Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Egyptian poet Ahmed Abdul Mooty Hezagy was restless; he felt that poetry no longer existed in people's lives. There was a population of around 250 million in Indonesia, he said, but a single poetry collection is only read by, what, 1,000 readers?
He pointed to Egypt where, with a 70 million population, one book is read by the same number of readers, or 2,000-3,000 readers tops.
""We need poetry in life, but why is poetry not popular anymore?"" he asked.
Hezagy was addressing fellow poets from 12 countries participating in the Indonesia International Poetry Festival, held from July 5-8.
His concern drew mixed reactions and concerns. Is poetry really not popular anymore?
If we take a look at here in Indonesia, however, the poetry scene actually remains promising. Sure, when it comes to books, many people cannot afford them, which is why poetry books do not sell all that well.
But poetry communities are everywhere, and poetry readings at public venues are regular events. Search Yahoo Groups for puisi (poetry), and it will come up with 247 related mailing lists.
There are also online poetry communities such as Bunga Matahari (www.bungamatahari.org) and Fordisastra (fordisastra.com). The Bunga Matahari community has even published their first poetry anthology early this year.
Indonesian poet Acep Zamzam Noor said that in his hometown of Tasikmalaya, in the eastern part of West Java, poetry competitions are held regularly and drew dozens of participants.
In addition, several musicians have given sound to popular poetry from noted wordsmiths like Sapardi Djoko Damono and turned them into songs -- and popular ones at that.
Ahmad said this kind of ""poetry musicalization"" also worked in Egypt.
""There's this singer who put music to classical Arab poetry, and it's very popular,"" he said, while still insisting that, on the other hand, conventional poetry was losing its audience.
Some poets in the discussion agreed with Ahmad, suggesting that perhaps not many people understood poetry, that poetry was competing against a lot of media nowadays, and that people simply did not read anymore.
Other poets argued that two different things were being mixed up, as if poetry was unpopular because of a drop in book sales.
""There is a lot of poetry going on, but maybe not in academic terms or forms. The problem is not whether it is popular or not, but the definition (of poetry). Does it have to be read on stage? I think pop songs are poetry as well, and sometimes TV commercials too,"" said Martin Jankowski from Germany. ""So, poetry is still very much alive in many forms.""
Hungarian Peter Zilahy said that book sales was just one standard to indicate an upbeat poetry scene.
""In Hungary, books don't sell much as well. But there are, like, 200 literary magazines which print poetry. Or in the Netherlands, there are dozens of poetry festival held,"" he said.
If poets want to reach a wider audience, the discussion said, they have to be more proactive, explore other media and present themselves in an appealing way.
Martin Mooij from the Netherlands said that one way poetry was brought to the masses in his country was by attaching ""poetry line"" around a garbage truck in glow-in-the-dark material.
Acep, meanwhile, has tried to reach out to the masses by installing banners of short poetry that criticize local government.
""Once I wrote about a regent in Tasikmalaya who has many wives. And it works. People talk about it. So, we have to go find ourselves (our) audience,"" he said.
In the case of this poetry festival itself, which toured Palembang, South Sumatra, earlier this month, organizers should have worked harder to present a more appealing event.
On the festival's opening night on Wednesday at the Taman Ismail Marzuki Arts Center, Central Jakarta, the performances consisted of a series of poets reading their works, accompanied by a translator. The lighting was simple, the stage only decorated with a couple of ladders and the poetry being read was projected on a backdrop.
The lack of dynamism in its presentation turned the evening's reading into a snoozefest that several audience members, mostly art students, left before the event was over.
