Mero Baze’s ‘Muddy Rain’ explores loss, identity, and cultural roots

December 23, 2024 – In his latest poetry collection, Muddy Rain, Albanian author and journalist Mero Baze delves deep into the themes of loss, identity, and the shifting cultural landscape. Described as an elegiac piece by journalist Monika Stafa, the collection is divided into four parts, each reflecting on both universal and deeply personal experiences of grief and societal change.

For Baze, poetry is not a distant, intellectual exercise—it’s born from lived experiences. “It’s poetry based on things I’ve lived through, and that’s why people are connecting with it,” he said in a recent interview. His work stands in contrast to what he sees as the intellectual pretensions of much contemporary literature. Baze’s poems are a reflection of the raw, real world—one he believes is too often ignored in the pursuit of intellectual sophistication.

At the core of Muddy Rain is a critique of the growing consumer culture that has taken root in modern society. Baze laments that today’s youth are increasingly disconnected from the values that once held communities together. "A generation is being raised without childhood, without love for family or homeland. Consumerism has overtaken us," he explains. His poetry reflects this growing detachment—whether it’s the rise in crime, the erosion of family bonds, or the loss of meaningful connections.

Baze calls for a return to the values that anchored previous generations—values grounded in a deep sense of community, family, and personal connection. “We need to bring them back to the ground, to where we started,” he says, urging society to reconnect with the things that truly matter. His words echo a longing for a simpler, more meaningful way of living, one that values people over possessions.