POETRY PLANETARIAT ISSUE 1, SUMMER 2019, ISTANBUL / MEDELLIN POETS OF THE WORLD UNITE AGAINST INJUSTICE World Poetry Movement Istanbul / Medellin Copyright 2019 World Poetry Movement Publisher: World Poetry Movement www.wpm.com [email protected] Editor: Ataol Behramoğlu [email protected] Associate Editor: Pelin Batu [email protected] Editorial Board: Mohammed Al-Nabhan (Kuwait), Ayo Ayoola-Amalae (Nigeria), Francis Combes (France), Jack Hirschman (USA), Jidi Majia (China), Fernando Rendón (Colombia), Rati Saxena (India), Keshab Sigdel (Nepal) Design and layout by Erkal Yavi and Gülizar Ç. Çetinkaya [email protected] Adress: Tekin Publishing House Ankara Cad.Konak Han,No:15 Cağaloğlu-İstanbul/Turkey Tel:+(0212)527 69 69 Faks:+(0212)511 11 12 www.tekinyayinevi.com e-mail:[email protected] ISSN XXXXX Poetry Planetariat is published four times a year in Istanbul by the World Poetry Movement in cooperation with Ataol Behramoğlu-Pelin Batu and Tekin Publishing House CONTENTS IN THE BEGINNIG WAS POETRY/ATAOL BEHRAMOĞLU A WORLD WITHOUT WALLS/JACK HIRSCHMAN POETRY CHRIS ABANI (NIGERIA, 1966) ADAM AITKEN(AUSTRALİA,1960) ALESSANDRO AGOSTINELLI (ITALY,1965) HRANT ALEXANYAN (ARMENIA,1961) AYO AYOOLA-AMALE(GHANA,1970) KOFI ANYIDOHO (GHANA, 1947) TAKAKO ARAI( JAPAN,1966) MARGARİTE ATWOOD(CANADA,1939) ATAOL BEHRAMOĞLU(TURKEY, 1942) HORACIO BENAVIDES (COLOMBİA, 1949) ROSA CHÁVEZ (NACIÓN MAYA, GUATEMALA,1980) JOHN CURL(USA, 1940) ION DEOCONESCU(ROMANİA, 1947) ASHUR ETWEBI (LIBYA,1952) R. J. GONZALES(USA) QASSIM HADDAD (BAHRAIN, 1948) JACK HIRSCHMAN(USA, 1933) GAO HONGBO (PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA,) ADAMOU IDE (NIGER, 1951) LEGNA RODRÍGUEZ IGLESIAS (CUBA,1984) ANTJIE KROG (SOUTH AFRICA, 1952) RAQUEL LANCEROS (SPAİN, 1973) BARNABÉ LAYE (BENIN, 1941) JOSAPHAT-ROBERT LARGE (HAITÍ,1942) JIDI MAJIA (PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ,1961) W.C.MAHER (USA, 1950) BILL MANHIRE(NEW ZELAND, 1946) JACK MAPANJE (MALAWI, 1944) JORGE MONTEALEGRE (CHILE,1954) KATE NEWMANN(İRELAND,1965) JUAN GREGORIO REGINO (MÉXICO, NACIÓN MAZATECA,1960) FERNANDO RENDON(COLOMBIA,1951) RATI SAXENA(INDIA) DINOS SIOTIS (GREECE,1944) TAREK EL TAYEB (SUDAN,1959) NGUYEN QUANG THIEU (VIETNAM,1957) IN MEMORİAM Alexander Pushkin(1799-1836) Walt Whitman(1819-1892) ANNIVERSARY of… Lawrence Ferlingetti (USA, 1919) MANİFESTOS Pablo Neruda’s Toward a poetry Impure IN THE BEGINNING WAS POETRY Ataol Behramoğlu (Turkey) If, in the beginning was the word, it should have been the poetical word. Because the word that gives meaning to existence cannot only be a logical one- it is should also consist of an image and a musical timbre. Thus we are describing poetry. Because poetry is the unity of logic, image and melody. If the conceptual word is an instrument of life’s logical explanation, the poetical word offers a more complete explanation of existence, and it does not exclude logic in doing so. Poetical creation is the effort and capacity of explaining the whole of human existence based on conscience , subconscious, unconscious it pursues, saves and sways (guides) it... Thereby to say “in the beginning was poetry” shouldn’t be read as a megalomaniacal statement of the poet. On the contrary it should be accepted as an aphorism for the explanation of the universe. In the beginning was poetry and fortunately it continues to exist. The lack or the nonexistence of it means the lack or nonexistence of consciousness and feeling of life. If we accept the fact that poetry seems to have lost its place in the contemporary society of human relations, if this is true it surely means that humanity is to lose the feeling of really being alive. The way to prevent this sinister train of thought entails a serious rethinking of the essence and the function of poetry. This essence and function is certainly based on its resistance against fascism, injustice and every kind of slavery with its defence of freedom, liberty and brotherhood. *** 4 POETRY PLANETARIAT | ISSUE 1, SUMMER 2019, ISTANBUL / MEDELLIN POETS OF THE WORLD UNITE AGAINST INJUSTICE These principles and reflections are the essential reasons of founding the World Poetry Moevement(WPM), founded in Medelline-Colombia, between July 4-8th 2011, during the Medelline Poetry Festival by 37 poet-directors of International Poetry Festivals from all around the world. From the very beginning, WPM has been calling to poets from all around the world and organizing poetry readings, festivals and numerous activities pertaining to poetry. Thus far thousands of poets from all continents have participated and defended these principles and ideals of a world without walls. Poetry Planetariat is the online quarterly of the WPM that aims to unite in its pages the distinguished products of world poetry and every kind of essay, writing, manifesto and interview on the subject poetry from all over the globe. We present you our first issue with joy, honour and confidence, expecting your contribution and constructive criticism too. POETRY PLANETARIAT | ISSUE 1, SUMMER 2019, ISTANBUL / MEDELLIN 5 POETS OF THE WORLD UNITE AGAINST INJUSTICE A WORLD WITHOUT WALLS Jack Hirschman, (USA) The Call has gone out from the World Poetry Movement (WPM) through the grand Colombian poet Fernando Rendon that the month of February will be dedicated to world-wide events organized in as many countries that compose the planet, under the title A WORLD WITHOUT WALLS. That title was conceived in Zigong, China, last Spring by Francis Combes of Paris, France, who was among many members of the WPM who’d come to read with Chinese poets at a grand Festival of Poetry, invited by the great Chinese poet and vice-director of the Chinese Writers Union, Jidi Majia. A WORLD WITHOUT WALLS has both a physical and a metaphorical meaning. The former of course relates to situations like the building of a concrete, then, steel, then who- knows-what material’s insisted upon by the president of the United States, a criminal billion- aire who attacks poor Guatemalans and Mexicans as criminals when all those people want is to be able to flee from the gangs and violence of their countries, which have to a great extent been created by the cor- porate violence of the United States itself in support of fascistic Latin American and Caribbean governments. Or take the walls of human police which are now preventing migrants from entering Germany, after an openness for some years on the part of Angela Merkel. Or Italy, at first open to African and Albani- ans but now closing its frontiers. Or Hungary. Or any number of other countries Why this insensitivity to brothers and sisters in this life? Is it simply the fear of being overrun by immigrants who will eventually overrun one’s particular nation? Look, the time of the industrial proletariat is over. Electronics and robotization have created a new class of homeless, part-time and full-time workers. But ironically enough the billionaire globalized capi- talist class has created a situation where every day millions and more millions of people are learning and working with computers and smart- phones and androids, etc. In effect, the Planetariat has been born and is growing by millions in every 6 POETRY PLANETARIAT | ISSUE 1, SUMMER 2019, ISTANBUL / MEDELLIN POETS OF THE WORLD UNITE AGAINST INJUSTICE continent every day. And this Planetariat’s demand is A WORLD WITHOUT WALLS because in fact its members—the people of the world—are ALREADY IN that world; they are in touch with friends in other countries with the push of a button. They are LIV- ING beyond Nations or Nationalisms, which today are nothing more than old decrepit formations controlled by corrupt governments based on corporate money. The People of the Planetariat in fact, with events like A WORLD WITHOUT WALLS, will be on the way to fulfilling the essence of the dream of the original founders of the United Nations in San Francisco, an end to war world-wide, and the creation of a world government that shares and distrib- utes the wealth of the world generously and sensitively in the process of cre- ating an equality that is nothing but the word Love in the eyes of everyone because it also recognizes E V E R Y human being as a brother or sister. With no need of any wall separating an I from a You, a He from a She; and to that end it is hoped that all within eyeshot of these words, take up the call to do A WORLD WITHOUT WALLS event by organizing with other poets— brothers and sisters—throughout the month of February 2019, and let’s pass the organic word throughout the Planetariat so that this dream of the World Poetry Movement (WPM) is an international wake-up call to all the lovers of the humane in humanity everywhere. POETRY PLANETARIAT | ISSUE 1, SUMMER 2019, ISTANBUL / MEDELLIN 7 POETS OF THE WORLD UNITE AGAINST INJUSTICE POETRY CHRIS ABANI (NIGERIA, 1966) THE NEW RELIGION The body is a nation I have not known. The pure joy of air: the moment between leaping from a cliff into the wall of blue below. Like that. Or to feel the rub of tired lungs against skincovered bone, like a hand against the rough of bark. Like that. “The body is a savage,” I said. For years I said that: the body is a savage. As if this safety of the mind were virtue not cowardice. For years I have snubbed the dark rub of it, said, “I am better, Lord, I am better,” but sometimes, in an unguarded moment of sun, I remember the cowdung- ‐scent of my childhood skin thick with dirt and sweat and the screaming grass. But this distance I keep is not divine, for what was Christ if not God’s desire to smell his own armpit? And when I see him, I know he will smile, fingers glued to his nose, and say, “Next time I will send you down as a dog to taste this pure hunger.” POETRY PLANETARIAT | ISSUE 1, SUMMER 2019, ISTANBUL / MEDELLIN 9 POETS OF THE WORLD UNITE AGAINST INJUSTICE LA NUEVA RELIGIÓN El cuerpo es una nación que no he conocido.