WORLD POETRY DAY MARCH 21st 2007

Message from Mr Koïchiro Matsuura,

Director-General of UNESCO, on the occasion of World Poetry Day 2006, 21 March.

The world constantly changes across time and space, from day to day, from one place to another. And human beings are no exception, for we too are in transformation.

To begin with, our own lives as individuals are an exercise in adaptation. In their collectivities, peoples and their societies, cultures and civilizations change across the span of history. Human beings are enterprising agents of change, transforming their environments and, in the process, transforming themselves, thereby challenging any simple sense of a fixed, immutable human nature. And yet the human condition stubbornly remains and when, across time and distance, we recognize ourselves in others and others in ourselves, do we not recognize something enduring? Is there anything that captures simultaneously things in flux and things that do not change?

Of course there is, and that is poetry. Our languages, of course, are different and the ways in which we place words, phrases and sentences may vary, as do the forms and metres of our poetries. But poetry, through its diverse shapes and rhythms, draws us back to the dialogue of change and permanence in life itself.

Through language, we express our different beliefs, values and experiences, and the plurality of this flow of identities makes up humanity. Poetry is a bridge between individuals and groups, helping us to know and understand each other and, indeed, ourselves. It articulates – sometimes simply, sometimes with deep complexity – our fears, hopes, yearnings and forebodings. In its highest forms, poetry is capable of expressing a truth which captures the essence of our shared humanity. And the beauty of poetry reminds us of the artistic heights which humankind can reach.

This year, we are celebrating the centenary of the birth of the great philosopher-poet, Leopold Sédar Senghor. He wrote: “It is enough to name something for the meaning beneath the sign to emerge.” Poetry is the great way of naming the world, its permanent features and its transformations, in a manner that delights the human spirit. Let World Poetry Day remind us of this magical capacity of poetry in all its forms.

CELEBERATION OF WORLD POETRY DAY - 2007

Mad Men on the Roof or Manufacturing IDPs

In the middle of a thick forest
There was a beautiful palace
In that palace resides
A prince, definitely brave
And surely with a beautiful princess

You, me and we, all alike
Love to hear these stories again and again
Fairytales we call these stories,
Again and again we love to hear these tales
Though we categorized them for children

But my story here is different
A different story entirely
I will narrate this story
Not to make others sleep or laugh
But to wake the senses-- all --including mine
And put an end to these stories
All over the world

Bright flares of the multi barrels
Engulf the city like waves of the Tsunami
And the intriguing sound they make
Crash into the sky and tear it apart
Multi barrels roar beside hospitals
Multi barrels roar beside schools
Multi barrels roar beside the chanthai
Multi barrels roar beside the kachcheri

The battles of the borders
Are executed in the city centre
And display the might of brave men
With brand new massacre machines,
Of
The hands that produce
Manuals for the new world order

Bright flares of the multi barrels
Engulf the city like waves of the Tsunami
And the intriguing sound they make
Crash into the sky and tear it apart

Multi barrels roar beside hospitals
Multi barrels roar beside schools
Multi barrels roar beside the kachcheri
Multi barrels roar beside the chanthai

Women have deserted their homes and fields
Children have deserted their schools and playgrounds
Cattle have deserted and destroyed their grazing fields
The devastation of unharvested paddy fields
Mark the distorted life of the people

Bright flares of the multi barrels
Engulf the city like waves of the Tsunami
And the intriguing sound they make
Crash into the sky and tear it apart

Multi barrels roar beside hospitals
Multi barrels roar beside schools
Multi barrels roar beside the chanthai
Multi barrels roar beside the kachcheri

The hands that till land and create life
Were emptied, forced to be barren
And made dependent in a day
The hands and minds that create
Were uprooted, alienated
And reproduced as internally displaced
In order to manufacture them as
Democratic citizens of a unified state
Of the local Masters
And as a cheap labor force and a consumer mass
For the global conglomerates

Bright flares of the multi barrels
Engulf the city like waves of the Tsunami
And the intriguing sound they make
Crash into the sky and tear it apart

Multi barrels roar beside hospitals
Multi barrels roar beside schools
Multi barrels roar beside the chanthai
Multi barrels roar beside the kachcheri

My story here is different
An entirely different story
I want to narrate this tale
Not to make others sleep or laugh
But to wake the senses-- all --including mine
To put an end to these stories
All over the world

In the middle of the city
Oh sorry, excuse me…
In the middle of the thick forest
There was…

S.Jeyasankar
14/15.03.2007