My first time at Stafford Poetry Slam, I performed this poem in the first round. I went through to the the final, where I came second. I haven’t done many slams before, despite writing since childhood, so I am very pleased with the result. Trying to decide what poems could fit with this event, I…
I have known doctors and hospitals since the age of 1 year and 10 months, due to asthma and severe bronchitis. My memory keeps no record of the first prolonged stay in the Children’s Hospital in Timisoara, Romania. But I clearly remember the mixture of disappointment with resignation when I felt life draining out of…
My partner’s daughter, Rosie, goes to high school starting this year! Her first day there, last week, sounded a bit scary and disappointing, but now she comes back home with a glint in her eyes and a knowing smile in the corners of her mouth. She reminds me of when, exactly her age, I won…
Written today, this poem comes as it is. It might be part of a series, it might be just a one off. If you read it all, you will understand why. the whiff of hot cocoa milk and a strange little childhood in a communist flat the whiff of hot cocoa milk two furry faces…
Photo: @Gareth Reed carbon gas dwells just a few notes above the golden tears and the village dazed by music tequila marijuana I remember the first time I heard his music that summer when I was very fat very in love with a German young man visiting with my cousin I was one step away…
Today, in Romania we celebrate Palm Sunday, which is called Florii. Probably linked with the old pagan traditions, it means the flowers (Sunday). I myself was baptised on this day, the year I was born. And as we celebrate Easter today in the UK, with my first Easter catholic mass yesterday evening, my thoughts go back to…
In the intro for my newly-launched vlog, I mentioned my poetry book “Sister of war”, published in 2012 in Romania. There is a story to this, as I left the country in 2011 and never expected any longer an email back from the editor, after months of waiting. The reply then rested in my old, unused inbox…
I wanted to write my memories of growing up in communist Romania for quite a while now. Since I have been living in the UK, time and time again I witnessed how little is known about my home country and its people. The general media depictions of Romanians tend to be less than favourable. The…
Would you watch a video about somebody’s home/homeland? Would somebody you did not know, from a country you do not know a lot about, have any chance to gain your attention? How much would you want to learn about somebody from Eastern Europe? The first complex video I ever made, with a very basic tool…
