Photo by Juliana Gabriel
International student Flamur Vehapi with his soon to be released book of poetry "The Alchemy of Mind."

The first time Flamur Vehapi left his home in Kosovo his family fled out of fear for their lives.

When he left Kosovo behind for the second time, he came to the United States and enrolled at Rogue Community College. The war in Kosovo during 1998 and 1999 forced Vehapi and his family from their country, since then he has turned the experiences from his life into poems.

He is currently a junior at SOU pursuing a degree in psychology. Vehapi is very close to putting his second book of poetry on the shelves, having already published one while he was 18 years old and living in Kosovo.

Vehapi has put a great deal of effort into the process of writing “The Alchemy of Mind”

“It’s taking a lot of time,” he said.

The editing process has taken the longest, Vehapi explained, but he expects his book of over 60 poems to be in stores by early December.

Vehapi’s first book titled “The Challenges of Life” was written completely in Albanian. The second collection of poems will include works from “The Challenges of Life” along with a bundle of new material, all in English.

“When at home I was exposed to only Albanian writings, very limited,” Vehapi said.

Since his arrival to the U.S., Vehapi has been influenced and exposed to many writers that are new to him, including William Shakespeare.

“So many new doors were opened,” he said.

Many of Vehapi’s poems are directly influenced by his experience in Kosovo. After telling a story about his family narrowly escaping death while fleeing the country he read a poem.

“It’s not going to be easy for me to tell it nor for you to listen,” he said.

Vehapi plans to take his education and help the people of Kosovo. According to Vehapi the psychological toll that the war had on the Albanian people was drastic.

“But there is hope, I always have hope.” Vehapi said.

Currently he is working on his life story and hopes to publish the work as well.

“I have about six chapters of it,” Vehapi said.

Although he gave no estimated release date for his autobiography, he did mention that a small portion of it will be published at the end of “The Alchemy of Mind.” In his book Vehapi writes, “I remember when I was 12 reading the writings of some of the greatest Albanian poets... that truly sparked in me the desire to write... It became my dream to publish my writings one day, too.”