Last night at the Historical Museum, a competition unfolded, that of Poeta di Patria, the country’s poet, the competition was organized by CCDN, a special committee in charge of planning national days, in collaboration with a few other cultural entities.
The event, in its 11th edition, was dedicated to Atan Lee, a late local cultural and religious leader, famous for his gift of gab, speaking easily and confidently to an eagerly listening audience.
The inscription opened in February and called poets and writers to find it in their heart to write a Papiamento language piece extolling our island, our language, and our culture.
Only one theme eligible for entry.
The parameters were strict. The contest dictated the format: Poet could send in only one work, in Papiamento, the length of four to nine stanzas, each holding four phrases, in rhyme!
The contestants had to be at least 18 years old, and last night the coronation of our national poet took place on schedule, at Fort Zoutman.
I have been following Basha Foundation and Poetry Nights for a while. The group gets together once a month for an open mic event and people recite and read compositions, self-penned and/or borrowed, on most diverse subjects from happiness to bereavement, loss, elation, love, passion, relationships, the environment, nature, young an old age. The evening covers all colors of the rainbow, and goes up and down the emotional scale, in four different languages, while the audience sips wine, or coffee, relishing the moment.
Some pieces are pure kitsch, a collection of cliches of overused ideas, banal and naïve.
Some pieces shine, they are raw and painful, truthful, and amazing.
But everything goes, and the audience learns to appreciate art and the magnificent use of language by being exposed to a full spectrum.
Poetry Nights pride themselves on being inclusive and un-curated.
They are authentic.
Can you say the same about the oeuvres aired at Fort Zoutman?
Like the overly patriotic song festival, the overly patriotic poem competition must allow more intellectual freedom, and less choking national control.
