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Dialogue with poet Renata Verejanu

Poets on the front line of spiritual rebirth

(Elena Dabija, director of the Eminescu Academic Centre,

in dialogue with poet Renata Verejanu, president of the International Union of Creative People)

Elena Dabija: Dear Renata Verejanu, I am glad that I have the opportunity to dialogue with you now, in August 2021, over 30 years... I admired you on August 27, 1991—you, Leonida Lari, and Lidia Istrati—delighted by your speeches on the improvised stage in the Great National Assembly Square in the presence of over a hundred thousand people... God, how many hopes I had in those moments...

Renata Verejanu: It's a mutual state, or, in these painful times of a global pandemic, I'm glad that we are full of life and enthusiasm, almost like when the independence of the Republic of Moldova was proclaimed...

ED: Unlike others, you, the struggling poet, appeared on the stage of the Great National Assembly with a beautiful baggage of concrete facts, with clear thoughts...

RV: But also with Offering to Humanity…

ED: ... yes, with the legendary volume of poems, kept for 10 years, which everyone was looking for... You were one of the most famous writers of the seventies generation; you had held a lot of events with the Grai Matern Cenacle (the 80th anniversary of Maria Cebotari, banned in the USSR; Matcovschi's 50th anniversary, while the poet was lying on the edge of suffering; and you had released the banned film by Vlad Ioviță and Gheorghe Malarciuc...), where the theatres were packed... while some of today's great heroes were hiding behind the door, afraid that the popular movement would sweep them into the past. You created a beautiful name for the writers' guild; you produced literary, cultural, educational, and social events... unique in the Bessarabian space, luring other writers to the shock team of the renaissance through brave deeds... First, you nominated Mihai Cimpoi as a candidate for deputy in the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and, by ensuring his victory, the rumour that you bring good luck spread. Then Leonida Lari invited you to be her confidant, then... The world loved you so much; why didn't you become a deputy? Remind us of a few moments from the beginning...

RV: I believe that every person has their own destiny; I believe in a contact, a covenant between the creative person and the cosmos, and the universe that gives us intuition and courage... I often wondered why I was chosen in particular? For what good did I have to risk my life and those close to me?... But after seeing the behaviour of many during the years that passed after those events—one thing they spoke from the platform and another thing they did in life—today I find many clear answers. But at that time I was so full of enthusiasm; I was proud of the creative energy that dominated me, with which I infected my peers, being delighted to see how many people supported me...

ED: The world liked you because you were very brave... You made a name for yourself, and the name worked for you and for others. And you remained the most courageous lady of letters.... I remember, after you recited a few poems at the Cenaclul Luceafărul at Tinerimea Moldovei, around 1983-1984, what an atmosphere was created...

RV: Yes... I was delighted by the grace given by the Divine Power, hypnotized by the magic of the Romanian language in which I clothed the poems I wrote every night... The Romanian language was the national hero... For the return of the Romanian language to its place of honour, so many people pleaded—the whole nation...

ED: I suppose at that time you didn't realize how cruel the times were, or how much could happen to you. Otherwise, you wouldn't have handed over five manuscripts one after the other to censorship, which over 10 years constituted the volume Offering to Humanity, so current today, reaching its 6th edition... How were you not afraid to write such brave poems in those times?... "My words, my long punishments"... I find that you were not only the bravest of writers but also the most consistent creative person; you launched a lot of projects, which continued one after the other; you created a lot of new, modern civil society structures, which involved a lot of people across different generations... An entire network, crowned by obtaining participatory status at the Council of Europe, where you took the youth to various important meetings. You opened a lot of new roads... you made the world happy with new events... you worked a lot, so that today you can reap fruit worthy of all praise: a lot of young people you supported have become well-known personalities in our culture... the International Union of Creative People, the European Academy of Civil Society, and the "Renata Verejanu" International Poetry Festival, which takes place every year from March 1 to August 31 and which has already been attended by hundreds of creative people from many countries, are the fruit of that titanic work. But you also delighted readers with more than 70 book titles...

RV: Withheld by the regime, and all edited on their own... but in their natural garb, in Latin script...

ED: You were not afraid of that regime, of the system... And the system took revenge and marginalized you as much as it could... But this made you even stronger.

RV: Something or someone saved me every time... And not just me: Grigore Vieru, Mihai Cimpoi... other colleagues with whom I was in the renaissance shock team... I know precisely that I was not afraid.

ED: And then they assassinated your husband to scare you, the fighting poet... But let's go back to the first structures created by Renata Verejanu. It was 1988; five manuscripts were held back (since 1980) at the state publishing house, the only one where a writer could be published. You had enormous creative energy, original ideas, great courage, and...

RV: ...Thus, out of the blue, like all other ideas, the thought came to me to create the Grai Matern Cenacle, with which, from the very day of its foundation, I had been on the front line of the national renaissance, of the democratization process, for the Romanian language, for the freedom of the press, and for the rule of law (1988). At the inauguration, we invited personalities from our neighbourhood: Mihai Cimpoi, Olga Ciolacu, Dumitru Fusu, Maria Mardare, Nana Plămădeala, Vasile Nedelea... All of them were curious to find out what I wanted to create, supporting the idea that a movement, a change, something new and original was called for. Admirers of my poetry had also come: Glebus Sainciuc, Vasile Căpățănă, Silviu Fusu, with his actors from the Ion Creangă Ethno-Folk Theatre, but also many people I didn't even know. I intuited that I must also invite the party leaders of the district—which at that time was called Dnestrovschi—to the constituent meeting...

ED: But the very first party secretary comes...

RV: The room at the Transilvania Library (it didn't have a name yet, but simply a number) was packed. The group of librarians led by Parascovia Onciu did not know where to look for chairs. Someone very ingenious found a high-backed chair especially for me. I presented some objectives of one of the first new, modern structures of civil society, and I recited some poems... There was an explosion of applause, blessing, admiration, and support... After two or three meetings for Grai Matern, it was impossible to walk on the street or in the trolleybus—everyone knew you. And of course, streams of questions flowed.

ED: The world wanted change and you were, in the words of the late literary critic Ion Ciocanu, one step ahead of the time, and of your colleagues... The world liked your overflowing, positive energy, self-confidence, and courage. With you, people felt safe.

RV: And after many people had taken the floor, and G. Sainciuc had presented his masks, and the artists from S. Fusu's theatre recited, danced, and sang—everything very patriotic—the hall was boiling... the first party secretary also asked to speak... To everyone's great surprise, the first party secretary praised my initiative; he even proved the necessity and importance for the youth of the district of such "posidelki"... He was a progressive man; he felt a strong wave of change, and he didn't go against the tide... I haven't met him since then... A lot of people came to the Grai Matern Cenacle; there was no room in the library and we moved to the Palace of Trade Unions... But after a few so-called meetings—in fact, there were performances which ended with appeals to the elders of that time—the big hall of the Palace of Trade Unions was not spacious enough... I had gone out to the Alley of Classics of Romanian Literature...

ED: Then, at the founding of that movement, the world was cheering: Joan of Arc, Joan of Arc... And the first party secretary from the district was applauding... He must have been happy that from the Ciocana neighbourhood, a spiritual rebirth was going down the valley, over the capital...

RV: Joan of Arc... I was happy when this name passed from me to Leonida Lari. It suited her better. I wanted to create my own name. How Lucian Blaga created himself: being in the enormous shadow of Eminescu, he was able to create his immortality.

ED: I risk being naive if I asked you what someone else asked you: where does so much creative energy come from? That would mean asking where so much life comes from, going through so many struggles. I will ask you more specifically: In March 1991, when you decided to hold the first celebration of Union Day in the Great National Assembly Square, where the Hora Unirii was danced for the first time, where did you get such courage?... We were still in the USSR... Out of the enormous number of several thousand people present, perhaps a hundred had gathered in the hall, and many of them were looking around, worried that their bosses might see them... And the Poet?

RV: I felt the breath of time. And then, we were celebrating concrete historical dates; why and of whom should we be afraid? Bessarabians often promote the fear of failure first, then the idea, the event...

ED: By the 1980s, when someone asked you what you were doing, you answered: I love ... Had you read Lucian Blaga during the totalitarian regime? You could be arrested for reading Romanian books...

RV: I had read mountains of good books. I had also read Blaga's poems; at that time, they seemed soulless. In youth, I admired Anna Akhmatova and Charles Baudelaire... I discovered Blaga later; my son showed me how grandiose he is: "In love, we believe that we are". Extremely beautifully said. But I think very few people have read his work... I don't think there are more than a handful of people in Moldova who have read his Trilogies cover to cover. But those who read them have a different attitude towards life, and especially towards themselves. One begins to respect oneself more, to trust oneself. Learn what human dignity is, this priceless wealth... If you have human dignity, no one asks you what language you speak; they respect you, and that's it.

ED: And you?

RV: I was born with a lot of confidence, with self-respect, with a lot of courage... Or maybe the seven hillson which tmynative village is located, where I grew up, gave me this unprecedented courage and the great love of ppeople,of the nation, of the country. Respect for the written word, but also for the given word...

ED: Dear Renata Verejanu, I know that in the history of the national revival and the democratization process you have a special page... And thanks to you, thanks to the "Grai Matern" Cenacle which is still active today, thanks to other writers and people of culture who have fought for our national values, our peers can beautifully celebrate Our Romanian Language, a unique celebration in the great family of peoples of the world. Now, on the eve of these great national holidays: the 30th anniversary of the proclamation of the independence of the Republic of Moldova... the Celebration of the Romanian Language, I wish you: Happy Birthday... New achievements, new books, new accomplishments.

RV: Thank you, Mrs. Elena Dabija... Congratulations to you and to the Eminescu International Academic Centre, which you have led for many years with great success, and where we carried out projects together. Happy Birthday, Moldova! Happy Birthday, Romanian Language.

August 2021, Eminescu International Academic Centreu