A GREAT MEDICINE CALLED POETRY
The Freedom of Poetry
Raymond Fenech
Poetry has no definite form or shape. That is why it is one of the best mediums through which human life can be interpreted. Men can only survive if they are free from conformity, allowing their true identity to speak for itself; without becoming slaves of conventionalism and conservatism; and if they were allowed the space for spontaneity and imagination. The art of poetry offers this freedom, hence why it is so sublime.
When a poet writes, he is free, free from inhibitions, free from the conditions set by society. He has to liberate his mind from all these, or else what he composes cannot be called poetry. Liberty is the basis behind genuine inspiration, behind every poetic word created. There is no poetry in calculated mathematical stanzas. There is no such thing as a pre-studied, pre-planned poem. There is only the spontaneous poem from the heart that touches the hearts. If poetry could be taught, all computers would be aspiring poets. If poetry was only reserved for critics and academics, its mission, its scope, its sole purpose of existence would no longer have any significance. In fact poetry as an art would have failed.
Poetic Energy
Poetry is in all and everything. The poet is needed to teach men how to extract this form of art from life and its surrounding. For poetry means living; poetry means appreciating life, nature, all that is earthbound and even that which goes beyond. Poetry is forever and belongs to mankind. There is no life worth living, or life after death, no immortality without poetry.
Poetry is the vibrating energy without which the difference could be as distinguishable as that from night and day, life and death, water and fire, the invisible and the visible. American poetess May Swenson once wrote some notes about poetry:
“Poetry doesn’t tell; it shows. Prose tells.
Poetry is not philosophy; poetry makes things be, right now.
Not an idea, but a happening:
It is not music, but it sounds while showing.
It is mobile; it is a thing taking place - active, interactive, in a place.
It is not thought; it has to do with senses and muscles.
It is not dancing, but it moves while it remains.
And it is not science.”
Inspiration
Poetry strikes when you least expect it. It is a lightning of inspiration that must be vented forth from the system. It froths and bubbles, it kicks the poet to a higher level of consciousness and makes him the number one human observer, with extremely sharp hyperactive senses, volatile, almost spiritual. Poetry is a bridge between mankind and everything else. It calls as loud as silence and no poet can refuse to be the medium.
Poetry is the strength, the fibre behind humaneness. Without poetry men would be missing an important link, that which makes them complete, in full synchronization and one with nature, the environment and last but not least, the soul.
No Place for Poetry In Malta
Having said that, the situation regarding poetry in Malta is indeed alarming. Over 20 years ago when I started writing poetry, there were no creative writing courses. In fact the only ³writing² course available in journalism at the University of Malta was abolished in 1979. Today, the situation is still very much the same. The only progress is that a bachelors degree in communications is now available. More recent the university of Malta is realizing that there is a great need for writing workshops. However, little is being done to organize similar activities.
Once I was advised by an editor of a certain book-publishing house in the UK to publish my poetry in my country. Usually I never reply to an editor’s rejection comments, but on this occasion I made an exception. It was quite obvious that he did not know what he was talking about.
The Parochial System
Poetry here is dying a very slow death. Maltese poets are the victims of what I call, “the public’s indifference syndrome”. Few people read poetry and most of these are academics. Actually academics do it not for the love of the art, but because to them, reading and understanding poetry is a sort of a status symbol. They feel poetry is reserved for intellectuals and scholars like them. They are the privileged few. Their behavior is ninety percent the cause for the negative attitude taken by most people towards poetry. For most youngsters poetry is like a taboo. It is frightening even to look at. The real poets are not within this academic group, they are the few but neglected social outcasts who cannot find publication.
To Write in Maltese or English
Furthermore these same academics seem to think that only those who write in Maltese are worthy of attention. They seem to forget that there is more to writing poetry than the language chosen by the writer as his medium. American Poet, Gregory Corso once said:
“My concern is not just American poets but the poets of the world because a poet is first of all a universal being, he is of man, not of a particular place of man - that is why it is impossible for a true poet to be nationalistic. To write poems for the state and not of his heart is death for the poet.”
Corso is being quite clear in saying that writing poetry has nothing to do with being patriotic. There are many other ways of promoting one’s language and the most elementary is to introduce its proper education in schools, something which we still lack in my country.
Poetry is still taught in the old fashioned way. So whether a poet writes in English or Japanese is immaterial. The most important thing is that every writer uses the language, which suits him best and which he feels is the most comfortable when expressing himself.
One of the annual major national literary prizes awarded for literary achievement, by the Culture and Education Ministry states in its rules that entries submitted have to be in Maltese. This is far from being fair with all those writers and poets who write in English and who can never take part in this contest. In my opinion the competition should award another prize for the best literary work in English. One cannot possibly erase 150 years of Maltese history under British rule - hence why our second language is English and why for many, English is still their first language.
Personally, I have often been criticized for not writing in my home language but I do not feel guilty about this at all. Besides the fact that I feel that freedom of expression can be practiced in any language, English is a universal language which offers everyone the possibility of exploiting it towards having his “message” transmitted to as wide an audience as possible. I feel that this is my first obligation towards my poetry and do not regret having followed my intuition.
No Guidance or Encouragement
Another disturbing factor is that there is no cooperation between Maltese poets. Upcoming talent finds little or no guidance from the more experienced fellow writers. Poets here are divided into two categories: there are the isolated individuals, or the ones belonging to the academic clans. In reality the latter suffer from inferiority complex. New talent is a constant threat because it might steal the pedestal which is so indispensable to their status symbol and ego. Once it was suggested to a leading writer to give some lessons on his craft. His answer came in the negative, saying that he was afraid his students would steal his ideas!
When I was 15, one of my friends, now an English university lecturer wanted to show some of my poems to a certain literature professor who was incidentally also a poet. I remember I had gone with my friend to the university and waited for him in the library thinking that he would come back with some constructive criticism, about my poetry. I was wrong. He just brushed them aside and his only remark was, “It’s just youthful craze - it will pass and he’ll forget all about it.” Well, since then 30 years have passed and my craze for writing poetry is still very much at large!
Marketing Poetry Abroad and Publishing in Malta
Apart from the fact that I have always loved the English language, I have always kept in mind the fact that the market for poetry here is non-existent. Unfortunately, I have met with very few people who take an interest in reading poetry. Had I written my poetry in my home language this would have limited my possibilities of publishing my work on an international basis. So far my poems have been published within the small press community in ten countries, so I was right in the first place to do what I did. Here, small press magazine publishers are non-existent. Major publishers would tell you outright that they do not commission poetry books because they know that poetry does not sell. There is little one can do about
this situation.
However I have always believed that where there is a will there is a way. It takes 90 percent determination and only 10 percent talent to succeed in any career one wants to pursue. I began writing poetry at the age of 13. I loved John Keats and his poetry was like a match applied to the wick of my talent. Since then I never stopped writing, in spite of the fact that there were no writing courses at the time. I learnt how to improve my writing and how to market my work through correspondence courses. Then, I started subscribing to magazines, buying market guides and finally submitted my first poems most of which came back with rejection slips - until that first acceptance!
My warning to budding poets is that, particularly the poet is the most underpaid of all writers. The poet is the least to aspire fame and riches from publication. There is no such thing as a professional poet anywhere in the world. In other words there are no poets who earn their living by writing poetry. Just think, a poet laureate has a very small annual income! So if anyone out there is asking himself, “what’s in it for me?” if measured in pounds shillings and pence, the answer is NOTHING! On the contrary, expect to spend a little fortune every year on postage, stationery, poetry books and subscriptions to magazines. Writing poetry is a vocation and the best that can be earned from publication is satisfaction, perhaps eventually prestige.
When a poet surmounts the first difficulties, the experience is unbelievably ecstatic. To quote Anais Nin, writers must remember that, “The role of a writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say.”
