On World Poetry Day, Arab Voices Echo With Laments For A Lost Muse

(MENAFN- Jordan News Agency)

Amman, March 20 (Petra) -- As the world marked World Poetry Day, a quiet unease settled among Arab poets, a sense that the currents of their art were shifting, perhaps drifting away from familiar shores. They spoke of a cultural landscape where the voice of poetry, once a powerful presence, seemed to echo with a muted resonance.
UNESCO's annual celebration, meant to amplify the power of verse, instead prompted a moment of introspection. How, they wondered, could poetry reclaim its place in a world where its influence seemed to wane?
The answers, they suggested, lay not in grand pronouncements, but in the subtle shifts of cultural values, the silent absence of patronage from institutions, and the pervasive presence of digital platforms that often blurred the lines between genuine expression and fleeting trends.
Tayseer Shamaseen, a voice of seasoned reflection, posed a simple question: "Where is the Arab poem going?" He echoed a deeper lament, a whisper of "....They won't say: the times were dark. Rather: why were their poets silent?"
He spoke of a tradition subtly altered, its essence diluted by a focus on form over substance, a creeping sense that the very soul of poetry was being lost.
The "Diwan of the Arabs," once a repository of history and social commentary, now seemed to be a vessel adrift. He then stated, "I repeat in a total silence the famous saying of the German poet Bertolt Brecht, and I am in the utmost shame of what the poetic scene has become on the Arab arena."
It wasn't just about the words, Shamaseen suggested, but about the space they occupied. He spoke of a rise in poetry that seemed deliberately obscure, a maze of symbolism where emotion was lost, a kind of "culture of emptiness." Was this, he wondered, a natural evolution, or a deliberate attempt to reshape the very nature of their art, to "flatten the poetic tradition" and "poison public taste," as he put it?
Maisoun Nobani, her words tinged with a quiet melancholy, spoke of the poet's fading presence in society. The digital age, she observed, had democratized poetry, but at a cost.
The proliferation of online content, often bearing the label of verse, had blurred the lines, making it harder to distinguish the genuine from the fleeting. "Perhaps," she mused, "we must admit that the world of poetry has lost its exclusivity," becoming a space where "everything, in every context, is called poetry." She also spoke of the lack of support from traditional media outlets.
Yet, amidst the doubts, a spark of resilience remained. Louay Ahmad, his voice a counterpoint to the prevailing mood, reminded them of poetry's enduring power. It was, he insisted, "the most beautiful aesthetic expression" against a harsh reality, a force that could still challenge, still inspire, still hold a mirror to the human experience, a "white revolution with black ink."
Ahmad spoke of poetry as a refuge, a space where identity could be forged and dissent could find its voice, a "rebellion against the system," a "freedom beyond the herd." It was, he said, a testament to the enduring power of language to capture the ephemeral, to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary, to "grasp the fleeting image" and "pluck the impossible fruit" from the realm of imagination.
On this World Poetry Day, the poets' reflections were not a lament for a lost art, but a quiet acknowledgment of its evolving role. A call, perhaps, to rediscover the essence of their craft, to find new ways to make their voices heard in a world that seemed to be listening less, a world where the "poet is wronged" but still "remains bound to poetry."

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