From That Place in My Heart

I started writing poetry in my early forties. When I was younger I was much shier in my writings, and never would have imagined I would someday write my own poems. I used to read a lot of poetry, mostly the Romanian classics like Mihai Eminescu, George Cosbuc, Topirceanu, Alexandri, the French poets Baudelaire, La Fontaine, or the likes of Pablo Neruda whom I later discovered. My poetry is inspired by life, yet, just like the classics, when I write, I like to let my imagination go and pretend that I am composing a fictional piece. This is why, sometimes even the rhythm changes, not only the rhyme of each verse within the poem. I have a poetic nature, and I am drawn to metaphors, but I can also use description to depict a story in the most honest, direct way, while allowing for the poetical value to be revealed within the content of the whole poem. I do not like to be constrained in any way, and my poetry is generally free verse with some rhyme. I get my inspiration from love, spirituality or politics. I write directly in Romanian or English and sometimes French. Some of my poems can be very closely drawn from my life, such as those dedicated to my brother Catalin or to my husband Mihai. Others can have a link or be inspired by the work of others. In both cases, I tend to maintain a close involvement and satisfy my need for deeper spirituality, closer relationship to God and love for those close to me, or generally for fellow man. I would not consider myself an erudite, and my poetry is simple. Hardship, pain, love, sheer joy, despair or anxiousness, they all inspired me at one point or another. I have lived them all, and all those experiences made me what I am today. In my poem Never Bowed, or in Key To The West, I talk about my pride and difficulties I felt when trying to integrate in the American society, while a first generation emigrant.