Felicity Mat: Echoes of the soul and the mind

May the positive ideas and messages that spring out of my poetic reflections blossom in the soul and mind of my readers, just as the bud on the cover of this book suggests.

This book is in a way special, because it is bilingual and mutually translated. It contains a number of poetic texts which, at the moment of their inspiration, were written in one of two languages: English or Greek. In order to include both English and Greek texts in one book and under the name of the same poet, Ι chose to present them in the language of creation, accompanied by a parallel translation.

The poetic productions of this volume are distributed in three parts, depending on the type of poetry that they represent. Part one contains poems, part two is composed of elegies dedicated to the Holocaust and part three presents some poetic reflections. The latter are a different type of writing, which combines poetry and psychology. They were written in the purpose of examining human problems and finding viable and positive solutions.

The list of texts and their characteristics, in the back of the book, can help the reader find the language of creation and other details regarding every poetic text.

Felicity Mat reproduces the clear echoes of her soul and carries them exactly as they vibrate inside her. It is a coming together of a young girl’s internal world which was not spent in superficial and insipid wanderings, and that of a mature woman. It is as well an internal world that has forever remained fresh, a rising tide, the longing for the homeland left behind. 

The memories, adorned with jewels and perfumes emerge like the Cinderella of the fairy tale; the yards, the colourful flowers, jasmines, honeysuckles, the warm colours of green, the green of her father’s house. This meeting with the past resembles the tragedy of someone who has shipwrecked in a country that has never been able to adopt him. Her very long experience as a psychologist is obvious in her readers who, through her poetry’s wanderings, will be able to answer many of their own internal doubts and concerns. Furthermore, Felicity Mat cannot overlook the sharp pain of the unjust crime committed against her race. She celebrates friendship with a particular way of gratitude! Solitary runner, like all of us, her loneliness becomes a tool with which she builds with patience and insistence, a confirmation of understanding for herself and those around her. Her poems are brief letters addressed to herself, yet these can touch millions since all of us live the life of others!

A few words about the author

Felicity Mat was born in Larissa, Greece, and received her primary and secondary education in Athens. She was awarded the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree in education by Rallios Pedagogic Academy in Piraeus. She later earned two different degrees in psychology: a Master’s in Child Development and in Family Relations at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada. She worked as an educator, as a child psychologist and as a clinical psychologist. Her specialization in the treatment of adult psychiatric patients allowed her to get in touch with the deep suffering and pain that often characterize human existence. Her experience in this area encouraged her to write and publish metaphorical stories, with the purpose of improving the quality of life of clients who present psychological problems.

Her relationship with psychology influenced the choice of the content of her poetic reflections. In addition to publishing articles related to clinical psychology, Felicity Mat contributed to the understanding of the problem of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, with an article related to the need to respect historical evidence regarding the territories of Macedonia («Macédoine et respect de l’histoire», La Presse, Montréal, 3 juin 1994). Poetry has always fascinated her, and an active involvement in the creative process of poetry has been one of her most cherished activities, even though the production of her poetic work has been unevenly distributed over different periods of her life. The present volume is her first published book of poems.