Many Thought I Was An Actor

Last Saturday, we had a very special event In The Pub With Čaks (Krodziņā pie Čaka) which was again put together by my wife Sandra Neliusa.

Picture: Article by Žanna Zālīte in our local paper "Bauskas Dzīve"

Normally, I do not find it particularly difficult to recite poetry and to live the life of the characters depicted. But yesterday I faced probably the greatest challenge ever. In a party dedicated to the deeply loved Latvian urban poet Aleksandrs Čaks (Wikipedia entry about Aleksandrs Čaks), my task was to recite his poetry.

The characters of Aleksandrs Čaks poetry are mainly the streets of Riga, its nightlife, homeless people, sailors, prostitutes... The poems are simple and easily understood by anyone. Yet extremely difficult to convey.

The texts by Aleksandrs Čaks are extremely heavily charged with emotion - longing for love, meaning in life, true friendship. They show also how many people live their lives without ever finding anything that has real value.

His means of expression are interesting but challenging for the one who needs to speak of them in as natural manner as possible. Imagine a moon that looks like pickled or linden trees that are "longing for bees and lake waters, warm and tender like skin". If you try to speak about such as naturally as you can, you will understand, what I actually had to lift.

But I did it and received a lot of praise from the spectators. A few who did not know who I was, even mistook me for a professional actor.

Watch pictures on our local news portal Bauskas Dzīve