MARIAN EIKELHOF, THE MOST RELEVANT ACTIVIST POET FROM NETHERLANDS, IS INTERVIEWED BY TATJANA DEBELJAčKI

Can you tell us something about your youth and background?

- The most beautiful period of my life was childhood. My love and harmony were always in my house, with Mom and Dad, we went out for dinner every weekend. When my sister and I grew up, my mom was tougher in terms of going out, and Dad was always steady and did not want to interfere with the mother's upbringing of me and my sister. When we became girls, we went out together and went to the seaside, we had a lot of fun. I was always a bit stubborn, but she always forgave me and eventually laughed at me and myself. From this point of view, I would return to this period of life first because we were somehow the happiest at that time.

One of the themes in your poems is loneliness. What does it mean to you personally?

- Depression can be characterized in many ways, in love or in moments when a person feels the need to be alone or with a loved one. And she is somewhere busy there, for some private reason. I was never completely alone, my biggest friend was always a book. I read two books in parallel, one was easier literature, and the other one was poetry or drama. Everything depended on the mood, so I took books and read them. I received this gift from the person I love most after my mother, Smilja Gavovic. The second pleasure was going to the Gallery at the exhibitions of paintings, art was always my inspiration for writing and analyzing some of my visions and I always thought about how I would paint certain things. Unfortunately this dream has not come true for some known and unknown reasons.

What is your association with chaos?

- We are always in some chaos, we just are not aware of it. Some conscious people will not admit, especially those who try to be respected and create a false image of themselves. I’ve  never paid attention to what people think, it is important for me to stand upright and clean in front of those I love.

How did the war in your country affect you and when it did, did it affect your poetry?

- The war was a great inspiration for me, for creating, for socializing, because we never had such friends as at that time. People were like one, we played cards until early in the morning, drank beer, we made jokes, and it meant  a lot to me that a loved one was at that time with me when it was difficult to arrange a meeting. I had a birthday party and, honestly, it was one of the most beautiful birthdays, we were never closer to each other. There, maybe I'm the only person to whom the war brings good memories.

You show your vulnerability in your poems like feeling sad and insecure. Do you want to strengthen others by doing so? How do you cope with fear?

- Sometimes inspiration comes from uncertainty, some poems are created in such a simple way, sometimes they come from a movie or a good book. I believe that inspiration is always present, curved into a part of me, unspoken through truth, but spoken through what can be interpreted between the lines.

When did you find out that you were a poet and how?

-I started writing when I was 14, and as time went by the poems became more and more my adventure through which I was expressing myself and that  expression was becoming more mature and richer. For a long time, my friends asked me why I would not publish a book, and I did not even think about it in that way until one day, He, who always was the wind in my back, Gordan Cosic, who was the driving force of everything appeared. He was my greatest support in becoming a poet and so it happened. It was the first book "House of Glass", with the illustrations of my friend Dragoljub Djuricic. In 2003, Peter Arbutina entered my life. Faithful protectors and masters of joy, happiness ...

Can you tell us what death means to you? Is it the final end of life or a transitional state to another dimension or ....?

- I only believe in this life that I understand, I do not think about death or future life. I do not deal with those thoughts, nor have I been burdened with them. If  there is something, let me again be given the opportunity to be a writer.

You have had a respectable career as a poet and editor? Can you highlight the important breakthroughs, publications, awards.

- I do not have any significant awards, but I have success because I have always been the golden mean. I chose this life and  I was given the opportunity to be what I am. It is enough to say that I have been translated into 11 languages ​​and and I have won some less famous awards in magazines and haiku poetry.

What is the purpose of poetry?

- What does it mean? Poetry is an indescribable state in which a poet is found. You have success or you don’t  have  it, it all depends on the gift that you possess, your emotions and knowledge, although poets are also prophets. When I go back, some things which I wrote about really happened a couple of years ago. We are all poets, a little bit of scarecrows, with insomnia in ourselves.

Why can pity break a great poet / personality in your perception?

- Only the emotional state can lead me through all the beautiful poems and creation at all. What disturbs me is just being without love. I am addicted to love.

The goal is the path to simplicity and I go safely for it without any doubt about whether I will regret anything tomorrow.

Can you tell us something about your future projects and plans?

--My future plans include a book of poetry translated into Serbian, English and Japanese. I also plan to do a book of haiku in all three languages.

Do you want to add something I’ve forgotten to ask you?

--Yes. You haven’t asked me about my work as an editor and the cooperation with my colleagues. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those people who have been there for me all these years, Veselin Dzeletovic, Sabahudin Hadzialic, Mariko Samikura, Ban’ya Natshuishi, Hidenori Hiruta.

Thank you so much and welcome to the Clinton foundation.
- I’m very happy to ‘meet’ you and thank you for your support. I hope to meet you again in the future.