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Written in both English and Catalan, this special commission is exhibited in HOME Arches in partnership with HOME on Whitworth Street West from June-July. You can read the poem in full, and with accompanying translations into English, Catalan and Hungarian below.
In terms of inspiration for the piece, Nóra says, “Across the UK, 80% of lowland wildflower meadows have been lost. I started this poem with a haiku about wildflowers because biodiversity is a global issue connecting us across cities and countries.
Then it was just impossible not to connect the worker bee, the symbol of Manchester, to our imagery about wildflowers and roses. Another important part of Manchester is its waterways, and the “pining lovers’ locks” references the locks attached to a fence above the canal crossing under Oxford Road. Finally, “We are many” is a reference to Percy Bysshe Shelley’s 1819 poem, The Masque of Anarchy, written in direct response to the brutal events of the Peterloo Massacre, with the spirit of Peterloo still being deeply rooted across Manchester. Here, however, it’s touching on the diversity of the city and the multitude of cultures that enrich it and is a defiant response to the recent rise in open displays of racism at marches and other events in Manchester.”
‘Let Wildflowers Bloom’ by Nóra Blascsók & Esteve Plantada
change the way we look after grassy areas let wildflowers bloom
reviure en el crit el nom d’aquesta llavor que prové del foc
cobrir el ciment amb mons incontenibles estimar les roses
bees are drawn to wild roses, not ornamental proper Northern lass
hard worker loves simplicity, openness aroma fills air
l’aleteig desfà els camins no desbrossats: la raó de ser,
la remor del dits, un cos que ha recomençat amb aquest vol
city’s veins water criss-crossing below old mills pining lovers’ locks
decorate this bridge these canals witness our ends and, oft, beginnings
tot recomença en l’alè que et vol lliure i et fa sendera
som les palpentes de l’eterna avinguda on neix la lluita
we are the many shaped by where we have come from and shaping this city
let wildflowers bloom our strength in (bio)diversity buzz of mother tongues
a la fi, parlar de com s’arrela el futur en la llum dels mots.
About the Poets
Nóra Blascsók is a current Manchester Multilingual City Poet and a 2025 New Northern Poet. Her debut pamphlet was published in 2022 and her next pamphlet will be out in 2027, both with Broken Sleep Books. Her most recent poems can be found in The Poetry Review, Propel and Perverse. She has performed her work in the UK and abroad, including at literature festivals in Manchester, Ilkley and Barcelona.
Esteve Plantada (Granollers, Barcelona, 1979) is a poet, cultural journalist and professor of literary journalism (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona – Autonomous University of Barcelona) and literary creation and poetry (Escola Bloom, Barcelona). Currently, he collaborates in various media and is the film critic of the weekly newspaper El Temps, dean of the press in the Catalan language.
As a poet, he made his debut at the age of seventeen with A l’ombra dels violins (1997), becoming the youngest winner of the prestigious Amadeu Oller prize, one of the historic ones in Catalan literature. He has published nine books of poetry and has won literary prizes (such as the 2015 Best Poetry Book of the year 2015; Pare Colom Mediterranean Poetry Award 2016; and Rosa Leveroni Award 2021).
Plantada has been included in ten national and international anthologies, and has been translated into Spanish, French, Italian, Basque and Serbian. He has participated in international literary festivals such as Marché de la Poésie (Paris, 2010), Festival of European poetry in Belgrade “Snap up! Poetry!”(Belgrade, 2023), Jocs Florals Revival (Cambridge, 2014), Festival International de la poésie de Trois-Rivières (Quebec, 2018), or Mediterranean Poetry Festival (Mallorca, 2015), among others.
Virágozzanak a vadvirágok Hungarian translation by Nóra Blascsók változtassuk meg ahogy a füvet gondozzuk virágozzanak a vadvirágok szüless újjá kiáltásokban ennek a magnak neve a lángból fakad beborítsd a betont folyamatosan előtörő világokkal szeresd az összes rózsát a méhet a vad nem a díszrózsák vonzzák igazi északi lány szorgos, szereti az egyszerűséget, nyitottságot illata betölti a levegőt szárnycsapkodó újrajárások megtisztítandó ösvények: létezésünk létjogosultsága ujjak üvöltése, egy test újraéledt ahogy repülni kezdett város ere víz kanyarog textilgyárak alatt szerelmesek lakatai díszítik ezt a hidat a csatornák tanúi a végzeteinknek és gyakran kezdeteinknek is minden újra felgyorsul egy lélegzetvétellel, ami szabaddá tenne és utat mutat neked botorkálunk a végtelen utcán ahol a harc elkezdődik mi vagyunk túlerőben származásunk formál és e várost mi formáljuk
virágozzanak a vadvirágok erőnk a (bio)diverzitásban anyanyelvek zümmögése és igen, beszéljünk itt a jövő gyökereket növeszt a szavak fényében.
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