INDIA: Poetas del Mundo (ppdm ) is an international organization of poets . Poets from 137 countries numbering more than 9000 poets are members of this prestigious organization .World renowned poet from Chile,Poet Luis Arias Manzo is the founder of PPDM . Main objective of PPDM is promote humanism through the medium of poetry . Every alternate year PPDM holds International Poetry Festival at different parts of the world . Poets from every member country is invited to participate in these poetry festival. Every member country has a designated poet Ambassador , who represents his country at these poetry festival. Poet Sujit Mukherjee is the Poet Ambassador for India.
This year( 2019 ) I represented India in the International Poetry Festival being held in Italy from 6 th to 15 th September . As per norm of PPDM poetry festival , festival is arranged in different cities in the host countries so that maximum number of local people and poets can participate and listen to the poetry recitation of poets from different countries . Apex body of poets in the host country make all arrangements . This year s festival was held at Florence, Verona, Venice, Rovigo andFerrara cities withactive participation from local poets . All these cities are located in the northern parts of Italy .
In place like Verona , which is believed to the home town of Juliet ( of Romeo Juliet fame ), poetry reading was organized to commemorateJuliet s sacrifice in the alter of love. Similarly at Venice , poetry was read near a ocean going boat which rescued drowning refugees from Syria , to respect the souls those unfortunate refugees whoperished during their voyagefrom Syria.
Best part of these international poetry festival s held in different countries is that all the foreign poets travel by road to one city to other where such events arranged so that poets are exposed to the culture ,food , history and geography of the host country. This experience provides inputs for fresh poetry on cities we travelled . Some of the poems that I composed in Italy is provided below. Besides poetry , information about Italy and places we visited and our first hand experience are invaluable , which cannot be found in tourism books
Part 2: Visual Description of the society and places visited during the festiva
lItaly is a small country in Europe with thousands of years of history . It wastheseat of Roman Empire( Roman Italy was founded in BC 272 )and Rome was considered as the capital of Europe . Before the Roman s , the Greeks had their presence there . Civilizations after civilizations have left their foot print in Italy.
After the collapse of Roman Empire , fragmented Italy was ruled by Citi States ( like Raja and Maharaja s in India ) Today Italy is one of the most modern nations in Europe .Italian s are considered as most advanced in art, literature, music, fashion, poetry , architecture and science and technology. Population of Italy is 60 million ( similar to Indian state of Gujarat), its GDP ( gross national income ) is over 2 trillion US $( India2.6 trillion) and per capita income isU$ 33,353( compared to U$ 8000 for India ). Modern Italy stands tall amidst architectural ruins of its past , country is likealive museum , where thousands of year old small town s like Florence , Rome , Ferrara, Verona etc are still inhabited and these towns coexist with their modern townships . No where in the world one sees such perfect blending of old and new . Italy has world s largest UNESCO designated world heritage sites .No wonder , Italy receives largest numberof tourists each year ( 115 million -India 10 million )) . Due to its unique geographical location e.g snow capAlpmountains in the north west , oceans in east , west and south , there are three distinct climatic zones , cuisines and sub cultures in Italy .Italian food is world famous for its taste and regional variation.It has most modern infrastructure of roads, railway andairlines . Fastest trains in Italy travels at a speed of 400 km/hr.Country has more than a dozen international airports .
As mentioned above , the International Poetry Festival was held at different cities in Italy namely . Florence, Ferrara, Venice, Verona and Rovigo in the northern part of Italy . From Delhi , we arrived at Rome . From Rome we travelled to Ferrara by high speed train ( 2 ½ hours ). We stayed 3 nights in Ferrara. From Ferrara we traveled to all cities where poetry festival is held by road. We also stayed overnight at Florence and Venice. During these road journeys we had excellent experience of viewing the picturesque country side of northern Italy. This experience is not possible if we visit only the historical places in Italy. Highlights above places, based on my experience and available informationis described below.
Ferrara Ferrara in Italyis a classic example of ancient living town. Ferrara is a UNESCO world heritage townwith population of 132000.Its origin could be traced back to nearly 1100 years , yet the Ferrara Cathedral , Clock Tower , Castle of the king , old market place ,Food street , Town Hall etcare well preserved and has the aura of Antiquity with modernity .Old city is clustered around above places.Currently it is famous university town. Ferrara is also few large industries . Founder of world famous Ferrari car Mr Enzo Ferrari was from Ferrara town , Ferrari car is produced at Maranello , 90 km from Ferrara . Lamborghini car was named after Mr Ferrari s son .Poetry Festival was held at the garden of the city s 1000 year old town hall . This town hall has a functioning library, museum and auditorium .
Part 3: Poems composed in Italy during the festival
Florence
Florence is the capital of Tuscany region of Italy .Florence was established bythe roman emperor JuliusCesar in 59 BC .It is one of most ancient cities in world .It is UNESCO designated world heritage site . Florence is known to the world for the Florence Cathedral and its red tiled dome , colored marble façade and elegant Giotto tower . Popularly known as Duomo Florence . Cathedral was built during the year 1296-1436 . Design of similar red colored dome is now found inmanyEuropean towns .Medici kings who ruled Florence had commissioned famous Italian artists and sculptors Michelangelo , Leaonardo Vinchi and Botticellito beautify this cathedral . Michelangelo sculpted the famous statue of David ( figure of perfect man ) in Florence . Millions of tourists visits Florence every year . Florence is connected with all cities of Italy by road , high speed train and air . All tourist centers in Italy have International Airports .Modern city of Florence which is the provincial head quarter is a thriving city built several kilometer south of Florence Cathedral .Poetry Association of Italy is head quartered at Florence . Poetry Festival was held inside an old library building near Florence Cathedral . It was very well attended by public as well as Italian poets and authors .
Part 3: Poems composed in Italy during the festival
ROME
Mystifying , ageless and timeless
You witnessed the march of civilization s
Great Emperors and Monarchs fought for you
Builders , archetects , authors , artists flourished in your soil
Epics were written about you
In your air , melodies of your music wafts
Merchants of the world traded in your ports
love was immortalied by Romeo s sacrifice for his reloved
Gladiator s died in hordes to entertain
Colosum stands testimony for their sacrifice
Cleopatra visited you in search of love
There is no place in earth where civilisation thrived from time immemorial to present day
You witnessed it all
Every time I visit you , I fall in love with you
You smiled at me saying keep visiting me
To discover my secrets ....
GONDOLA
I wonder who invented you
You are a boat only found in the water ways of Venice
You are a boat but not a ordinary boat
You are a gondola of love
love abounds in a gondola
lovers float s in Gondola in the ocean of love
They swing and roll in joy while sailing in a gondola
love is incomplete without a gondola ride
Watching Sunset and Sunrise from a gondola
A mesmering experience
A romantic experience
Modern age sail boats motor boats could not
snatch the lovers from you
lagoon of Venice itself is such a romantic paradise
Rocking and rolling lovely gondolas
Make Venice a tempting destination ....
VERONA
Nesteled within hills and meadows in Italy
A cute medieval town of Verona
Calls for our attention
An ancient Roman amphitheatre
Still holds theatre and music festival
City centre comes to life every evening with music and cultural events
Shakespeare discoverd the story of Romeo and Juliet in Verona
He immortalied Verona as city of love
Romeo and Juliet were matyred in the alter of love
Verona stand testimony of impershability of love
Saga of Romeo and Juliet continues everywhere in our daily life ...
Part 4: Poems of Sujit Mukherjee composed for the festival
POEMS OF NATURE
My search for poems ends
Every time I am in the midst of nature
Poems in myriad colors and shape
Blooms like flower
Seasons paints them in seasonal colors
Wind spreads their fragrance
Like vibrating leafs , poems flutter in the wind
Like flowers my poems too blooms and fades
Leaving its imprint in my heart
I print them with words for you …
WHEN WE MEET AGAIN
I had so much to tell you
You had so much to tell me
We had so much to do together
So much remained unsaid and undone
Candle of our life is melting
Its flickering light will extinct some day
Never mind
Lets meet again in our next life
When we meet again
Come to me bubbling with your enchanting smile and unbridled passion
Let us seat together each evening
Under the dome of the sky and
Listen to each other
I will read my poems to you
Stars in the sky will join us
Water from the stars will water your eyes
When I hold you in my bosom
You will hear all my unsung songs
Poems from your heart will drip as eye drops
Never mind
We will meet again and again
Life after life ……
NOTHING IS MINE
I am only playing with toys
Afraid to break it
Whatever I call mine
Will remain scattered and abandoned
Nothing is mine
Am trapped in the illusion of permanent joy
Not interested to break free
I have to leave one day
Who will go with me when I depart
My beautiful body
Will turn into ash when consigned to flames
I live in the heart and mind of
The people I love and serve selflessly ….
NATURE BEACONS
I hear the song of mother nature
I hear her voice from
Gurgling of the mountain stream
Humming of the bees
Cuckoos coos
Murmurings of the winds
Chant of the river
Once in a while I detach myself from my worldly prison
And seat near a flowing river
Dip my bare feat in the crystal clear water
And allow the water to wash my impurities
Mother nature makes me complete and sacred
Melody of the mother nature s song
Wafts through me all the time …
COSMIC VIBRATION
A rhyme knocked at my heart
I asked
Who are you
You said
I am a poem
I am a primal voice
I am a cosmic vibration
I am eternal , ever present
I am flowing like a river all the time
I live in the heart of the poet
You said
You are a poet
A blessed soul
You receive my vibrations in your heart
You decode these vibrations
You transcribe them in words
You enrich and ornament the words
You rhyme the stanzas
You create the verse
You said
I reveal myself in your verse
Your verse is my echo…
I DO NOT KNOW
What is inside my body
I do not know
What is outside within the air and space
I do not know
What I read is secondhand information
I do not know its source
What I see is interpreted by my mind
I do not know what is inside my mind
Still I cling to my false sense of knowledge …
SKY
I don’t get wet with rain
I don’t get dispersed with cloud
I don’t get excited with rainbow
Yet
I am an umbrella over your head
I am a canvas on which clouds compose their verse
I am changeless within my ever changing surface
Be like me
Remain undisturbed
Be a umbrella for your family, friends and loved ones …
NOTHING IS MINE
My belongings belong to earth
My memories belong to time
My talents belong to circumstances
My family and friends belong to the path I have travelled
My beloved people belong to my heart
My body belongs to dust
My soul belongs to God
Nothing is mine ….
REFLECTIONS
I am a thousand winds that blow
I am the diamond glints on snow
I am the sunlight on ripened grain
I am the gentle autumn rain
I am twinkling star that shine in the night
I was there in the past
I am present now
I will be there in the future
I am not the body that perishes
I am a traveler passing through time span called life
Find me
In my deeds
In the sparkling dewdrops
In the fragrance of the flower
Find me in my verse ….
BENEDICTION
When I met you
I was not sure whether I should align with you
I asked myself
Are you here for me for a reason, season or life time
Will you help me selflessly when I am in trouble
Will you go through life together with me
Time proved
You are a benediction for me
You are always there for me
You are physically, emotionally and spiritually connected with me
You are my true friend
You are my lifeline ….
BOOK
I am a book
I remain silent
Yet say everything
I am a book
You are my author
I am known by you
I am a book
You bring to life
Your imagination in my pages
I am a book
I am inert like a stone
Yet like a seed
I sprout like a plant
In page after page
I am a book
Don’t ignore me
Don’t ignore my silence …
I AM YOUR POEM
In the blue canvass of sky
I am the rainbow you choose to paint
I am the flowing torrents of words in your verse
I am the raindrops
You watch during rains
I am the gurgling mountain brook
You stop and watch
I am a full moon
You are my light
I am born in your hand
My poet
You bring me to life …
TEAR DROPS
Lips cannot express pains and sorrows
Heart speaks in the language of teardrops
Teardrops glistens in the eyes
Joys and sorrows glistens as teardrops
Teardrops from the heart comes unannounced
Tear drops in your eyes brings tears in my eyes
I cry and teardrops wash my soul...
MEET ME IN MY VERSE
We both live together
In our soul
In love and in loss
We are both far yet close
We are united yet separated
I weave my longing for
You in my verse
I conceal your beauty
Within the wefts of my soul
My night dies in memory
My days live in waiting
I go back to my verse
To find you
You too will find me my poems..
HOW OFTEN I GET LOST
How often I get lost
In the unending alleys of uncertainty
I search for clues to return
Every time I think of you
Mists of ignorance, uncertainty, confusion recedes
And I find my way back home
Like a light house
You bring me back to the shore ...
OLD DELHI
I enjoy losing myself in the rhythm s of old Delhi
A city layered with thousands of years of history
Where Pandavas once lived
Where emperor Auranazeb beheaded his elder brother
Where last Moghol Emperor lost his honor
Where poet Mirja Ghalib framed his immortal verses
Where love still flourish in its lanes and by lanes
Where believer s in thousands pray at the magnificent Jama Masjid
A city cocooned in antiquity, resisting the march of modernity at its gate
A city fights modernity with conservatism every day
Shrinking timeless oasis
Against marauding sands of time
An oasis tucked within
Mega city of New Delhi
I long to visit the eternal city of old Delhi ….
WAVE AND SHORE
I am the shore
ou are the wave
Like the waves
You danced upon my shore
Like the waves
You once passionately kissed my shore
Like the waves
You silently retreated saying goodbye to the shore
Now it is all calm and quiet
Shore thymes the songs of the waves that it absorbed
I am the shore
You are the wave …
WHY DOES MY MIND CRIES
When my dreams leaves
When my dear ones leaves
When my poems leaves
My mind cries so often
I cajole my mind
I pamper my mind
I entertain my mind
Till my mind stops crying
Mind starts recovering
When my poems returns
Teardrops of my mind recedes
And
Dewdrops of joy fills my mind …
Let the thunder wake you up
Let the wind murmur my advancing footsteps
Let the clouds carry me towards you
Let me rain my love on you
Let me recite my poems in the language of rain
Dance and sway with the rhythm of my love
Find me in your arms in rain ...
I HEAR YOUR WHISPERS
Years passed till we met last
Now and then
I hear your whispers
*I am near you
I am near you *
Mesmerized I looked for you far and near
I find you in
Mother’s enchantment with her child
Cool breeze in summer
Fragrance of flowers
Cuckoos song
Sounds of laughter
With you near me
I fear not losing you
I fear not even losing my life
Be near me, my beloved
Never leave me alone …
LIFE IS A MIRROR
Smile and it will smile back
Every action there is an opposite and equal reaction
With action only reaction happens
Aura of our body’s subtle magnetic field
absorbs all external vibrations
Reflectance is natural and entirely automatic
All actions are driven by
The power within us …
POEM IN YOUR HEART
There is a poem in your heart
There is a poet in your heart
There is a prophet in your heart
In your heart there is a prophesy
There is voice in your heart
In your heart there is silence
There is a mind in your heart
In your heart mind is calm
There is a question in your heart
Your heart answers as a poem ……
Nacionalidad: India
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