When only Poetry will do. Antonia Alexandra Klimenko
There are many poets in the world. Some of them never get a word on paper, some write poems that never see the sunlight or the printed page. But we are truly fortunate that Antonia Alexandra Klimenko fits into a different category, a poet whose talent sculpting the English language is reaching people in many ways. It is difficult to imagine a world where poetry reaches beyond a small circle of devotees, so to see Antonia’s work being published in prestigious journals and anthologies is a great pleasure for those of us who know her and her exquisite talent.
On the third anniversary of that infamous day when Notre Dame burned, Antonia Alexandra Klimenko, a long time resident of the city of Paris, shared the following poem.
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Our Lady
Flames lick her walls... her wood beamed ceilings
Gargoyles’ tongue the smoke-filled air
Her ancient timbers once echoed in forests
Now turn to ash... but she’s still there
Centuries have not obscured her face
Nor revolutions her holy brow
She’s looked at the world through rose-colored glass
Saints pass through her even now
How many have entered her sacred space
Like the mirrored moon from behind her veil
Bright flickering stars crown her thorny head
They have raised the roof but to no avail
As April springs into fragrant flower
Memory stands transfixed transformed
We are all hunchbacks in the Bell tower
We were all meant to be reborn
Surreal Architect of Untold Meaning
Unfolding petals on the River Seine
How she inspires our words on fire
The passion of grace that burst of flame
Living Canvas City of Light
Your candles lit from within our souls
The intimate silence of unspoken prayer
It is for thee For whom the bell tolls
I hear them now at my tear-stained window
Glimpses of iconic vision
Hymns in the night
Angels of Light
Our heart is melting
The world is turning
Paris is burning
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Antonia shared the poem in response to this dramatic photograph and commentary posted on Facebook by Secrets d’Histoire. She agreed to allow Ferrandina Press to repost it here.
Antonia Alexandra Klimenko was first introduced on the BBC and to the literary world by the legendary James Meary Tambimuttu of Poetry London — publisher of T.S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas, Henry Miller and Bob Dylan, to name a few. After his death, it was his friend, the late great Kathleen Raine, who took an interest in her writing and encouraged her to publish. A nominee for the Pushcart Prize and a former San Francisco Poetry Slam Champion, she is widely published. Her work has appeared in (among others) XXI Century World Literature (in which she represents France) and Maintenant : Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing and Art archived at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. and New York’s Museum of Modern Art. She is the recipient of two grants: one from Poets in Need, of which Michael (100 Thousand Poets for Change) Rothenberg is a co-founder; the second — the 2018 Generosity Award bestowed on her by Kathleen Spivack and Joseph Murray for her outstanding service to international writers through SpokenWord Paris where she is Writer/Poet in Residence. Her collected poems On the Way to Invisible is forthcoming in 2022.
Antonia Alexandra Klimenko
