During the workshop we wrote a multilingual poem. First, we all brought poems from our own countries that dealt with the topics identity, belonging or minorities, and we presented them to one another. Afterwards, we decided to write one ourselves to sum up the ideas we had about the power and meaning of language.
Each "poet" wrote in her own language and just translated the last sentence, so the next person knew a bit about the stanza before. But nobody was allowed to read the rest of what the others had written or to ask for the content. In the end, we translated our own words into English, and surprisingly – it made sense!
The power of words: Original version
Listen to our recording of the original version of the poem:
{audio}/UserFiles/File/ABOUT_US/WORKSHOPS/Poem%20native.mp3{/audio}
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Photo: copyright E&M |
The original text of the poem: we folded the paper so that each person only saw the final line of the stanza which had been written before theirs. |
Die Macht der Worte
Bedeutet auch,
Dass keine Worte
Keine Macht bedeuten.
Başka dilde konușmak
Kelimeler
Bizi ne kadar özgürleștirir ya da sınırlandırır.
Kullandiğimiz kelimeler ne kadar güçlü.
Un sentiment atât de tangibil şi de violent că vreau să fiu ca voi,
Dar că vă urăsc şi că îmi sunteți străini.
Suntem asemănători, dar sunt diferenţe pe care nu le pot ignora,
There is a point where we start speaking different languages.
Cruzar montañas, pasar fronteras
Alcanzar los mares, tocar las estrellas
Caminar solos entre la multitud
Sentirnos uno por una razón.
Doch Worte können uns auch trennen.
Und Gründe liefern, warum wir nicht zusammen passen.
Sarrazins und Camerons
Haben in Worten eine mächtige Waffe.
Słowo staje się narzędziem zbrodni
Jednym słowem można kogoś zabić
Jak irytującą muchę gazetą
Tylko jedno słowo – kara i nagroda:
My word is ‚box', the lost and found box.
I've thrown in it a bunch of words,
Romanian ones that I have lost,
And British sayings that I've found.
Turn over to read the English version of the poem.
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