Poet expresses native verse

Sometimes the best way to understand your home is to step back and view it from a distance.

Visiting Romanian poet at the University, Liliana Ursu, said at her poetry reading Wednesday night that even though she is in State College, she cannot banish thoughts of her homeland from her mind.

Ursu conjured the spirit of her native land by reading her first piece in Romanian, the lilting tones of the language lending themselves to the rhythms of the poem. Even for those not fluent in her tongue, the meaning of the work could be felt in the shifting color of her voice and her periodically closing eyes.

"Her work expresses the very sensual, very beautiful and very cruel spirit of the south of Romania," said Tod Hartman (sophomore-comparative literature and history), one of Ursu's students who has spent some time in the western European country.

The beautiful aspects of Ursu's home are found in pieces that recall the natural landscapes of her native country.

It was the midst of February in State College when Ursu conceptualized one of her works about Romania. Ursu said she marveled at the thunder she heard, saying she had previously thought it was uncharacteristic of winter weather.

This thunder made her think back to an encounter that occurred in Romania, she said. She met two gypsy children named "Apple" and "Peach" (in Romanian) while walking one day, carrying a bucket of water to their sister "Orange," who needed it to wash her exceptionally long hair.

Ursu's poems are full of unusual people and situations such as these. The people she involves in her works range from famous artists such as El Greco and Sylvia Plath to ordinary people such as an old woman on welfare who lived on the bottom floor of Ursu's apartment building.

The volume of her voice remained low and gentle for most of the readings, gracefully colored by her accent. Yet its speed and volume increased with each line of poetic verse as the intensity and seriousness of the subject matter built. Shadows of the emotions she wished to convey appeared in the crease between her eyebrows and the phantom of a smile that occasionally materialized while she read.

The crowd, mostly of University professors, periodically chuckled during some of Ursu's lighter works.

When the tone turned darker, the small crowd gathered in 112 Walker responded. The end of her more thought-provoking pieces were greeted with a "hmmm" of approval from the audience, who remained still except during breaks between poems, when the rustling of crossing legs and shifting bodies broke the silence.

Though Ursu has an apparent love for her home, she also recognizes its flaws. Within one of her poems, she related an incident that occurred in Romania while it was under Communist control. A blind man tried to cross the Danube out of Romania and, in his confusion, instead came back to the very country he sought to escape. When he reached the land, he leaped to his feet and shouted "freedom," but was quickly shot dead by Romanian guards.

Many of Ursu's short works relate tragic stories such as this one. Her poems are affecting pieces dedicated to reflecting pieces of life from both her own experiences and the experiences of others. She finds value and art in things most people would overlook -- the hallmark of a truly gifted poet.