Back home in Romania poets have stopped writing political verses 11 years
ago right after the revolution. After so many years of having to write
poems/songs to praise the party and its leader so they could publish their
non-political poetry as well, poets needed a break to take a distance, look
at things more objectively and come back with a fresh outlook. A magazine
launched a debate a year ago asking poets whether they'd consider writing
politically engaged poems again. Many said they couldn't as there was a
gut-reaction which stopped them; many said they weren't interested and now
they could write anything they wanted they intended to do just that; one
poet said that writing about the home landscape and people already is
political. There were also bitter debates on who toed the line and who
didn't. On realising that there were good poets amongst those who toed the
line and versifiers among those who didn't things became even more blurred.
The latest mags I got from home featured lots of quality lyrical poetry,
some late post-modern material, and much metaphysical poetry -- the poet
searching for a self and an answer.
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