “colors back to [his] life”-a metaphorical illustration of the birth of poetry.
“The breath of the universe”, the transcendental oneness, is torn apart in the plurality of secular experience: “the nectar of desires” and “the odor of blood” are nothing but fragments from the mosaic of the impermanent human life. Some of the poems reveal the artist as being engulfed by an existential void, surrounded by a hallucinatory interplay of mirrors, deceptive reflections and insubstantial chimeras, “reaping” what “he sows in vain”. Even the lyrical self undergoes the tribulations of inner fragmentation and split identity: “My sweet dream/You and I have grown apart”.
There is an almost imperceptible touch of fear of alienation hovering in some verses which generates a longing for a blissful reintegration into “a world that is united with God”. However, the estrangement from his fellow beings as well as from his own self does not lead the poet down the alley of Saturnian depression or cynicism. Although he “live[s] in a time which is not [his]” nor does he “reside in a home which is [his]”, he is always able to find a bright alternative to the leaden here and now: the refuge in illud tempus, the realm of “myths and tales”, the sphere of “poesy” where time turns into space. With the golden bough of “inspiration” the agony of “long evenings” and “frozen passions” is transcended, while the gates of the invisible swing open, allowing the artist a high degree of intimacy with the Sacred: “…and dream happily of touching the face of God”. Thus, the awe-inspiring intangible becomes part of a serene, familiar environment, “the realm of poesy”.
The poet-seer, gazing into the yawning chasm of human history searches for a hierarchy of values and a well-established identity which will enable him to convert the chaos into a cosmos and the meaningless into the meaningful. Images of mirrors, windows, watery reflections, delusive surfaces act as the controlling symbols of the poetic whole deepening the sense of metaphysical anxiety.
The quest for identity, for the poet’s mission and axiological status is the cohesive element of the entire volume. The catalyst of change- he seems to say-which helps to effect the transmutation of the base into the noble, the lead of hatred into the alchemical gold of love is the word/Word.
The symphony of poetic words are multiple splinters of the Orphic song whereas Christ is the Logos who confers meaning upon all the other created words. The lyrical texture of “Murals of Poetry” is a tapestry of images –visual, olfactory, tactile, auditory, abstract and kinaesthetic - making up the Mural of human condition projected against the cosmic background.
Virtually all the verses in the volume display an intensely pictorial quality creating overpowering visual effects: the smell of the “cold souls covered with mould” and of the “mist scented with love” becomes almost visible; time itself assumes a color. The colors of the spectrum- from the darkness and solitude of the wasteland of despair to the chromatic fragrance of “the garden of the universe”- become almost audible, creating a multitude of synaesthetic effects.
“Murals of Poetry” displays a polyphony of voices and poetic registers, symbolist echoes being intertwined with gusts of tempestuous, enthusiastic romanticism. The oracular pronouncements are counterbalanced by a delicacy of vision and intensity of perception vibrating in every verse. The lyrical voice ranges from bitter imprecations to sweet declarations of love, from thundering revolt to gentle whispers, resounding with a vast array of feelings and inner pulsations.Every poem throbs with the desire to strike through the mask, to reach out beyond the murals in an attempt to grasp the essence. Plato’s dictum that “God always geometrizes” seems to be rephrased by Munir Mezyed as “God always poeticizes”, “Murals of Poetry” standing out as a most faithful illustration of this adage. And maybe it is in this that the artistic merit of the volume resides.
Book By Munir Mezyed
by Professor Irina Vasilescu
“Murals of Poetry” unfolds as the efflorescence of Munir Mezyed’s lyrical creation, the crowning of his artistic expression. It stands out as the Magnum Opus of his poetic alchemy, the focal point of a universe of images, words and ideas. Almost all the themes, symbolic patterns and elements of imagery woven into the texture of his previous poetry are reevaluated in this volume and invested with ever fresher significances and a new suggestive force.
The title itself- Murals of Poetry - encapsulates a whole artistic vision, a meditation on the condition of the creator and on the ontological status of poetry. The collection of murals, of paintings on walls, is evocative of the Platonic myth of the cave: human beings, Plato says, are mere prisoners in the cosmic cave, able to perceive only the reflections of Ideas, of eidos-the immutable principle- projected on the walls of the cave. The murals of poetry Munir Mezyed makes reference to may be the very shadows of ideas flickering on the walls upon which the mortals gaze during their frail life. Man, Plato tells us, is the prisoner of perceptions, for he mistakes the sensible, the reflections of Ideas for the intelligible-eidos. The way out of the cave is the progress from ignorance to wisdom. In “Murals of Poetry” deliverance comes in the form of love and art. The “I” of “I am Christ”, the Christ-like lyrical persona, the radiating center of existential poetry , with his aura of “sun” and “jasmine”-paints a most faithful image of the degraded humanity, at the same time offering the key to redemption: “the cross and poesy”.
The poet is not involved in the demiurgic act of building or destroying worlds; he neither creates nor annihilates. He would rather flee from the oppressive reality, taking refuge in the rainbow of words, sheltering under “lilies that hymn God’s praise”, borrowing the graceful identity of sparrows and butterflies. Under the magical touch of poesis, the dull, sluggish Earth, with all its history of blood-shed and consuming hatred, becomes translucent, opening up to “the divine rain”.
The poet-lover assumes a fluid identity, transcending the borders of the visible. He becomes one with the glittering “soul of earth and heaven”, gathering in his all-inclusive embrace all the levels of the Universe: the divine-“adores God”- the human-“loves femininity”- and the tangible-“the earth’s soil”. Love emerges in its dual aspect as the creative principle and the main force of the Universe –“which moves the Sun and all the other stars”, to use a Dantesque phrasing –and as Eros- burning passion and fervent desire.
The lyrical universe of “Murals of Poetry” evolves under the sign of the double: there is no grandeur without suffering just as there is no resurrection without death-what enables existence is the perpetual undulation of plus and minus, death and rebirth. It is a poetic world constructed upon pairs of polar opposites: on the one hand, there is the vitality and exuberant assertion of life juxtaposed to an annihilating feeling of desolation and dissolution.
Even the creator is torn asunder between “the lust for death” and “the desire for living”, the latter being encapsulated in “the power of love”. He pendulates between the high and the low, drinking the godly nectar of inspiration from the horizon of immovable stars and plucking the burning seeds of quintessentially human passions and dreams from the sullied dust of the terrestrial condition.
The poet does not fall prey to bleak despondency at the gruesome spectacle of human history; he rather strives to squeeze beauty out of the tiniest particle of the world’s texture; he celebrates the rainbow as the epitome of the manifest, as “the passion of the white light”- to quote Goethe’s metaphorical definition of the solar spectrum. Similarly, from the passion of the poet “crucified” in language spring “colors back to [his] life”-a metaphorical illustration of the birth of poetry.
“The breath of the universe”, the transcendental oneness, is torn apart in the plurality of secular experience: “the nectar of desires” and “the odor of blood” are nothing but fragments from the mosaic of the impermanent human life. Some of the poems reveal the artist as being engulfed by an existential void, surrounded by a hallucinatory interplay of mirrors, deceptive reflections and insubstantial chimeras, “reaping” what “he sows in vain”. Even the lyrical self undergoes the tribulations of inner fragmentation and split identity: “My sweet dream/You and I have grown apart”.
There is an almost imperceptible touch of fear of alienation hovering in some verses which generates a longing for a blissful reintegration into “a world that is united with God”. However, the estrangement from his fellow beings as well as from his own self does not lead the poet down the alley of Saturnian depression or cynicism. Although he “live[s] in a time which is not [his]” nor does he “reside in a home which is [his]”, he is always able to find a bright alternative to the leaden here and now: the refuge in illud tempus, the realm of “myths and tales”, the sphere of “poesy” where time turns into space. With the golden bough of “inspiration” the agony of “long evenings” and “frozen passions” is transcended, while the gates of the invisible swing open, allowing the artist a high degree of intimacy with the Sacred: “…and dream happily of touching the face of God”. Thus, the awe-inspiring intangible becomes part of a serene, familiar environment, “the realm of poesy”.
The poet-seer, gazing into the yawning chasm of human history searches for a hierarchy of values and a well-established identity which will enable him to convert the chaos into a cosmos and the meaningless into the meaningful. Images of mirrors, windows, watery reflections, delusive surfaces act as the controlling symbols of the poetic whole deepening the sense of metaphysical anxiety.
The quest for identity, for the poet’s mission and axiological status is the cohesive element of the entire volume. The catalyst of change- he seems to say-which helps to effect the transmutation of the base into the noble, the lead of hatred into the alchemical gold of love is the word/Word.
The symphony of poetic words are multiple splinters of the Orphic song whereas Christ is the Logos who confers meaning upon all the other created words. The lyrical texture of “Murals of Poetry” is a tapestry of images –visual, olfactory, tactile, auditory, abstract and kinaesthetic - making up the Mural of human condition projected against the cosmic background.
Virtually all the verses in the volume display an intensely pictorial quality creating overpowering visual effects: the smell of the “cold souls covered with mould” and of the “mist scented with love” becomes almost visible; time itself assumes a color. The colors of the spectrum- from the darkness and solitude of the wasteland of despair to the chromatic fragrance of “the garden of the universe”- become almost audible, creating a multitude of synaesthetic effects.
“Murals of Poetry” displays a polyphony of voices and poetic registers, symbolist echoes being intertwined with gusts of tempestuous, enthusiastic romanticism. The oracular pronouncements are counterbalanced by a delicacy of vision and intensity of perception vibrating in every verse. The lyrical voice ranges from bitter imprecations to sweet declarations of love, from thundering revolt to gentle whispers, resounding with a vast array of feelings and inner pulsations.Every poem throbs with the desire to strike through the mask, to reach out beyond the murals in an attempt to grasp the essence. Plato’s dictum that “God always geometrizes” seems to be rephrased by Munir Mezyed as “God always poeticizes”, “Murals of Poetry” standing out as a most faithful illustration of this adage. And maybe it is in this that the artistic merit of the volume resides.