Benita Kärt

Poems

Benita Kärt (1905 - 1993), a housewife who learnt esperanto in 1928. Kärt lived in the Latvian capital, Riga, for several years. She began writing poetry in 1958, mostly on nature. She also wrote stories and articles. They appeared in the periodicals Norda Prismo, Paco, Nuntempa Bulgario [Modern Bulgaria], Amikeco [Friendship], Nia Verda Stelo [Our Green Star], La Verda Kolombo [The Green Dove], Planteto [Little Plant] et al. She compiled and edited Unuiĝo [Union] for five years. She also collaborated with the Esperanto Section of Radio Poland in Warsaw. Apart from her translations from Estonian to Esperanto, she also translated from Esperanto into Estonian. The latter appeared in the Tartu newspaper Edasi.

A collection of 100 of her poems was produced in just eight copies in 1968 under the title Versaĵoj [Poems]. Her collection of 31 poems Miozoto [Forget-me-not] of 1970 is named after an Esperanto holiday cottage, 28km from Riga. It is chiefly inspired by nature. In his review (1971), Maltese poet Carmel Mallia (q.v.) comments that Miozoto, which employs various forms of metre, ’is a sweetly romantic little ray of sunshine in the suffocatingly modern forest of poetry.’

Kärt’s translation from Estonian incl.: La Mastro de Kõrboja (1976, novel Kõrboja peremees by Anton H. Tammsaare).

Source: Geoffrey Sutton. The Fourth Period 1952-1974. - Concise Encyclopedia of the Original Literature of Esperanto, 1887-2007. New York: Mondial, 2008, pp 383.