This year we inaugurate the XVI edition of the FIP International Poetry Festival of Buenos Aires. Opening the doors of the house is allowing fresh air with the smell of jasmine to enter. The poets will bring with their voices another flower, that of the cherry tree, which is a symbol of rebirth, of life itself and of its beauty.
Poetry is always on alert discovering the extraordinary so that one can incorporate the countless nuances of reality. Words open doors to the immensity and to the least, whether it be a conch shell or some infinitesimally tiny point under the moon.
Why not say that poetry always brings us a bit of "madness", a lot of love and transforms us to bear the misery of planetary pain, of poverty, of these infamous wars that we live today; poetry is written on the faces of those children with ashes on their faces. These children look at what is happening as if it were a scene, no longer from Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, in the movie Casablanca, but thinking about where to find a refuge to preserve their innocence looking at the sky under that seemingly lost paradise.
Poetry forces us to invent ourselves, to transform ourselves, to unite ourselves because the word, which has no borders or language, is touched by poetry. In the mystery where each one can find an asylum, in the eternity that sometimes hides and sometimes reveals itself.
Poetry is heard beyond the chaos, or that almost invisible thread that can go through the eyes and leave the look cloudy.
In this edition we receive poets from Uruguay, Bolivia, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Brazil, Cuba, Canada, Spain, Italy, Palestine, Armenia, Estonia and Greece. These last three participate for the first time in our festival.
Of course we also have the participation of poets from Argentina, and provinces such as Córdoba, Mendoza, Santa Fe, Tucumán, Temperley, Chascomús, Bahía Blanca [Province of Buenos Aires] and our Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.
This year the format is hybrid. The screen will cross with the voices of poets because the appointment will not only be with them but with all of us. In this edition we find ourselves reaching out to listen to new voices that will tell us that we are once again believing that our gaze can be the one reflected by the eyes of love and creation.
Our Festival believes, along with Walt Whitman, that words and poetry can change the world.
Let's dance, drink, listen, sing, that life is this moment in which all poets and poetry will turn on the lights in our body and the word in a symphony will make up the choir of life and beauty.
Welcome to the XVI FIP International Poetry Festival of Buenos Aires!
