World Poetry Day: Celebrating the linguistic expression of our common humanity
World Poetry Day is celebrated worldwide on 21 March after it was formally adopted during Unesco’s 30th session held in Paris in 1999.
On 21 March, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) recognises the unique ability of poetry to capture the creative spirit of the human mind.
Yes, World Poetry Day is celebrated worldwide and in South Africa on 21 March after it was formally adopted during Unesco’s 30th session held in Paris in 1999.
World Poetry Day’s main objectives
One of the main objectives of the day is to support linguistic diversity through poetic expression and to offer endangered languages the opportunity to be heard within their communities. According to the South African government, this is a day to encourage people to read, write, teach, and publish poetry and to recognise the great cultural contribution poetry makes to human society.
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and create an attractive image of poetry in the media, so that the art of poetry will no longer be considered an outdated form of art, but one which enables society as a whole to regain and assert its identity.
History
World Poetry Day celebrates one of humanity’s most treasured forms of cultural and linguistic expression and identity.
“Practised throughout history – in every culture and on every continent – poetry speaks to our common humanity and our shared values, transforming the simplest of poems into a powerful catalyst for dialogue and peace.”
World Poetry Day is also an occasion to honour poets, revive oral traditions of poetry recitals, promote the reading, writing and teaching of poetry and foster the convergence between poetry and other arts in the media. As poetry continues to bring people together across continents, all are invited to join in.
Publishing poems
The University of Cape Town (UCT) will celebrate World Poetry Day by publishing poems from students and staff, particularly around issues related to human rights and about human rights activists.
In June 2018, The Guardian published ‘Leaving home at 10‘ by Professor Harry Garuba as their poem of the week. This poem was shared by UCT once more. The poem reportedly comes from Garuba’s second collection, Animist Chants and Memorials, which is dedicated to his father, Joel O Garuba. At a recent memorial at the University of Cape Town, honouring the late English and African Studies scholar, his sister Blossom recounted how, as a young boy, he would join their father in the early morning, catching up on the latest news on BBC.
In this poem, he writes of his father, and of being separated from his family as he begins his journey at a boarding school.
An excerpt of the poem reads:
It was an old Peugeot 403
They don’t make them anymore
Tyres inspected, engine oiled, brakes checked
All in order as only an old Peugeot can be.
Its creaking body held together by care,
My father drove me to the boarding school
In a small town one hour away from home …
My tears and the car held through the journey
Through the pothole in my heart and the tear on the road
Through the window, I watched the world rush past
The houses and the trees and the streets and the names
I had known and loved, all running backwards, with
No time to pause for a goodbye, no time to wave
To the departing son leaving the embrace of home and hearth