As a poet I’m interested in how Poetry
of Witness inhabits the space between ‘the political’ and ‘the personal’. At a
recent NCLA reading Carolyn Forchè said “They need to keep reminding us poetry
doesn’t matter, because we keep forgetting”. A sentiment I hear often is that
atrocities are too accessible today, becoming part of everyday experience
through the radio, TVs or smart phones.
In our new reading The Cold Boat, we counteract this sense
of diminishment and emotional distancing and from humanitarian crises by
reading Poetry of Witness and screening my new poem-film ‘Lunar Mare’, both poised
on experience and memory. The event is born out of a shared feeling of empathy
and necessity, a call to action to recognise the writing and reading of poetry
as an act of resistance.
We are using the Twitter hashtag
#PoetryOfWitness to encourage others to share poems to BBC Radio 4’s Poetry Please, with some startling
suggestions for broadcast, each a reminder of the many ways poetry can and does
matter.
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