Poet Arija Elksne was born on February 7, 1928, died on September 29, 1984. A doctor, but more than that – a recognized and beloved poet. Author of eleven collections of poems. Her poetry reads like an autobiography. This year, the poet turns 95.
On Wednesday, February 8, the concert performance “The Melodies of the Life of Arijas Elksne” was played at VEF Culture Palace. Singer and composer Ilze Laila Purmaliete, who together with her colleagues prepared this concert performance dedicated to the memory of the poet’s 95th anniversary, says: “I got attached to the poetry of Arija Elksne because I wanted to create a concert program with the poetry of female poets. And as I started to read the collected writings of Arija Elksne, I discovered how rich, beautiful and relevant her poetry is. And I started writing songs. After that, I just noticed that this year Arija Elksne’s 95th anniversary is celebrated…”
Ilze Laila emphasizes – in her opinion, Arija Elksne is very open in her art – poetry. «Sometimes it seems that I am her close friend when she talks about such very painful topics. And what hurts her hurts us all. Aria’s poetry is relevant because she has a strong Latvian code. And we all feel it when we read her poetry. For example, when I first read Aria Elksne’s poem «The sun came to the lake», I thought I was reading a folk song. But, oh – no! That’s how ARIA also writes.»
On November 24, 1994, poet Māra Misiņa wrote in the newspaper “Diena”: “Did Āria Elksne foresee the future? That’s what Zigmunds Skujiņš asked in “Conversations with horse worms”, where one of the memoirs revolved around the personality of Arijas Elksnes. Ten years after the poet’s self-imposed departure from this life, we haven’t gotten even a hair’s breadth closer to her.”
Māra Misiņa is glad that Āria Elksni has not been forgotten and she has not become a victim of overproduction either. The poetess expresses her hope that someday maybe someone will write a novel about Aria Elksni, because there is no portrait yet, only sketches. And Elksne’s poems. Māra Misiņa wanted to highlight them, because 10 years after Elksne’s passing away, two collections of poems were published – “Gaismas gadi” produced by “Preses nams” (arranged and preface written by Lija Brīdak) and “Es netikus ka vars without” published by “Teatra Anekdotes” for people”. At least the last edition has long since become a bibliographic rarity, even though it was published in the harsh nineties on such paper and with such possibilities as were available at that time. Quoting Māra Misiņa: «Yes, she predicted the future. Her own until the hour of death and the future of every woman who gropes her way through life, clinging to love.”
