Màrius Sampere

Quan ja saps

Language: catalan

Translations: english (When you already know), german (Wenn du schon weißt)

Quan ja saps

Quan ja saps
que cada rostre és un marbre
musical, que la nit
no és la por de la llum, que l’ull obert
de la finestra no mira
enlloc i que no té
pes el pes,

¿què hi fas, encara,
a escola
aprenent de lletra; dures, gruixudes
guixades de carbó
amb sang a les parets?

Màrius Sampere

photo © private

* 28.12.1928, Barcelona, Spain
† 26.05.2018, Barcelona, Spain

Màrius Sampere was a poet, painter, composer and lyricist.

As a poet, he published numerous books, noteworthy among which are L’home i el límit (Man and Limit, 1968), Poemes en baixa freqüència (Low Frequency Poems, 1976), Recull de Blanes (The Blanes Collection, 1975), Samsara (1982), Llibre de les inauguracions (Book of Inaugurations, 1984), Demiúrgia (Demiurge, 1996), Subllum (Sublight, 2000), Les imminències (The Imminences, 2002) and Jerarquies (Hierarchies, 2003).

photo © private

He garnered the most prestigious accolades awarded to Catalan poetry, including the title of Master in the Art of Poetry at the Jocs Florals literary competition, the Creu de Sant Jordi (St. George’s Cross), the Crítica Serra d’Or Prize, the City of Barcelona Poetry Prize and the National Prize for Literature.

Also noteworthy were his advanced studies in music (he was both a composer and a lyricist) and his forays into the plastic arts as an abstract painter.

The Màrius Sampere International Award, convened by the Santa Coloma de Gramenet Town Hall, includes events surrounding the figure and work of the poet.

He penned articles, narratives, prologues and several literary contributions.

Included in different anthologies, the poetry of Màrius Sampere, at first rooted in social realism on account of the difficulty of standardising it, establishes itself in actual fact on a very physical basis, occasionally, however, metaphysical and bitingly sarcastic; at other times, profoundly human.

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