Verba Volant. 2000

In a world full of things that have become indispensable (cars, cell phones, computers, televisions, satellite dishes, the internet, etc.) we feel the urgency of a superfluous good like poetry. It seems to us that the "cold war" was succeeded by global control, obtained through cultural homologation on a global scale, and that free creative thought is to be ascribed to endangered species. It seems to us that the Stygian swamp of comfort is extending its mephitic effects on the consciences of the West and that an effective remedy for poverty and other similar blemishes has been found: removal, placement in special containers and, but only in case of need, some small surgical war. The globalized world has become so small that we increasingly feel the need for large mental spaces, to bring it back to less suffocating dimensions by taxonomically recording cultural diversity, bringing together men and women of different races and cultures, intertwining poetic and musical research. Thus the International Poetry Meetings return to Salerno, after a short break, with the third edition of "Verba Volant". Compared to previous editions, we want to highlight both elements of novelty and continuity: it is perhaps the first time ever that a poetry reading is held in a square in Salerno, but certainly the first time in a place of such great importance for the identity of the city. The participation of some musicians significantly strengthens our choice in favor of the physical, corporeal presence of poetry through its author himself, with stimulating and, hopefully, fruitful interactions between the two artistic languages. The great quality of the participating poets remains unchanged, the effort to focus all the attention on the reading, reducing mediated interventions (presentation, translation, etc.) to the bare minimum and above all our guiding idea which is to promote the comparison between different cultures remains unchanged. We firmly oppose the idea of ​​globalization which tends to flatten every identity onto a universal standard, but, together with Claudio Magris, we think that we need to be attentive to the values ​​of the place while remaining immune from that municipal viscerality which today makes the rediscovery of identities and ethnicities so obtuse and regressive; for this it is necessary to meet and get to know each other; this is why we think of an "ecological" function of poetry, understood as a niche in which the biodiversity of thought survives. We entrust to the lightness of the words, which in these evenings will fly like birds of different races and colors but with harmonious voices, our message against the heaviness of the world, against the lords of war, against the jailers of the imagination. The unforgettable Brazilian singer-songwriter Vinicius da Moraes said "Life, friend, is the art of meeting": we hope that these meetings can become a pleasant habit of life. * * * * *

Program

21/22 June 2000 Piazza Duomo, Salerno PROGRAM Friday 23 June 2000

Information

MUNICIPALITY OF SALERNO Department of Cultural Policies Cassa di Risparmio Salernitana Foundation Sichelgaita Foundation