Poetry on the River Po

Translation of article on my performance in Guastalla, on the banks of Italy's River Po, just 3 weeks ago. This piece, by Gabriele Maestri, ran in the Gazzetta di Reggio and other local media outlets, where you can read it in the original Italian.

Denunciation poetry on our Big River

«Un Po di Gange» closed with lyrics by Shailja Patel



GUASTALLA. Yesterday evening the kermesse called «Un Po... di Gange» (it has drawn together indian and italian culture for 13 years) finished with flowers dropped into the river and candles posed in the water. During these three days, at the Hostel of the Po, music (from traditional one to disco-hindi, includine also local indierock bands), dances and atmospheres have recreated a piece of India near our Big River; as usual, a lot of visitors crowded the Indian restaurant and the bazaar of Indian products; there have been space also for painting and yoga.

POETRY. In the middle of the festival there was a moment devoted to intense poetry, with the young artist Shailja Patel. She’s of Indian extraction, but grew up in Nairobi and studied in the USA (where she lives); there she has taken part in several poetry jams, and soon has made a name for herself as one of the best «performance poet», i.e. an artist who expresses herself using her voice tone and gesture.

In her verses, the artist has embodied feelings and pain of migrants, mixing historical facts and personal episodes; she has given voice to war horror, to victims and violence (expecially on women), always using a direct language and expressing with much realism. Shailja performes in many nations and she always succeedes in making herself understood, even if she only speaks English. «Even if the audience can’t understand the language – she explains – body and voice can communicate my emotions and feelings all the same».

FLOWERS IN THE RIVER. This time the final ceremony of the twinning changed. Nobody carried a bottle filled with the holy water of the Gange, in order to pour it in the Po; they chose to drop flowers and candles into the River. This is the rite that people do in India, with their holy river: for migrants who arrived in Guastalla a lot of years ago, the Po turned in «their Gange».

After the end of this festival, now it’s time to prepare the next year’s one, because there will be an important appointment. «In 2007 there will be the 60th anniversary of Indian independence - Paolo Tortella, who had the idea of this kermesse, remember – We’ll have the opportunity to celebrate it with many events, and we are making some projects».

Gabriele Maestri