One year after the passing of poet Skënder Rusi/ Poetic evening in Korça, filled with emotions

2025-06-01 10:43:00, Qyteti im CNA

One year after the passing of poet Skënder Rusi/ Poetic evening in

In the city of Korça, one year after the passing of poet Skënder Rusi, a warm and emotional poetic evening took place. Family, friends, artists and poetry lovers gathered to remember one of the most sensitive figures of Albanian literature.

The evening was organized on the occasion of the publication of the poet's last book, "My Days Without You", a collection of poems found among the manuscripts he left behind.

Eris Rusi, the poet's son, shared with the audience a heartfelt account of the process of discovering the manuscripts and the emotion that those handwritten pages carry. He described his father's relationship with poetry as a silent but powerful devotion that continues to live on through the written word.

"A year after the death of the poet Skënder Rusi, a poetic evening was held with poems from his newly published book, "My Days Without You". For the city of Korça, for lovers of Skënder Rusi's poetry, this was not a day without Skënder Rusi, it was a day with Skënder Rusi. It is fortunate for poets that their days, even when they are no longer part of this world, are shared with readers, and as such those days are eternity. I am convinced that the void created by man is filled by the spiritual legacy left by the creator, the poet. In the absence of Skënder in our daily lives, as his family, we have the opportunity to choose from the bookshelf, precisely those days, those moments, those beautiful feelings that Skënder has left especially for us. And this is a miracle ", said Eris Rusi.

The book is just a small part of a much larger legacy that still resides on the shelves of his home, a poetic treasure that testifies to the creative life of a profound soul.

" My father had a special nature and was loyal to everything he did and guarded it fanatically. His poems were opened and closed with a key that only he held and no one had the right to enter that kind of space. It was a sacred space that made us tremble even at the moment he passed away. But then the desire to see what was inside that drawer was stronger and there were endless manuscripts, poems left with a writing that only my mother could understand. We started by overcoming what was the pain of the moment to experience and rewrite those poems that became this book, which are not all because there is room for many other books because that shelf is endlessly full of manuscripts ," said Skënder Rus' son.

Zamira Kita, actress and director of the poetry evening, emphasized Skënder Rus' love for the city of Korça, for art and for family, describing this activity as a moral and artistic obligation to preserve the memory of a poet who left a mark.

" A year has passed and today we have gathered to remember our beloved poet Skënder Rusi. He is always with us because he left not only poetry, but also his great love for the city, poetry, his family, his muse. Today we will convey his verses to the public of Korça who loves him so much ," said actress Kita.

Egla Ceno, part of the artistic interpretation of the verses, shared with the audience her personal experience with Rus' poetry. She described her encounter with his poetry as a discovery that deeply touched and inspired her, giving another dimension to what would have been a performance on stage.

" I am actually honored to have received this invitation from Zamira. I am ashamed to say it but I had not had contact with the poems and when I read them... I was stunned. I also wrote to Zamira that they were wonderful and it is truly a responsibility, emotion and honor to be with Zamira, Kristian, and Blerta on stage today for these wonderful poems and for this memory of our poet ," said actress Ceno.

Kristjan Koroveshi described Skënder Rusi as one of the most unique voices of Albanian lyric poetry. He described Rusi's poetry as an elegant confrontation with pain, love and the deepest human feelings, placing it not on a national level.

" It is a special pleasure to commemorate today in this homage Skënder Rus, one of the extraordinary lyricists of beautiful pain. A unique poet, I would say, not only of Korça but of all of Albania. A man who has spoken with great emotion about pain, love, death, jealousy, man and everything else, " said Ceno.

Through interpretations of verses and personal memories, this commemorative evening brought not only a tribute to the poet's life and work, but also a vivid experience of his presence through art. It was a day that did not belong to absence, but to presence. Skënder Rusi returned among those who loved him, through his poetry that speaks, inspires and touches.

Korça remembered its poet with love. He was not there physically, but he was everywhere, in the voices of those who read his verses, in the eyes of those who were touched, and in the deep silence that a true creator leaves behind. His poetry is now part of eternity./ CNA