[New-Poetry] 'Can poetry matter?' international style...

[James Cervantes]

On 7/9/06, JforJames at aol.com <JforJames at aol.com> wrote:
>
> http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailfeatures.asp?fileid=20060709.M01&irec=24
> Poetry fest: Ding-dong, the poet is (not) dead
> Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
>
> Egyptian poet Ahmed Abdul Mooty Hezagy was restless; he felt that poetry no
> longer existed in people's lives. There was a population of around 250
> million in Indonesia, he said, but a single poetry collection is only read
> by, what, 1,000 readers?
>
> He pointed to Egypt where, with a 70 million population, one book is read by
> the same number of readers, or 2,000-3,000 readers tops.
>
> "We need poetry in life, but why is poetry not popular anymore?" he asked.

Well, from that very article: "On the festival's opening night on
Wednesday at the Taman Ismail Marzuki Arts Center, Central Jakarta,
the performances consisted of a series of poets reading their works,
accompanied by a translator. The lighting was simple, the stage only
decorated with a couple of ladders and the poetry being read was
projected on a backdrop.

The lack of dynamism in its presentation turned the evening's reading
into a snoozefest that several audience members, mostly art students,
left before the event was over."

I'd bet the best attended poetry events are those with the highest
entertainment factor, whether in Indonesia or here.  Oh, and I'd bet
there are more attendees than readers.

"We need poetry in life, but why is poetry not popular anymore?" he asked.
Who is "we"?


-- Jim

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