Opening Remarks for Dialogue through Poetry 2002 by Pat Duffy

Let me begin by welcoming you to this opening reading for the second annual Dialogue through Poetry and UNESCO's World Poetry Day-- with this year's special theme, 'can poetry create a culture of peace and non-violence in the world?.' Your presence here this evening makes you part of a historic cultural event taking place in locations across the seven continents. All across the world from this auditorium to the world's highest mountain peaks-- poets will be gathering to speak the language of poetry. Children have gathered at Aksara Bookstore in Jakarta to read poems inspired by this year's theme, while Arab and English poets are meeting tomorrow at Shepherd's Bush Library in London at a reading sponsored by Banipal magazine. And in Tel Aviv, Jewish and Palestine poets are reading at Tmuna Theater in these troubling times. There are readings in Paris at the Red Wheelbarrow, in Pusan, Korea at Young Kwang Bookstore, in Moscow at the 6 Gallery, at Mumbai's Press Club, and at the West Torrens Library in Adelaide, Australia.

This program started last year at the United Nations with Giandomenico Picco who was appointed by the Secretary-General to promote the "Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations." Ram Devineni, the publisher of Rattapallax, and Bhikshuni Weisbrot, United Nations Society of Writer's Secretary, approached Mr. Picco and proposed a program that involved a literary component to the "Year of Dialogue." With his approval, they setup a major reading at the UN and hundreds of readings around the world including a literary conference. There were also three special readings on International territory--a reading at a science station in Antarctica, on a boat in the West Philippines Sea and on the summit of Mt. Everest.

Last year's 'Dialogue among Civilizations through Poetry' event was so successful that it led to this year's 'Poetry on the Peaks'. Perhaps some of you discovered this year's event by seeing one of the many posters for it that are displayed around the city. And maybe you saw that question written on the poster, "Can poetry help create dialogue and a culture of peace?" Can poetry help to create a dialogue and culture of peace? Does it sound naive? Or is there a way our everyday dialogue can learn from poetry's masterful understanding and use of language? A good poem knows just when to speak, just when to be silent. It knows just when to repeat a thought, and just when to say it only one time. Imagine if we could apply even a little of poetry's great sensitivity -- and wisdom -- to our everyday dialogues -- Whether or not our relationship with another person survives depends on the quality and success of our dialogue with that person. And whether or not all of us survive on this planet will depend on the quality and success of our dialogue with one other across continents and cultures. The five poets we have here with us this evening represent a diversity of styles and visions as they speak with the voice of the creative self, the literary voice -- which the writer Alice McDermott once called "the voice of the beauty of the world".