The American Center, Kolkata, hosted a poetry workshop as part of the National Poetry Month programme. Students from eight schools of Kolkata participated in the workshop which was facilitated by writer Baisali Chatterjee Dutt. Besides interacting with the National Youth Poet Laureate Alyssa Gaine virtually, the students, in groups of five, gave presentations on poems under the theme DEIA (Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and accessibility). The presentations were judged by Melinda Pavek, Consul General of USA in Kolkata and Juan Clar, Deputy Director, American Center.
Talking about the need to work through issues for a better world, Melinda Pavek said, “The need to help us unite is big today — in our homes, classrooms, communities, and globally — we have a lot of divisions to work through and discord to discuss and resolve for a better world. I believe that each one of us, by leveraging the poetry we have experienced in our lives — whether it made us laugh, cry, think, smile, dream, or all of the above — can help to shape and re-shape the future of our world.” She continued by saying, "As much as we take pride in ourselves on the printed poetry collections of American greats such as Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allan Poe, Sylvia Plath, Walt Whitman, Maya Angelou, and Robert Frost, we also celebrate new voices in American literature through the poetry of Ocean Vuong, Joy Harjo, Jericho Brown, Meera Dasgupta, Amanda Gorman, and of course, the talented Alyssa Gaines, to name a few whose books proudly sit on our shelves. These are the diverse voices who are living and writing to tell the tales of a nation that is finding new, more effective ways to respect the values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility throughout all we do.”
Reflecting on the poem as an instrument to create empathy in society, Juan Clar said,“Poetry is a very powerful tool that has been used by humans ever since we learnt to speak, poetry sheds light on people’s experiences, sometimes it tells stories but most importantly the listeners and readers can create empathy for the person who created the poem and for the experiences that the poet is trying to narrate, and the more empathy there is in the world , the better place the world will become.”
The National Poetry Month was launched by the Academy of American poets in April 1996 to remember that poets have an integral part to play in our culture.
