Language, Poetry, Translation, Travel, Politics and Society

Jackson asks Osojnik to discuss language and metaphor in his writing, and the influence of translation and travel on both Osojnik's poetry and the impact of poetry on the social and political world in which the poet finds himself.

"One of the basic conceptions or ideas of our world that we have is based on things, so while the basic frameworks of every language is actually a conception about space/time, . . . we always position ourselves within these two dimensions. And poetry, in a way, introducing language as a third dimension in the world . . . plays a very important role in this living experience. . . . I think poetry is that universal medium that actually enables you to do this transportation . . . or transgression . . . or transcending, let's say, from one language into another and be, let's say, a planetary being."

I think that, through another language, you learn a different world, a different universe, so now when you come back and you are back to your own language, what you do, actually, you introduce that other universe into your own language, and you change your own language, you develop your own language, you expand your own language. . . . This way Slovenian language becomes universal."

"Poetry is . . . the essence of language, and language is the essence of society, because society is through communication, and communication is through language. . . . If poetry really transcends . . . the core of what people [do] as social beings, then . . . the role of poetry is political in this particular way, not political in the sense of some kind of power play . . . or fighting for the dominance, . . . but through poetry and through language, you can establish social and political dimensions to this one particular society that you're part of. . . . [S]ometimes, you just change a word that's in a poem, and suddenly, it's a different situation."

[B]ecause a poet is a highly specialized professional . . . he's marginalized from . . . the common . . . discussion, though he is the one who actually enables that; . . . later some people pick up his ideas, his metaphors, his ways . . . to solve . . . existential situations, social and political situations, and . . . apply those to their everyday common experience. . . . It's a kind of decision . . . he himself [makes], and he knows, he understands why he is there on the margins of society, not because he is some kind of neglected or outcast figure but . . . just the opposite."

"[T]his distancing yourself also enables you to put yourself into a new context. . . . Finding new universes, finding new ways, finding how to expand that symbolic universe that is your playground and your work place, your workshop, . . . you have to somehow distance yourself from your everyday experience here, and that is not easy always. . . . [I]t requires a lot of creativity . . . and daring, and courage, . . . and sometimes, courage to lose . . . some privileged position or some human situation that is important to you."