Gabor Barabas, The Collected Poems was published by BLAST PRESS on March 11, 2016. Barabas is well known throughout the New Jersey arts community for his work as Executive Producer at New Jersey Repertory Company, his own writings and translations, and his work with the Long Branch Arts Council. The 192 page book is available online for $5.75.
His poetry has appeared in various journals including California Quarterly, Iodine, Plainsongs, Innisfree, and This Broken Shore. His translations of selected poems by the Hungarian poet, Miklós Radnóti, were published in Great River Review where his Hadrian Poetry Project also appeared. An animated film of his poem, The Spider, has won awards in the U.S. and overseas. In 2014 McFarland Press published his translation of The Collected Poems of Miklós Radnóti. His collection, Russian Chronicles was published by Gray Falcon Press.
"As this earth marches toward another twilight ravaged by greed and ignorance, I write these poems to convey to the besieged generations to come, those that will preside over the final plunder and irrevocable destruction of our once green planet, to provide a sense of what was once best in man," said Barabas. "I do this so that we will not be judged and remembered entirely for our failed guardianship and conveyance of the unearned riches that were once bestowed upon us, but also for the occasional and rare flickerings of nobility that animated some of our kind. So judge and remember us not for our perfidy but grant us that we were once touched also by goodness, as these poems will attest. Let this be a requiem to last until words are no more. An elegiac cry to commemorate not only man but the countless, ill-fated, voiceless sentient beings that through a lamentable turn of fate were consigned to share this waning earth with us in the depravity and debasement of our time. Remember that their souls and worth were no lesser than ours, and perhaps more glorified through their innocent suffering. And though they may not have commended their voices and stories to page, their song was greater than ours."
I Have Been a PoetI have been a poet and that is enough
But these lines are not my lines
They were written long before I was born
Before I ever thought to write them down
Before there were mountains or rivers, stars or firmament
They were read long before there was anyone to see
They were heard long before there was anyone to hear
-- Gabor Barabas
