Décembre en Poésie
Nous vous avions il y a quelques mois fait le portrait de la jeune poète de 24 ans, Meriem Terki, dont le livre s'apprêtait à être mis en scène au théâtre Darius Milhaud à Paris.
Nous avons décidé de partager avec vous une interview dans laquelle elle nous livre ses impressions, sa vision de la vie et ses états d'âmes.
Meriem can you please introduce yourself?
I am Meriem Terki I am 23 years old, I live in Paris, I am doing a Master’s student in political sciences at Nanterre University. In parallel with my studies, I manage an organic shop.
I have been writing for about ten years now. I grew up in Province and I came to Paris for my studies.
Do you want to present the poetry book that you have released?
The book is called “Paroles blessées” it was released under the Incipit en W editions in December 2015. It's a collection of poetry and the work is a reflection of several years. For me, it was a train of thought, from a certain time of my life, a period that had to end. It contains varied texts with varied themes of universal emotions, emotions that apply to everyone: regrets, love, the sense of life, grief, all that makes us feel something, both in a profound and every day sense. Meriem Terki, December 2018
Meriem are there any books or personalities that have inspired you in your work as an author or simply as a woman?
Yes, I have read a lot of Russian poems. Anna Akhmatova gave me the desire to write poetry, although this was already a path to which I was inclined. Reading pushed me a lot and has strengthened my aim and my choice. I have also read a lot Nina Bouraoui, who for me is a poet even though she writes novels. I read a lot of great authors including the great classics: Rimbaud, Baudelaire or Verlaine but ultimately, the truth is that there is one book in particular. I did not have a shock book. A passage, a sentence, or word can be just as emotionally striking.
How did you go about publishing your book of poems?
I gathered all my texts, I divided them into three parts, to form three big chapters. Finally once this work was completed I started to do some internet searches (I began looking) for several publishers who publish poetry, because in this day and age it is hard, to be published when you do poetry. I sent a few manuscripts and after less than a month, I had my first positive feedback which was followed by a formal discussion. I sent my manuscript in September, by December it was published, it was amazingly fast.
“Paroles Blessées” on stage November 2018
How does one decide to write a collection of poems so young and does one explain such early inspiration?
I don’t know how to explain it, I only know that writing has helped to escape and allowed me to understand myself, to accept who I am, and evolve. Writing for me at the beginning was a selfish act. I originally wrote because it helped me feel good, as a form of therapy. It was for me a mirror of things that I could never have orally revealed to someone. When I understood that this selfish act could reach a few people and truly touch them, I realized that I could not keep doing it just for myself. I had to publish it. I went from a therapeutic approach to a sharing approach.So you talk about the therapeutic function, can you talk about what it is we are trying to heal when we write like this? At my age, I think that we try to heal and clear a path that is fraught with complications and painful questions. We try to heal wounds before they settle over the long term and to make sense of a vision of a dark world, which we must detach ourselves from in order to become an adult and see things a little more brightly.
How and why did you decide to adapt “Paroles Blessée” which is originally a collection of poetry, for the stage?
So at first it’s supposed to be just a reading. I contacted an actress: Shems Audat, and from the moment we started talking about it calmly around a coffee, to the moment I heard her read it to me, I knew that we could explore another medium for my poetry. This would allow it not only to be read but also to be seen and listened to and eventually it could attract more people to this system of reading than anything else.
December 2015, Autograph session
Can you tell us more about how you met the actors who interpret your poetry on stage?
I contacted Schems via social networks. I already had something in mind, it was something simple, a reading. I found a place in Paris, in the 10th District and in my message I outlined my project to her, giving a scope of the collection, the publication and my wishes. She responded and suggested that we meet. I brought her a copy of my book so that she could take a look. She seemed to have loved it. She was was very up for it. For the other actor, Pierre Andre Gilard, it was a little more complicated. We had a few small interactions but Schems thankfully put us in more direct contact.
What advice would you give to young authors who like you would like to pursue a career in poetry?
My only advice would be to not be afraid to leave imprints of the self somewhere, in someone’s life, in a place, to not be afraid to reveal yourself. It is by revealing and sharing a part of you that you can actually really find true inner being.
Do you have any upcoming projects?
The plan is to play “Paroles blessées” in Paris in October for 6 performances at the Theatre Darius Milhaud.
I want to showcase it live for as long as possible, give it a Parisian impetus. Then why not have one or two dates in Algeria in 2019. The latest project, the second collection of my writings, is expected to be released very soon, probably in 2019.
Son livre ”Paroles Blessées” est toujours disponible à la Médiathèque de L’Institut Français. Sur https://www.culturetheque.com/ vous avez aussi la possibilité d'avoir un accès illimité à de nombreux autres recueils de poèmes.