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The Power of Poetry
I
find in you
the ecstasy of sanctuary
from the daily friction
and unending sorrows
of
my life.
On a
plane en route from Medellin to Miami, and then from Miami to Zurich,
I wrote this verse for a friend. A friend whom I had just met, another
solitary soul like me, another poet and freedom advocate. I find in every
new friendship such as this one the chance to renew my commitment to life
and everything it offers. Especially in this day and age when a relationship
tends to be as permanent as an email waiting to be deleted. And so I wrote
a poem, if only to preserve the ecstasy of a new beginning. Besides, an
experience as intense as the one I just had in Medellin could not but
produce the unfolding of a poem. I will tell you more about Medellin as
you read on.
The writing of a poem is the release of some sentiment long unattended
to, a sentiment that thus reveals itself with amazing vengeance through
the power of the written and spoken word. But the power of poetry goes
beyond the ability to rescue us from the dredges of our daily existence.
Poetry also has the power to deliver humanity from the quagmire of greed,
selfishness and destruction. For what is the role of poetry, and all art
for that matter, other than to elevate the human being from the level
of the beast? As human beings, we are capable of pondering over the meaning
of life. We are capable of the thoughts and visions that could free us
from the shackles of earthly existence and the menace of individual desires.
A work of art, a piece of writing, a melody, a dance all these represent
the thought, the idea, struggling to create a world better than the one
we know.
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The author with poets in Medellin
(L to R): Marcos Rodríguez Frese (Puerto Rico), Edessa Ramos, Maribel
Arango (Colombia) and Ricardo Alberto Pérez (Cuba). Click > Medellin
International Poetry Festival for more information. html/english.html.
There
is a belief shared by many poets, and always at the risk of being labeled
as irrational idealists. We believe that accompanying mans destructive
nature is an immense capacity and overwhelming desire to love, to create,
to fulfill. So what is the role of poetry? The German writer Johannes
Golznig wrote: And the poets? They clean the dirt off the windows of
the world...
An equilibrium must be maintained if we are to preserve and develop the
art of life. To find and maintain that equilibrium.To call for sanity
in times of war and bloodshed. To call for peace in times of unrest. To
call for justice when people are blinded by the cruelty they inflict upon
each other. This is the power of poetry.
I have just returned from the 13th International Poetry Festival of Medellin
for Peace in Colombia on June 14 - 21 of this year. A whole week of poetry,
in a country where the poet is as revered and loved as no other. One must
understand that I have been living for several years in Switzerland, where
poetry and art tend to be regarded as the flighty preoccupation of the
privileged few. Therefore, imagine my delight and amazement in finding
myself among people who spoke with the nectar of poetry on their lips,
even in their everyday life, and where one only needed to start a verse
when everyone in the room would suddenly join in and recite in unison.
It reminded me of the generation of my grandparents back in the Philippines,
a time long gone, when people still spoke with lyricism, when the salawikain
or immortal quotations were inserted into normal conversations. A time
when storytelling was always accompanied by rhyme, by a challenge of the
imagination, by poetry. A generation of lyricism long replaced, woefully,
by the conquests of MTV, hollywood and cult comics. A lyricism of old
that I found once again in Colombia. And in Colombia, I tasted a sweetness
of life that finds expression through every smile, through every greeting
delivered with a tight embrace.
And to think that this country is submerged in the throes of violent conflict,
of social problems perpetuated by unjust social structures, of total war.
And it is because of this war, and the urgent need to call all warring
parties to the negotiating table, that poets were called in from all over
the world in hopes of reopening the peace dialogues. The poetry festival
was held in conjunction with the First Summit of World Poetry for Peace
in Colombia. The end product was a declaration which would be sent to
all areas of the armed conflict, calling for an end to the violence, a
serious solution to the social ills plaguing the country, and a stop to
all foreign interventions in Colombia.
The festival was founded in 1991 amidst a climate of violence and death
in the hope of rebuilding the social fabric marked by disintegration. Since
then, it has enjoyed the participation of hundreds of poets reading in
over 40 languages. The audiences in the past 12 years have reached nearly
a million people.
The festival is organized by Prometeo Magazine. Fernando Rendon, the festival
leader, informed me one night at the dinner table that I happen to be
the first Filipina invited to this festival. What an honor, I said, and
one that I do not take lightly. For if, even only through my words, I
am able to give my humble contribution, then I can pray that my people
would consider me worthy of carrying the banner of the Filipinos own
aspirations for liberation. Indeed, this was a time wherein the personal
motives and pleasures of writing poetry fade away. Given the magnitude
of an event like Medellin, given its importance to the future of generations,
the poets individual significance pales in comparison to the message
of peace.
Thousands of people from all walks of life came to the festival. All events
were accessible to the public and free of charge.This was truly a demonstration
of how poetry is not, should not be, the privilege of the elite.
Colombia is a country where the younger generation is the main victim
of the civil war. While performing in several venues throughout the week
in theaters, schools, streets and open parks, communities of internal
refugees, poor harbor towns I saw the faces of young people dominating
the crowds. They were exuberant, affectionate and full of passion. They
were uplifted by the solidarity of poets from around the world. This festival
was truly for them, uniting them by the thousands under the banner of
life, of love, of the pains of struggle and resistance, but also of triumph
and liberation. In Medellin, many people turned up from far areas of the
country to attend the festival. Amidst the prevailing climate of emptiness,
terror and uncertainty in Colombia, I saw how poetry can raise the collective
consciousness of a people and make them clamor for transformation.
By means of poetic language, by reviving the oral poetic tradition, and
through the intersection of the poetic traditions of the world, the festival
became witness to the possibilities for uniting the human spirit against
all forms of death and violence. The festival became the cultivator of
a culture of resistance which would benefit not only Colombia but the
entire world.
In the words of Prometeo: Poetry creates a nourishing pasture in the
soul where adventures are born, where dreams are sustained, and where
we tend the light of hope in the night of history.
Word is action. All paths of poetry arrive at the Truth. Poets are endowed
with the desire to see. To recreate the world in poetry is to want to
see it. If poetry is such, then we are all poets, for every human being
is endowed with the capacity to see the world that is yet to be built.
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