IOAN IACOB

 

 

Emerald Dragon

 

emerald dragon I do not wear

on the sheath of the knife with which I cut

to the kidneys

the young skin of words

for me the world has a new meaning

the vapors of my words give birth

as the eternal Aphrodite is born from the waves

white birds will pierce the evening

with the scream of silence that will

return to blood

on my doorstep in the morning

the cold bottle of milk leaves

a stellar trail an inimitable sign

that the night goes out without firefighters

like a blue song

when the first sweepers of

morning

the last stars pass

 

The Defiant Love

 

red bouquets of leaves

enigmatic and new blood

what is required to be lived

in the arteries

 

I feel autumn like a fatal love

nothing connects me to parks

and paths

all roads smell a little

of loneliness

The silent trees in the twilight

are aquatically lost

 

the wandering autumn walks

with its coat open

like swallows

a boat will come and cut

the lake into two halves

my life and

the beauty of these words

that I will endure

once more

to put them together

into a poem 

 

IOAN IACOB

 

IOAN IACOB (b. 1951) is a professor, writer, essayist, Radio TV editor. After completing his university studies in Iași (Romanian - English, in 1974) he obtained the title of doctor in Philology with the thesis 'Arc poetic transatlantic: Mihai Eminescu - Edgar Allan Poe', a premiere in world literature, later becoming a book in the 'Eminesciana' collection of JUNIMEA Publishing House. He worked as an editor at the Department of Literature and Art of Romanian Radiotelevision and taught English at high school and at the Romanian-American University in Bucharest.He collaborates at 'Radio-TV Arthis Bruxelles' and 'Gândacul de Colorado' Newspaper (Denver, Colorado). He is the founding President of the HESPERUS Cultural Foundation (1991), a founding member of the Association of Professional Writers of Romania (ASPRO), a member of the Union of Professional Journalists of Romania, is the 'North American Romanian Press Association' Associate Member and 'B.B.C. World News Live' Top Correspondent. He was officially invited as a writer and journalist to the 10th Congress of the World Organization of Poets (1991, Crete Island, Greece, invitation received from Luxembourg), invited, together with three other Romanian poets (Mariana Marin, Denisa Comănescu, Virgil Mihaiu) on a three-week poetry tour in Great Britain and Ireland (1994, invitation received from London), invited to Italy (on the occasion of the Jubilee of Catholic Youth in 2000, invitation received from a Catholic church). In the context of the Centennial of St. Mary's Cathedral in Cleveland, Ohio (the oldest Romanian Orthodox church in the U.S.A.), he was officially invited as a journalist in 2004 to the United States (when he also launched the poetry volume 'Carate de septembrie' /’September Carats’/ written together with poet Mircea Ștefan from Cleveland, Ohio/ at the 'TASTE OF ROMANIA' Festival in Chicago, United States. He has published several volumes of poetry and has been included in anthologies in the UK ('Young Poets of a New Romania', Forest Books Publishing House, London, 1991) and Germany (Lumina laterală, Dyonisos Publishing House, Germany, 1994). His poems have been translated into English, French, German, Italian, Greek and Thai. he published 'Towards an Indian Summer on I-80. American Journal' (2008), and in October 2025, his first novel ('Love Remains in Tenerife’, JUNIMEA Publishing House') was published. Awards: First Prize and ‘ORIZONT Magazine Prize’ at ‘the POEMELE LUMINII /The Poems Of Light/ Poetry Festival’ (1982, Jury President critic Mircea Martin), ‘STEAUA’ Culture Magazine Prize at the ‘Lucian Blaga’ Poetry Festival, Sebeș-Alba, 1983; Criticism Prize at the Brăila Literature Festival, 1984; Writers' Union Prize at the "Zilele Eminescu" /’EMINESCU Days’/Poetry Festival, Botoșani, 1985.