Seton Hill University (SHU) and the City of Asylum in Pittsburgh presented an international poetry reading last week to further cultural awareness and global cooperation with our neighbors.
For those of you that are unfamiliar with the City of Asylum, they are a public sanctuary for writers that are in exile from their country, town, etc. For example, they housed writers that were on the run because they were imprisoned and tortured in China for writing poetry. They are partnered with different literary programs around the globe, such as the International writers program in Iowa, to help the writers find success with their work. They are truly a wonderful organization that aims to promote free speech, international literacy and the power of one’s voice.
By Stephanie Wytovich
Staff Writer
Seton Hill University (SHU) and the City of Asylum in Pittsburgh presented an international poetry reading last week to further cultural awareness and global cooperation with our neighbors.
For those of you that are unfamiliar with the City of Asylum, they are a public sanctuary for writers that are in exile from their country, town, etc. For example, they housed writers that were on the run because they were imprisoned and tortured in China for writing poetry. They are partnered with different literary programs around the globe, such as the International writers program in Iowa, to help the writers find success with their work. They are truly a wonderful organization that aims to promote free speech, international literacy and the power of one’s voice.
SHU World Affairs Forum (WAF) sponsored the evening and welcomed authors/poets Nikola Madzirov (Macedonian), and Rogelio Saunders (Cuba) to the Reeves Memorial Library where they would speak to us in both English and their native language. It was a night to discuss how art, writing, and music each have a public voice, and can be used to reach out to people and solve our problems world wide. It doesn’t always take combat or a war to stop things. You can make a difference just by talking to someone. Use your voice, and as Gandhi stated, ‘be the change that you want to see in the world.’
Nikola Madzirov has published five collections of poetry and has won both the European Hubert Burda Poetry Award and the Miladinov Brothers Award. He first read the poems to us in his native language and then had one of the students in WAF translate them for us. He read poems to us that were entitled “Perfection is Born,” “Home,” and “The Shadows Pass Us By.” Even though you couldn’t understand him when he spoke in Macedonian, we learned that language is universal. I felt the tone of the poem back on the crescendo and decrescendo of his voice. It was truly an amazing experience to be able to hear the political side of his poetry and learn about his culture and home. It makes you think and realize how lucky we are to be here in the United States, even at times when we think it might be better to leave.
Our final speaker for the evening was Rogelio Saunders who is most noted for his collection entitled “Fabula de insulas no escritas.” The piece that he read to us was a very political poem personal to his homeland. As you sat there and listened to him speak, you could see the images that he had placed together. And when he whispered “…silence corpse…” chills slid down your back. He made you open your eyes to the things that you didn’t want to see, and find yourself amongst the terror.
For those of you that are interested in poetry and international affairs, I highly urge you to look up the works of these three authors. Their pieces are not only true to the human heart, but realistic and educational as well. In times like these when our country is hurting the most, we need to band together and make a stand for what we believe in. Speak up and let your voice sing; you can make the difference, even if it is only through a poem.