Poetry
Here Was
A collection of seventy-seven poems, Here Was reflects Portelli’s nomadic adventures and travels in three different continents from Ramallah to Bologna, from Toronto to Rabat, and from Lisbon to Istanbul. A gripping collection that mixes existential elements with the call for social justice, and the recollections of gone by days.
Finalists for poetry in the Canadian Book Club Awards. An incredibly compelling collection.
Hollay Ghadery
HERE WAS pierces the zeitgeist of what it means to
inhabit that razorblade-thin realm of the foreign.
Josie Di Sciascio-Andrews
This is the poetics of a nomad at sea.
John Baldacchino
Portelli’s voice is an invitation au voyage — one that
is as harrowing as it can be sensuous.
Norbert Bugeja
Portelli weaves a vision of a Mediterranean world
always in process of becoming, and he opens for us
the fractures of its sublime beauty.
Stephanos Stephanides
IL-Ħsad tal-Peprin
Edituri: John P. Portelli, David Aloisio
L-antoloġija Il-Ħsad tal-Peprin (2024) tipproponi l-espressjoni kollettiva ta’ diversi poeti Maltin li ma felħux jibqgħu siekta quddiem il-ħruxija mġarrba mill-Palestinjani, speċjalment wara l-iżviluppi f’dawn l-aħħar xhur. Aloisio u Portelli, l-edituri ta’ din il-ġabra, jistiednu lill-qarrejja biex jesploraw il-medda ta’ emozzjonijiet espressi f’dawn il-poeżiji: xi minn daqqiet tbaqbaq fihom l-empatija, drabi oħra l-versi jinħakmu mid-diqa u mis-sens ta’ frustrazzjoni ta’ min jaf li ma jista’ jagħmel xejn biex itaffi, imqar ftit, it-tbatija mgħejxa mill-bnedmin u kkawżata mill-bnedmin li suppost jafu aħjar. Il-qari ta’ din l-antoloġija jista’ jikxef ukoll is-sens ta’ tama li din l-inġustizzja traġika għad tintemm darba għal dejjem. B’sapport għall-poplu Palestinjan, il-qligħ kollu mill-bejgħ ta’ din il-ġabra se jingħata lill-Medical Aid for Palestinians, l-għaqda li taħdem għas-saħħa u d-dinjità tal-Palestinjani li jgħixu taħt l-okkupazzjoni jew bħala refuġjati. Dan il-ktieb, mitbugħ mill-Horizons bl-għajnuna tal-Ministeru tal-Kultura, huwa qatra oħra fil-mewġ favur il-ġustizzja soċjali u s-sliem dejjiemi bejn il-poplu Lhudi u l-poplu Palestinjan.
Poems by: Raed Anis Al-Jishi (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), Ridvan Ardic (Türkiye), Lil Blume (Canada), Taghrid Bou Merhi (Lebanon and Brazil), Hasan Bozdaş (Türkiye), Norbert Bugeja (Malta), Tatev Chakhian (Armenia), Franca Colozzo (Italy), Lana Derkač (Croatia), Josie Di Sciascio-Andrews (Canada), Leanne Ellul (Malta), Marthese Fenech (Malta), Abigail George (South Africa), Joe Giampaolo (Canada), Elham Hamedi (Iran), Xanthi Handrou-Hill (Greece), Jennifer Hosein (Canada), Fady Joudah (USA), Sheema Kalbasi (Iran, Denmark, USA), Rula Kahil (Lebanon and Canada), Nibal Khalil (Palestine), Zeyneb Karaca (Türkiye), Yahia Lababidi (USA), Milica Jeftimijević Lilić (Serbia), Sonia Maddouri (Tunisia), Lisa Suhair Majaj (Palestine, U.S.A., and Cyprus), Marwan Makhoul (Palestine), Leila Marshy (Canada), Taghrid Bou Merhi (Lebanon and Brazil), Ahmed Miqdad (Palestine), Maria Miraglia (Italy), Walid Nabhan (Malta, Jordan, Palestine), Mirela Necula (Romania), Mansour Noorbakhsh (Canada), Joseph C. Ogbonna (Nigeria), Muhammed Huseyin Ozer (Türkiye), John P. Portelli (Malta and Canada), Niloy Rafiq (Bangladesh), Shirani Rajapakse (Sri Lanka), Giovanna Riccio (Canada), Omar Sabbagh (Lebanon), Paul Salvatori (Canada), Eray Saricam (Türkiye), Zulal Sema (Türkiye), Cao Shui (China), Kadir Tepe (Türkiye), Graciela Noemi Villaverde (Argentina), Mirela Leka Xhava (France, Albania), Klara Vassallo (Malta), Anna Yin (Canada), Ghassan Zaqtan (Palestine)
Unsilenced
Poems for Palestine
Unsilenced: Poems for Palestine is a collection of poems that convey profound emotions and serious reflections on the ongoing situation in Gaza and Palestine since the Nakba. The anthology seeks to express the moral outrage felt by poets from around the world, highlighting the perceived double standards of the West regarding international law and the suffering of the Palestinian people. The poems examine the daily realities of life and philosophical perspectives on the human condition, using nature as a motif to articulate emotions and explore themes of homeland, childhood, exile, genocide, and war. All proceeds from the sale of the collection will be donated to Gaza, demonstrating the poets’ commitment to fostering positive change through their art. Contributors include diverse voices from various countries, each recognizing the urgency and necessity of addressing the inhumane actions perpetrated against Palestine.
Income from the sale of this title will be donated for Palestine.
The Shadow
Poems for the Children of Gaza
Discover The Shadow: Poems for the Children of Gaza, a poignant collection by Palestinian poet Ahmed Miqdad and Maltese-Canadian poet John P. Portelli. Written amidst the horrors of Gaza’s genocide and the personal battle with cancer, these 42 poems bear witness to the intersection of political violence and personal mortality. Through raw emotion and lyrical defiance, the poets forge solidarity across borders, offering a glimmer of hope in the face of erasure.
Featuring evocative art by Malak Mattar and a foreword by Professor Jamil Khader, this collection is a call to remember, resist, and reclaim humanity. A portion of proceeds will support Palestinian relief efforts.
Once I Forget. Poems.
“Once I Forget,” a collection of poems by John P. Portelli, originally written in Maltese and translated by Aaron Aquilina and John Martin. These sections include the title page, a preface by Professor Norbert Bugeja, and portions of the poems themselves, which explore themes of memory, exile, loss, and the poet’s childhood village, Ħad-Dingli. The preface highlights Portelli’s struggle with forgetfulness and his focus on the vanishing past, connecting his work to literary figures like Yeats and Walcott. Furthermore, the source provides biographical notes on the author, translators, and cover artist, Carmel Micallef, along with endorsements that praise the poetry’s transcendence of the lyric and its powerful exploration of nostalgia and the impossibility of return.
Translated from the Maltese by Aaron Aquilina and John Martin.
John P. Portelli treads along those nebulous cliff-edges where forgetfulness attempts to pick at the treacherous scabs of recall, capturing the vertigo of a distant childhood as it inches outward
into the land’s end of metaphor. — Prof. Norbert Bugeja
Portelli’s gorgeous poems speak of exile, searching, and loss in such a way that the reader becomes one with the village of his birth, the cliffs, the smells, his frail body, and the sea. —Jennifer Hosein, Tiohtià:ke/ Montreal-born writer, visual artist and educator, author A Map of Rain Days
..the poems of Once I Forget restore our faith in the transcendence of the lyric, in the power of song and secular psalm. — Karen Shenfeld, Canadian writer and film-maker,
author The Law of Return
Aici, cândva
Am terminat de lecturat cartea de poeme semnată de John P. Portelli, poet născut în Malta, profesor universitar în Toronto, Aici, cândva, tradusă de Călin Vlasie, publicată în iunie 2023 la ROCART.
Despre migrație, despre desprinderea de pământ, despre un “acasă” nicăieri, despre căutarea libertății și rebeliune, despre dreptate și adevăr.
De o profunzime specifică poeziei poeților arabi, și totuși, altceva. Mă bucur enorm și sunt onorată că am avut șansa să întâlnesc un asemenea poet la Festivalul internațional de literatură în stradă FILSTREET! ”
Gabriela FECEORU
Questo mare. Poetica
Questo mare di John P. Portelli è una silloge tenera e delicata, nella quale l'esperienza poetica è come una finestra aperta sulla vita, sul quotidiano. L'autore, infatti, simile a un pittore che dipinge en plein air, è perennemente immerso nella realtà alla ricerca di istanti, di fatti, di volti da immortalare.
bejn il-binarji
Category: Poems
DESCRIPTION
Ix-xita t’għada tneżżgħek minn kull passjoni
u l-għasafar jitħajru jerġgħu lura
jaqbżu minn binarju
għal ieħor.
Dan il-ktieb huwa eleġija għall-assenza nfisha — forsi dil-poeżija hija diskursata ma’ ħajja li, hi u titlef tifsiritha, issir vjaġġ li d-destin aħħari tiegħu għadu, kif jistqarr Portelli, identità mistura. Jew forsi vers maqtugħ ħesrem. Jew inkella l-metamorfosi tal- vuċi poetika nfisha.
Norbert Bugeja
Bħal fieres nobbli, Portelli jġorr it-toqol tal-ħajja fuq iż-żiemel tal-poeżija biex jittraċċa s-sentimenti u l-polz tar-ruħ umana, u biex jixgħel ix-xemgħat fl- irkejjen mudlama… u mill- ħarifa jerġa’ jinseġ l-ilbiesi friski tar-rebbiegħa.
Walid Nabhan
Dar-Riħ Malizzjuż
L-ewwel ktieb ta’ poeżiji bil-Malti bl-użu tal-QR code; tista’ tisimgħu jinqara xħin trid
Il-Festival Mediterranju tal-Letteratura ta' Malta 2021: Qari
John Portelli reading a selection of his poetry in Maltese at the Festival Mediterranju tal-Letteratura, 2021
Poems available ON LINE
Poem Hunter: My Fair Land / Haifa / The Lost Coyote
Our Poetry Archive: In Between / Elegy For The Uprooted
Poetry Readings
ONCE I FORGET: POEMS. Quebec: Daraja Press, Malta: Horizons Malta.
THE SHADOW by Ahmed Miqdad and John P. Portelli, Malta, Horizons, 2024
Sulfur Editions and Horizons Malta present SOON The Lost Coyote Poems by John P. Portelli. Artworks by Ghadah Kamal.
Reinventing Borders Conference at University of Tunis el Manar.
META TASAL, TASAL (poezji), Malta: Horizons, Diċembru 2024.
Qari minn META TASAL, TASAL (Horizons Malta, 2024).
John read Hope and some of his favourite poetry as part of the The Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival - an established annual international literary festival organized by the voluntary cultural organization Inizjamed in collaboration with the European network Literature Across Frontiers and other national and international partners including Arts Council Malta, Heritage Malta, and the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.
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bejn il-binarji
Ix-xita t’għada tneżżgħek minn kull passjoniu l-għasafar jitħajru jerġgħu lurajaqbżu minn binarjugħal ieħor.
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Dar-Riħ Malizzjuż
L-ewwel ktieb ta’ poeżiji bil-Malti bl-użu tal-QR code; tista’ tisimgħu jinqara xħin trid
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Luggage/Baggage
A collection of 34 poems in English, with French translation by Elizabeth Grech.
Reviews
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Imkien Għall-Kenn Poeżiji
ilbieraħ il-baħar mewweġ bil-qawwa illejla kajman ifakkar biss rifless ta’ veru
A collection of 52 poems in Maltese.
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Bejn Zewg Dinjiet: Malta u l-Kanada/In Between: Malta and Canada
Collection of poems in Maltese and the English translation with an introduction by Professor Oliver Friggieri, Chair of Department of Maltese Studies, University of Malta). Toronto: Melita Books (October 2003).
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Xewqat tal-Passa
A collection of 57 poems in Maltese with English translations.
Ipassu x-xewqat
bla passaporti,
bla post u ankri,
infiniti.They migrate
without passport,
place or anchor,
infinite. -
Tgħanniq ieħor Poeżiji mill-Iżolament
L-imxija tal-COVID-19 ġabet realtà ġdida li ħadd qatt m’għex, jekk mhux l-aktar imġarrba fost il-ġenerazzjonijiet tagħna. Id-distanzi fiżiċi ta’ bejnietna kibru. Il-jiem qatt m’għaddew aktar bil-mod. U bosta bibien ingħalqu għal tliet xhur u fuqhom – xi wħud saħansitra ngħalqu darba għal dejjem. Fl-istess nifs, rajna atti aktar kuraġġużi ta’ solidarjetà soċjali, il-bini ta’ pontijiet ġodda, u żieda fil-valur tal-ħin li nqattgħu flimkien. Il-poeżiji miġbura f’din l-antoloġija huma espressjoni kreattiva ta’ dawn ir-realtajiet u espressjoni kontra l-iżolament.
Parti mid-dħul minn din l-antoloġija qed tmur b’risq il-ħidma ta’ SOAR, fergħa fi ħdan il-Fondazzjoni St Jeanne Antide, li taħdem ma’ nisa u tfal li għelbu l-vjolenza domestika.
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Taħt iċ-Ċirasa/Under the Cherry Tree
Collection of 37 poems and 100 haiku in Maltese with English translations. Introduction by Dr. Adrian Grima, University of Malta. Malta: PEG Publishers, Fall 2008.