City Of Poets

'Los Jocs Florals' are literary competitions that started in the 14th century. In 1859 it was restored and celebrated arduously again, now completed 150 years. On Thursday afternoon the anniversary was highlighted with the traditional ceremony of giving out prizes to the best poems from a vast collection entered in the competition. This act inaugurated the intense programmes of recitals and many other literary and cultural activities that spread out in the course of a week, in museums, libraries, town squares, gardens, and other public locations of the city, within the frame of Barcelona Poetry, organised by the Institute of Culture.

Symbolically, in the patio of Virreina, where a participating olive tree had been planted, on the branches of which the public, those who believed themselves poets or with don of writing poetry, can hang their work. In this case haikus - a form of Japanese poetry that is somewhat short, believed to be one of the oldest continually-used poetical forms in the world.

Even the municipal food markets have adhered to the week long of poetry. In many of them, while purchasing you meat and veg, one can listen to poems through the loudspeakers. In the ample lists of public locations are recitals in competition or for pure listening pleasure. Often these are divided in groups of journalist, writers, teachers, students, to shopkeepers, housewives, and children's work, etc. Including an anti-poetry comic group reciting bordering absurd and hilarious poems. There are also invited international guest poets taking part.

The Chinese also hang their love poems on trees everywhere in the country where there are trees, on the night of the Lover's Festival, equivalent to Saint Valentine's Day.

Tags:haikus,poetry

Current Mood: Artistic