......and then I met a Georgian poet
On the morning of July 14th, I was doing some work on my laptop at a table in the beautiful back gardens of The Writers' House of Georgia. The way to the gardens from the street was through The Writers' House. An attractive woman came out of the house, paused for a moment on the broad portico, then stepped down into the garden. She walked to the centre and then around the gardens like a tourist snapping pictures. Occasionally she would ask another visitor in the garden to take her picture. My table was at the side of the portico where this woman had entered and would have to exit. As she walked back toward the house, she noticed me and stopped.
"I am poesie," she said, and gave me her name, ია ეკელი. Then, more hesitantly, she added, "I am poet. I am history teacher." This was the beginning. This woman smiled and held her camera toward me, saying just "Please." How could I resist. I accepted the camera and took several pictures of her on and in front of the portico. So began a lovely conversation. Although she has very little English and I have no Georgian, we were able quite easily to communicate, poet to poet. I learned that she has three daughters and a wonderful husband, that she is a history teacher, that she is a successful poet with several books published, and more. In fact, she showed me three of her books, which she happened to have with her. This very open poet even told me her age.
Later in our conversation, a friend of hers joined us. This young man confirmed what I had already learned from the lady herself. What he added was that this autumn - September as I recall - a reception will be held at The Writers' House in honour of this Georgian poet and she will give a reading. I was flattered that, although I am now back in Canada, she has said that she will send me an invitation to this reception. I gave my new poet friend my e-mail address (on my business card) and suggested that we could meet up on Facebook. During our conversation, she found my Facebook page and sent a friend request, which I gladly accepted. I'm very pleased to have found this new friend, ია ეკელი, who is a poet in Georgia. Her books are all in Georgian, so I've been unable yet to read her work. Perhaps I'll try Google Translate and see how badly it may garble her words. Sometimes it's surprising who you might meet just by chance.
ია ეკელი
