Our Movement’s Yearly Report: We already are over 3.300 poets of the world. By Luis Arias Manzo* 
 

Fellows of the arts crafted verb and of the word, all which are forged and wrought by pain, suffering, pleasure and happiness, by conscience and love for human existence and of course, above all, by a constant connection with the universe which feeds life’s mystery. I have good news for you, the best news that I could offer you at the time when many are sheltered by end of the year warm festivities and start of the new year which brings union to families, to friends and to the poets of the world. We are sheltered because the coldness in the streets overwhelms us, the coldness of the world oppresses us and because the coldness of times present, anguish us.

Throughout large parts of this planet a year leaves us and we start evaluating what we did and that which we did not know how to fulfill. We, craftsmen of the word and forgers of the explicit beauty, us, the poets of the world should evaluate if we were up to par with our assignment. It is time now for us to render an evaluation for the Christian Calendar Year of 2007.

The reason, for which in this night of silence and meditation I now write, is to look backwards and take a glance at what happened during this year which is now coming to an end. The truth is that what happened was the best for our commitment and for our poetic project with humanity. This is so because:

First, we grew considerably and reached more countries where we did not have a presence; we already are in more than one hundred countries of the planet. On account of being more we have increased from 1, 965 to 3, 303 members.

Second, because this year we were recognized by organizations that are at the centre of world events. In this way this year in May a delegation of poets of the
World were received at a special audience at the Palace for over 90 minutes by President Mahmud Ahmadinejad of the Islamic Republic of Iran. On this occasion we expressed ourselves openly and freely on account of our World Poets Universal manifest and made special reference to article 8 where it states;

8. - The Poets of the World will declare any place where they find themselves to be as their arena where they fight against evil, be these grand palaces or the miserable urban caves, or extended grounds where the man of the earth works or the bottom of a pit where miners throw up their blood. No neighborhood shall remain unvisited to carry the word as if it was rainfall over the earth conveying a graceful spectacle as if these were flowers for humanity’s eyes. The poet will be the light that guides the warriors the same as dunes in the night’s darkness.

In this way also a well attended delegation of 50 poets of our movement was invited by Queen Noor, to the 25th festival at Jerash, Jordania. It was a privileged moment to share, to exchange and draw links with poets of the world in general and very particularly with poets from the Arab world.

Third, because everywhere where Poets of the World have ventured they have taken their word to the remotest places in the planet. Myself for example accompanied by my wife, Marcia Motta, who is a Poet of the World and by the two other Poets of the World Roberto Bianchi and Konzuelo Villalobos Sanzetenea gathered with thousands of students from Tarija Department in Bolivia. All this thanks to our extraordinary Poet of the World Edmundo Torrejon Jurado. Even more, for example, this year we carried out the First Solidarity Poetic Journey for Peace – France 2007: “Briser les chaines d`Ingrid Betancourt”. And in the same way to this there is so much more.
Fourth, because also in this year the decision was taken to conduct the First Congress of Poets of the World in Natal beautiful cities in the State of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. The “Country of the future” as it was called by Stefan Zweig even though it is over sixty five years from this predicament; his prediction is still valid, today more than ever. On account of this nothing could be more significant and be more symbolic for our First Congress of the Poets of the World to take place in this country, the country I am used to call the country of Luis Carlos Prestes. Hundreds of poets have already committed their attendance. The Congress will take place from May 24th to May 31st, 2008 and it will be like “An Ocean of poetry and Peace” as the organizers have predicted.
Fifth, finally, because our original and crazy idea of constituting a “Poetic Diplomatic Corps” is taking shape and is being fruitful. We are beginning to convince others that poetry can and should play a role in the unsafe, conflictive and violent world in which we live.
Nevertheless, if we are looking at things from this perspective we can perhaps seek refuge in the idea that we are alright, that we have achieved a lot, BUT NO, there still remains a lot to do, a lot to travel through. We may sing our victories, successes, gains, etc. But still there are many things to do. This is only the beginning of a long battle. Perhaps, we probably are not going to see the end of this crusade but the world is claiming for us and we have to attend the summons. This is because the poet cannot leave any place unvisited. We are the ones who have initiated this project and which is only a project at present.

[*]Luis Arias Manzo, founder and secretary general of Poets of the World:
http://www.poetasdelmundo.com/verInfo_america.asp?ID=377