In observance of World Poetry Day 2014, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport hosted an evening of international, regional and Guyanese poetry. The event which was held at the Umana Yana was well received by many who turned out to listen to the poems being recited.
Many of the poems told tales of various life experiences and it was no coincidence that the theme was “
In his remarks, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony noted that even though Guyana is observing the World Poetry Day late the intention is still the same, and that is to celebrate poets and poetry.
He emphasized that Guyana has a rich literary legacy. “We don’t have enough occasions when we can talk about this rich legacy that we have,” he said. In this regard, at every opportunity possible people need to made aware of this legacy and discuss what can be done to celebrate those things.
Minister Anthony also spoke about renowned Guyanese poets such as Martin Carter who is regarded as a national poet. He also recognized Egbert Martin, another Guyanese poet, who was described as one of the greatest Negro poets in history.
The Minister lauded Martin’s work which was done prior to his death. Minister Anthony noted that one of his books entitled ‘Scriptology’ was missing for 100 years however the only existing copy has been located at Howard University.
“This year through the Caribbean Press, we will be republishing Scriptology and we will be making it available to the Guyanese public,” the Minister said. It is anticipated that when the book becomes available more Guyanese would be acquainted with Egbert Martin who was acclaimed as the first major poet in Guyana and Caribbean.
The Minister recognized that over the years the observance has been enriching because some of the poets recited poems in their original languages. Several of the poems that were recited last evening were done in Russian, Spanish and Portuguese. However, the latter was done by a student of Queens College and translated into English by a representative of the Embassy of the Federation of Brazil.
“We ourselves we have been writing predominantly in English but we have the indigenous languages…perhaps we should encourage people to write poems in these languages,” Minister Anthony highlighted.
He explained that UNESCO started World Poetry Day on the premise of sustaining linguistic diversity. Minister Anthony noted that he has seen work done in several of the indigenous languages and the stories have also been collected but there are not many poems. The Minister made a call for such a collection to commence.
In 1999 the United Nations made a decision to proclaim March 21 as World Poetry Day. One of the main objectives of the day is to support linguistic diversity through poetic expression and to offer endangered language the opportunity to be heard within their communities.
The United Nations is of the view that poetry reaffirms people’s common humanity by revealing the fact that many individuals share the same questions and feelings. Further, poetry is the mainstay of oral tradition and over centuries has communicated the innermost values of diverse cultures.
Additionally, the observance of World Poetry Day is also meant to encourage a return to the oral tradition of poetry recitals, to promote the teaching of poetry, to restore a dialogue between poetry and the other arts such as theatre, dance, music and painting, and to support small publishers and create an attractive image of poetry in the media, so that the art of poetry will no longer be considered an outdated form of art, but one which enables society as a whole to regain and assert its identity.