1st Congress of Poets of the World, Brazil 2008: By Luis Arias Manzo* 
 

We, the poets of the world are within months of meetings at the beautiful city of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte State, Brazil, country of the future as it was called by Stefan Zweig. Even though this predicament was formulated over sixty five years ago, it still is valid today more than ever. Because of this it stands to reason that our First Poets of the World Congress take place in this country, the country of Luis Carlos Prestes, as I am used to calling it.

The poet is a special being who has the gift of crafting beauty out of words and who manages to transcend the sense of simple things when the word is naked. The poet dresses the word up in a way that strengthens her, makes her spectacular, and makes her beautiful. For the times we live in it is necessary that men/women succeed in understanding themselves through dialogue. But, the noise of canons prevents us from hearing one another. It is thus absolutely necessary that voices overcome the resounding noise of weapons. This the poets know about. We are at present living through the death pangs of a state of degeneration and the birth of a New Age in which the poet has a most decisive role to play. The poet cannot remain behind, the poet has to be on front line and if he/she does not do this then he/she is not a true poet, or in any case he/she would not be a true poet of the world.

As a first step in this struggle for life and peace I have set myself the difficult task of uniting the poets around the world who embrace the ideals of freedom, justice and equality. As a result I created the “ Poets of the World Movement” to follow upon an ambitious objective: to make out of the word a real force capable of influencing the world’s destiny and help attain the balance for the planet. Only then, when our voices resound through the cold palaces of power as well as in those neighborhoods which poets cannot leave aside and not visit, we ought to be capable of proposing alternative ways to pull us out of this state of decadence under which our society lives today.

The poet is the social subject of this future task and this poet who is a warrior has to get nourishment from social realities, from getting involved in them and from being able to let go of his/her Ego. In any place where the poet becomes developed it is a trench for struggle, for decadence is in all places. Politicians have failed and have dragged us to the apocalyptic situation in which we find ourselves today and we now have the need for deep changes in structuring the organization of the world. In other words I believe we are living up to the limits of what is acceptable and very close to the beginnings of a planetary revolution. This is where the postmodern writer has a determinant role to play.

It is true that war is not something new that surprises us, war has always existed; since the night of times when men became aware of his existence we are fighting against each other. The problem today is that man’s ambitions are furnished with weapons which are capable of making life disappear in the planet in a couple of hours. What we are witnessing in the Middle East is a stage in an unspeakable and ambitious project by the Empire who is trying to grab hold of the natural resources in that region.

Today it is the oil [energy], tomorrow will be the drinking water and the biodiversity.

Thence we, the poets, have to make use of our best weapons to combat this horror, the ignorance and lack of awareness by men. That weapon is the poem, that short way to state something that is big, that way of briefly saying something that involves an enormous feeling within the souls entrails themselves`. The poem is that mysterious language which inexplicably springs up from the sources that nourishes our being’s sentimental life and which we call inspiration. It is a form to communicate between the terrestrial being and the mysterious voices from within. The poem can be so strong that if we use it well we can make of it a very powerful weapon to combat those gray feelings coming from the fools that govern us. That is the direction that my ambitious project is moving towards: To create an army of warrior poets whose weapons are the words that expand throughout the world and forcefully resist that which kills life and happiness.

I am aware of the dangers posed by this project. Not long ago, around two thousand years ago, at the time of the Roman Empire, a young man came into Jerusalem speaking about love and peace. His weapon was the word and we all know how that story ended. It would not surprise me that in a short time we be accused of being intellectual terrorists and be persecuted all over the place, but even then it is worth while to battle for life and peace.

That is why I call upon the poets of the world to actively get involved in the problems that afflict their communities, above all, there, where men loose their reason and the essential meaning of our existence. Poetry must begin to play its role in these times of war, extermination, hunger, of kidnappings, injustices, of global warming of the planet and of new diseases that eat away the minds of those in power and who take decisions about the world’s destiny.

In call upon our Poetic Diplomatic Corps to carry out its own and to act there where its good offices are needed and to think in how to become more effective in our historical commitment towards humanity. These are topics for our Poets of the World First Congress where poets from all parts of the planet will be attending.

LONG LIVE LIFE!

Luis Arias Manzo*Founder and General Secretary of the Movement Poets of the World:
http://www.poetasdelmundo.com/verInfo_america.asp?ID=377

[Document translated to English by Enrique Brieba Opazo, Poet of the World