My head is the earth
My head is the earth,
my skin the air
dusk is my hair.
I am the earth –
I open myself
and make love
with the sky.
On my horizon
we touch
and eternity cascades
on me
with the night/light.
Axis Mundi is based on Csilla Toldy‘s poem ‘My Head is the Earth’, written originally in Hungarian. Csilla asked translators from all over the world to translate and recite the poem in their own language. On Spring Equinox in 2021, she and John Livingstone filmed in Rostrevor Meadow from sunrise to sunset every hour. The shot concentrated on a 360 degree circle and the Cooley Mountain along Carlingford Lough. The aim was to create an eco-video-poem raising awareness for environmental pollution, and also for the simple beauty of the landscape we inhabit. The film starts at sunrise 6.27 and as the day progresses, goes through the time zones starting from GMT, around the globe with the recitals of the poem. The footage incorporates flotsam – rubbish washed to shore from the Irish Sea. The visual concept of the film is footage shot through the hours of the day, the seasons in a meadow, juxtaposed with the rubbish on the beach and the sea, with 360-degree pans, reflecting the shape of the earth. The combination of the footage and various languages represents the diversity of the planet and in Ireland, as well as humans’ dependency on nature.
Languages and translators who also gave their voices:
Waikerere Gregory – Maori
Raquel Chinchetru – Spanish
Nngcobo Bongamahlubi. – Zulu
Pallavi Singh – Hindi
Catherine Bescond-Sands – French
Cathal and Justina McCabe – Polish
Csilla Toldy – Hungarian
Polina Cosgrave – Russian
Lucia McEntee – German
Rafael Mendez Silva – Portuguese
Soren Lauridsen – Danish
Nasrin Golden – Farsi
Ezaldin Thabet – Arabic
Viviana Fiorentino – Italian
Sinead Lunny – Irish
Lena R. Polson / Celine Jerome / Angel Snow-Rodgers – Algonquin
Miguel and Marianna Villanueva – Hiligaynon
Mari Yoshida – Japanese
Sufan Jiang – Mandarin
The full translations can be found here: Axis Mundi poem and translations
Csilla Toldy’s poetry was published in Red Roots – Orange Sky (2013), The Emigrant Woman’s Tale (2015) and Vertical Montage (2018) with Lapwing Belfast, Angel Fur and other stories with Stupor Mundi, (2019) and Bed Table Door (a novel) with Wrecking Ball Press (2023). Her translations appeared in Hungarian Literature Online, Pamenar Magazine, MPT and Cyphers. Her award-winning film poems have been screened at international festivals. www.csillatoldy.co.uk