World Poetry Day 2015

POETRY seems to be struggling once again, struggling for attention, appreciation and acceptance; poetry both of the printed page and of its performance manifestation. Every now and again, poetry runs into challenges. Every now and again, poetry regains it foothold, swaying the human imagination to feverish pitches. Like a revival with all its attendant bliss, it glows, sometimes for a long period warranting a specific name/brand/title, other times, it dims, fades, goes dormant. Poetry’s dormancy is potent; it boils to the surface again, exploding, showering the earth once again with embers to start another reincarnation. Such is the life story of poetry since its many reincarnations from prehistoric to classical to metaphysical to pastoral to romantic to modern to new formalist to contemporary periods.
However, while poetry of the printed page continues to struggle, performance poetry or public reading of poetry has taken strong hold on the contemporary scene, and this is due to experiments in delivery of poetry (more in subsequent paper).
World Poetry Day 2015 would be long remembered by those who were present at the event and for those who listened to it on radio and watched it on television. Why? The factors contributing to the success of such an event were present like how the readers were able to convey effectively what the authors wanted to convey. The moral, the philosophy, the mood, the emotion, the setting, the hidden messages, the entertainment values, all came out boldly, sometimes hinting and implying, engaging the audience, starting many conversations simultaneously among members of the audience, listeners and performers, consumers and producers. Authors who delivered their own pieces saw the extension of their work and had cause to be proud. Some pieces were so good encouraging you to go out and buy a book (of poems); that could be one aim of public readings. But the ultimate goal of such an event is for the audience to take home at least one poem. The event succeeded beyond expectations in that the audience was able to take home more than one poem.
Some of those poems came from the mouth of babes, and older students. Pieces like ‘If I told you I was Deaf’ (Colin Thompson) performed by Justine Hamer of F. E. Primary School, ‘Who am I’ performed by Marielle Barrow of North Ruimveldt Primary School, ‘This is me’ performed by Renaldo Thomas of Bladen Hall Multilateral School, extract from Julius Ceasar performed by Masud Lewis of Bishop’s High School, ‘Lady Lazarus’ performed by Shyra Bruce of Bishop’s were winners, and as it is said, stole the show. Other institutions made sterling contribution of World Poetry Day like the National Library, National School of Dance, GEMS Theatre, and National Drama Company. Recognized literary personalities added another dimension to poetry. And the foreign input was emphatic, bringing a change of pace, giving a taste of languages other than English.
World Poetry Day was held on Thursday, March 26, in the National Library Auditorium under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport. The event added new life blood to poetry.
(Responses to this author telephone (592) 226-0065 or email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com)

by Petamber Persaud