Poetry festival ends with poets reciting verses on a cruise

Fifteen poets from different corners of the world recited poems and discussed the interplay between literature and rivers on a cruise over the Ganga on Sunday, the last day of the international poetry festival 'Chair Poetry Evenings 2019'.

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Poet Sara F Costa said, ending the festival over the Ganga was "truly poetic". Poets from the US, Australia, Portugal, Chile, Netherlands, Hungary, Slovakia and India recited poems in their native tongue followed by English translations at the second edition of the three-day festival, hosted by Chair Literary Trust. Hindi poet Devi Prasad Mishra said, "It is a new feeling as we are coming from landlocked places. It feels great to be on a cruise with recital of poems reverberating in the air."

Speaking on the Ganga, Hungarian poet Balzs Szollossy said, "It is a holy river and rivers are symbolic for poets. Poetry is magic and river is very sacred, so having the two together is a very appropriate and good experience." American poet Brian Turner said, he was excited to read poems in a way that was so deeply connected with nature.

"Poetry is a river of languages that travels through us. So it seems only fitting that we sing our verses with the mighty Ganga." Inaugurating the festival on the lawns of Tagore's birth place in Jorasanko on Friday, Jnanpith winner and Padmasri recipient Pratibha Ray had said, poetry can be written and understood in 'silence'. "Poets need this solitude to pen their thoughts," Rayhad said.

Sara F. Costa from Portugal, Elmar Kuiper from Netherlands, Balzs Szollossy from Hungary, Hajnal Csilla Nagy from Slovakia had recited two poems each with their English translations on the first day.

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Poets from India included Arundhathi Subramaniam, Devi Prasad Mishra, Ashutosh Dubey, Hemant Divate, Yashodhara Roy Chaudhuri, Ashwani Kumar, Angshuman Kar, Katyayani, Bina Sarkar Elias, Prabodh Parikh, Koushiki Dasgupta and Abhimanyu Mahato. Poet and festival director, 'Chair Poetry Evenings', Tushar Dhawal Singh said, "Poetry has always served as a key medium of communication and the poems in different languages recited in this festival proved that art knows no boundaries."