The International Festival of Poetry – SPIRITUALITY WITHOUT BORDERS

The International Festival of Poetry “SPIRITUALITY WITHOUT BORDERS” collects and broadcasts bright verses to the Universe in order to survive POETRY – the non-crown queen of the power and wisdom of the divine beginning. The verses are an expression of gratitude to the Creator of life, of people and of the universe

The initiator and organizer of the Festival is the poetess from Plovdiv, Bulgaria Rozalia Aleksandrova. London poet Aleksy Vrobel and his art group KAMPE have been involved as his godparents from the beginning. And, of course, poets from Bulgaria, Poland, Great Britain, Venezuela, Mexico, Morocco, Macedonia, Turkey, Italy, Albania, Italy, Russia, Latvia,Ukraine and others. All poets are united by the idea that there are no limits to poetry, because it is a flame sent from above to people – to protect them, love them and help them in life

This idea became the first unifying thought of the first festival “Spirituality without borders”. This was the name of the first published poetry almanac in the distant 2015, in which 27 poets participated. The creation of each almanac is a work and a tribute to the multifaceted Good. The creators are aware that they participate in a creative army of poets and are responsible for the words they address to their readers and to the Earth. Because every poetic word, like a building block of God, creates our future here and now. And if we build a House of Love and Joy – we will live in it: we, our children and heirs. In 2021, the compilers called another almanac “Whose Soul smiles”, which collected works by 64 artists. These were known and unknown poets such as: Agron Schele from Albania – Belgium, Alicia Minyarez Ramirez from Mexico, Mariela Cordero from Venezuela, Monsif Beroual from Morocco, Marietta Shatro Rrapay from Albania, Claudia Piccinno from Italy and others

In addition to the premiere of the leading almanac, there was a presentation of a literary co-production of the Festival – editions that were also prepared specifically for each of the festival years. Translators of the various publications were: Teresa Moszcinska-Lazarova, Natalia Aleksandrova, Rozalia Aleksandrova, Aleksy Vrobel, Ina Mihailova, Lachezar Selyashki, Nelly Dakova, Galen Ganev and others. The artists Asparuh Sarbov, Rumen Tarnev, Renata Tsigan, the cover designer Georgi Lilitsov were invited for the artistic design of the almanacs, collections and author’s poetry books

On the idea of ​​the organizers in 2017, the Bulgarian sculptor Rangel Stoilov-Bacho created the statuette “Inspiration”, which is awarded annually for achievements in spirituality and poetry

An award was also established for an artist, poet and public figure who has a personal contribution to the development of the Festival. The award is presented only when a deserving holder – a cavalier of the statuette “Flight” is presented. Its author is the Bulgarian sculptor Ilian Sharkov. Represents a woman with a bird in flight. The first cavalier of the statuette “Flight” became the poet and chairman of Union of Bulgarian WritersBoyan Angelov

Over the years, many organizations have included as co-organizers of the Festival: Medical University – Plovdiv, Cultural Center Museum “Trakart”, Union of Bulgarian Writers, National Library “Ivan Vazov”, Community Center “Vazrazhdane – 1983”, Community Center “Contemporary – 1986”, Puldin Art Club, Volar Gallery – Belozem, the site for literature and art “Literary World”, the newspaper “Literature and Society”, the site for literature “Atunis Galaxy Poetry” and others. The support of the National Radio Plovdiv is also traditional. The poetic meetings, in addition to traditional ones, grew into plein airs of art, visualized the Bulgarian folk customs such as “Calling bread”, created an atmosphere of friendship, cooperation and love

Agron Shele – Belgium-Albania

Alicia Miniarez – Mexico

Alicja Maria Kuberska – Poland

Boyan Angelov – Bulgaria

Ganyu Ganev – Bulgaria

Evgenia Tagareva – Bulgaria – holder of the statuette “Inspiration” – 2021

Claudia Picino – Italy

Lyubka Slavova – Bulgaria

Margarita Dimitrova – Bulgaria

Monsif Beroual – Morocco

Mariela Cordero – Venezuela

Rozalia Aleksandrova – Bulgaria

Stanislav Penev – Bulgaria

Yordanka Getsova – Bulgaria

1. AGRON SHELE– Belgium-Albania

TO THE GATE OF ORACLES

 

A breath has come from a distant whisper

and a ray that descends through the lights of attractive mornings

it is the very first bar of light

hidden behind the clouds ascended above

Navigating through spaces that are felt by wings

and descends in the frontiers of a mind amid the clarity named hope

depicted through organs that swallow every sound and color

of the worldly, where we are almost lost

As a suffering letter escaping from the erosion of time

we depict our invisibility

and are excited about items gone and identify us today

the solair creek , of that sun ray turned into broken pieces

mirrored again tomorrow

and other explorations

will break the succumbed era

as a symbol and fiery desire

to remain

as a trace of that life were a roving echo

will eulogize again the ancient land

And when the largest gate of freedom

opened through gods and oracles standing above

would convince the heart, that everything passes through angels that cross

through universe

then all source will be revived

and soul

into fire and shivering

would be the only brightness that will shine the world

 

2. ALICIA MINJAREZRAMIREZ– Mexico

 

BREATH OF LIGHT

To my beloved angel

Mute allegory of clouds
Feeling my cedars’ roots
Designing the path
Song of blackbirds and orioles
Stunned chimera permuting
Fertile figs and pomegranates

Musical waterfalls permeate thick
Alders and chestnuts, ethereal decline
Antioch’s legacy rinses and distorts
Coasts, olives and vines
Over the Patara’s coastline

Emir necromancer
Descends from bare meadows
Revealing seeds to quench the moon
In the subtle geography of my own shadows

Your eyes light up the awoken clay
Of jade and honeysuckle
Moistening poems to clear the air
Of the past hours

Imprecise and concrete trail
Upon the wind of days
That intertwines our dawn
A brief breath of your light is enough
In the abyss of my night

3. ALICJA MARIA KUBERSKA– Poland

RAINY SONATA

 

Sudden gusts of wind tap

rhythmically upon the window

Raindrops jangle on the glass

 Downpour composes a sonata

It records transparent notes

On the invisible staves

Single sounds join together

to create the thundering chords

Cold drops vibrate in music

Antarctic glaciers crumble

hot springs of geysers steam

rivers flow down with an allegro rhythm

Water, as Jew the Eternal Wanderer

will never know peace

It will continue roaming

between steam and ice

Yesterday it was an ocean

Today it is a lake

Tomorrow it will be a tear

4. BOYAN ANGELOV– Bulgaria

CONVERSATION WITH SILENCE

 

The voice does not seem unfamiliar

But sounds are so unclear

That my hearing has to become

A radar station

And decipher

What the mountain will tell me

This mountain that I compare to

The headless sphinx

I don’t believe I’m colder

Than the stone

I already possess

A recipe

How to survive

In that exact case

If I fall into

Insights destructive

But the voice does not sound

Like a real voice

And the mountain actually

Is so mountainous

Although it’s called

Sainte Viktoire

It was immortalized

By Cezanne

And in the night

Astonishment it’s radiating

                                I mean the sphinx

                                That I had a talk with

                                Tomorrow

 

5. GANYU GANEV– Bulgaria

DAY SEVEN – SUNDAY

 

Time – tick

Vanity – tack

Time – tick

as the hastle vanishes from veins – sic

And the gong – ding

crunch and dong

a staring lunch interfered

And the device – click

and voice –calm

In the afternoon – soon

Fresh evening knocked ”bing- bang” – stubborn gong

A

day, day-dreaming – calm and dumb

gained some force – confusing bug

Inhaling time, the burden rose to – tick

taming the daily fuss

6–

 –EVGENIA TAGAREVA– Bulgaria 

 

holder of the statuette “Inspiration” – 2021

I arrived here out of thirst

I came to the garden of feelings

to the green oasis of enchanting fantasies

I sipped from the heavy water

of my own

happiness

and I already want to leave

I drank from the deceptive water

of entertainment

and laughter

and I must already leave

Because I am a Traveller, illuminated

from the glow of sunny rivers

because I am the Way

to the Source

7. CLAUDIA PICCINNO– Italy

 

I AM GLASS

I am beyond prudence of silence

beyond all automation

beyond these stunts of the daily routine

I am other by those who boast

to perform a duty as if it were one existential mission

I’m in the books I’ve read

and in the verses I wrote

in the unwary daring of my students

and in their argument aloud

I am in the time that I dedicate to my son

I will be elsewhere to observe splinters

of freedom denied avoiding the sharp edges

I am glass, you mirror yourself in me

and you know that I reflect

I am other, I am beyond

I am elsewhere

8. LYUBKA SLAVOVA– Bulgaria

А CARDIGAN FROM MY GRANDMOTHER

I dream of your hands – with a warm knit

And the safety needle on the front

I wake up. The last cardigan

keeps the warmth of memory pale

I put it on and I go on the road

on weekdays. Time flies

Your arms embrace and guide

you take care of me through the knitting

I look at the cardigan when I’m sick

it reminds me of a lemon, of a spoonful of honey

I want to see you in the night again

but only your spirit is with me everywhere

How I miss you… And my cardigan

hangs alone in my wardrobe

You weaved love. Every cell of mine

mourns for you. Where are you today

Then I hear your voice somehow

reached with warmth over the time

And the string of rich memories

reminds me of your kindness

I will keep your songs in my heart

and I will sing them with my children

The cardigan will warm my shoulders

on my way in cold mornings

 

9. MARGARITA DIMITROVA– Bulgaria

 

SOUL

Breath shook the darkness

And she, my Soul, wept

For a moment groaned silently

and seemed to suffer bitterly

But something unexpectedly beautiful

With Love my Soul embraced

She filled herself with light

And with faith in universal Love

that in an instant the world around us

will become new

10. MONSIF BEROUAL– Morocco

WRITING A SONG FOR THE WORLD

 I’m writing a song for the world

A melody of love dives in my soul

For the world, I sing a song

Cross the seas, cross the walls and oceans

Carried by the wind

Brings the love not the war

Wave it into the white sheet

Makes the change, brings the love

Brings the hope

Word by word will made a change

Be a poet, be an artist

Be a message, be a messenger

Be a pen, be the ink painting everything

Together we can, we can make the change

As the drop of rain changes everything

Be the star in sky, gives the light guides the hopeless sights

Be the prayer; be the faith itself as the sun burns itself

Be the love, be the hope as a melody

Together we will brought the love

Into this huge universe

11. MARIELA CORDERO– Venezuela

YOUR BODY OR A DISTANT COUNTRY

The maps as a fragile truce

are made of scattered atoms

To reach your boundaries and touch your skin

I must discover

The burning zones and the shortcuts of the random

The lubricious compass will expel me

to the center

of the anointed war of love

I will arrive to lose myself between

the sacredness and the whirlwind

The ancient spiral of desire

still devouring pulsations

The heart is an arrow and a target

               Your body is a distant country

12. ROZALIA ALEKSANDROVA– Bulgaria

I PAINT

your portrait

with the color of the face

I feel the taste

of life

With fingers

sculpt

the primary call

of the heart

In wrinkles

have ceased

time stops

and I go

the first scream

the first song

the first thought

why I am given

to the world

I follow

with the brush thirsty

secret folds

in fate

and then

overlay

dreams

and behold

I kiss

The Soul

13. STANISLAV PENEV – Bulgaria

HEIGHT

Weak life is

If no Golgotha swells

In our veins

If no love

Of which I may revive

Rises me to the Cross

If the suffering does not dawn on everyone

But only is a poet’s doom

If a slit gapes in faith

And its roots

Are just fruitless chump

Weak life is

If before death

I have not felt a vice

If the sacrament has not thrown me

Among the passions of humanity

If I do not receive consolation by the sunrise

Which I put on as if my own mantle

If a star dies out in me

With a blown-up heart

By misfortune

Life has no right

To take away

My spaces and my saddle

… Even in the black fallow land

I will build a nest again

For the element

14. YORDANKA GETSOVA– Bulgaria

SNOWFLAKE  VORTEX

A sudden blast

trespassing code and law

to point of innocence is stripping

us, embraced into infinity

Alluring snowflakes dance in loops

beneath the glare of the lanterns

they’re spilling pure crystal kindness

in a protective shining sphere

Even if the Universe evanishes

Redeemed in snowflakes elevators

outside the time foretold

The Continuum will be dissolving

in front of glassy essence

The absolute unseen is crumbling

To blanket hidden roughness

from ground sky-high

Spinning vortex – tuning tones

for echo of a couple’s heartbeats

Beyond the substantial existing

souls interlace in graceful symphony

Are we indulged? To the extreme

On verge of sheer trust

in absolute undoubted truth

to find ourselves in new reality