Once I forget : poems

Abstract

Once I Forget is a bilingual poetry collection (originally in Maltese, translated into English by Aaron Aquilina and John Martin) that explores themes of exile, memory, loss, and the indelible bond with the village of Ħad-Dingli, Malta. Divided into two sections — “Once a Village” and “Forgetting Everything” — the poems trace the poet’s departure from his childhood home, the erosion of memory with age, and the persistent pull of place and identity. Through vivid imagery of cliffs, swallows, village pumps, and red fields, Portelli navigates the tension between forgetting and remembrance, culminating in a meditative acceptance of transience. The preface by Prof. Norbert Bugeja frames the work as an epilogic awakening to memory’s fragility, positioning it within a lineage of exile poetry from Neruda to Walcott.