This letter is a cry for attention, a cry to fellow humans, including poets, all over the world, in Myanmar, Colombia, Sri Lanka and everywhere that words have been silenced, hearts stopped, brains bashed in. Why poets? Poets without borders. Poets as witnesses. Poets writing in the face of tyranny, saying no. Poets occupy privileged positions in literature worldwide. They are on call at funerals. They are on call on national occasions, such as Independence Day, the Queen’s birthday, the inauguration of a president. They are also dying in violent ways in ever increasing numbers.
Three poets, including Khet Thi, are known to have been murdered in the ongoing disturbances in Myanmar. At least one poet has died during the ongoing protests in Colombia. In Sri Lanka a poet, Ahnaf Jazeem, has been tortured in jail where among other “unpleasantries” he has been bitten by a rat, beaten up, starved. He remains without a trial, held under a “prevention of terrorism” statute.
We are curious to ask about China, Russia and Afghanistan. How many poets are languishing among the million Uyghurs being reoriented and reschooled in camps? How many student poets were bombed with the latest IED in Afghanistan as they gathered near their girls school? How many are jailed along with Pussy Riot for commenting about politics?
Shelley wrote in “A Defence of Poetry” that poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world. They are the moral compass, an unelected supreme court reviewing the issues of politics, community matters. So let us ask some community questions. How can we reduce our ecological footprint? How can we exercise the freedom we feel in mind and heart on the page, on radio and television, on the internet? How can we walk about the metropolis, or go to bed at night without fearing truncheons, tear gas or bullets, visits from the police and army? Why do some elected leaders unleash their forces of defense and order against fellow citizens? Why cannot we allow for voices in the wilderness, and in the opposition? Why can’t we have civilized debates? Why do some of us kill poets?
Indran Amirthanayagam, poet, editor, Sri Lanka/United States
Sara Cahill Marron, poet, editor, United States
Susana H. Case, poet & professor, NYIT, United States
Jonathan Harrington, poet, United States/Mexico
Pauline Le Roy, poet, Chile
Margo Stever, poet, United States
Bill Nevins, poet, United States
Jennifer Rathbun, poet, professor, United States
Jennifer Franklin, poet, professor, United States
Dominique Hecq, poet, Belgium/Australia
Irma Nimbe Salcedo Rock, poet, Mexico
Renato Sandoval Baciagulpo, poet, translator Peru
Luz Stella Mejia, poet, Colombia/United States
Katia-Sofia Hakim, poet, professor, France
Sophia Naz, poet, Pakistan/United States
Caroline Hagood, poet, professor, United States
Dawad Philip, poet, artist, Trinidad
José Luis Ochoa, poet, professor
Daniela Bartolomé, poet, Spain
Tim Tomlinson, poet, United States
Antje Stehn, poet, PEN member, Germany.
Mark Pawlak, poet, United States
Sally Bliumis-Dunn, poet, United States
Don Krieger, poet, United States
Cheran Rudhramoorthy, poet, Sri Lanka/Canada
Carolyn Forche, poet, United States
Anne Harding Woodworth, poet, United States
Makhdoom Ammar Aziz, poet, Pakistan
Terence Winch, poet, United States
Gaston Bellemare, Président Centre Québécois, P.E.N.international, Canada
Zilka Joseph, poet, educator, India/United States
Leopoldo Seguel, poet, artist, United States
Alexis Levitin, translator, United States
Evans Okan, poet, Haití/México
Merrill Leffler, poet, United States
Samiri Hernandez Hiraldo, poet, United States
Cristian Avecillas, writer, actor/director, Ecuador
Germaine Beaulieu, writer, P.E.N, international, Canada
Maurya Simon, poet, professor, United States
Pedro Granados, poet, Peru
Chema Paz Gago, poet, Spain, President Poetas Sin Fronteras
Dick Lourie, poet, United States
Bob Holman, poet, United States
Sofia Estevez, poet, Dominican Republic/United States
Eduardo Espina, poet, professor, Uruguay/United States
Sandra Yanone, poet, United States
Raul Zurita, poet, Chile
Joao Melo, poet, Angola
Álvaro Mata Guillé, poet, Costa Rica
Catherine Gonick, poet, United States
Ralph Nazareth, poet, India/United States
Alfred Corn, poet, United States
Priya Sarukkai Chabra, poet, India
Jorge Contreras Herrera, poet, México
Pramila Venkateswaran, poet, feminist activist, United States
Garrett Hongo, poet, United States
Cornelius Eady, poet, United States
Michèle Voltaire Marcelin, poet/visual artist, Haiti/USA
Mirline PIERRE, writer, Legs Édition, Haïti
Margo Berdeshevsky, poet, United States, France
Martin Espada, poet, United States
Jeannine Pitas, poet, professor, United States
Michèle Bernard, writer, P.E.N International, Canada
Jaime Manrique, poet, Colombia/United States
Youssef Alaoui, poet, United States
Hemant Divate, poet-publisher, India
Luis Manuel Pimentel, poet, Venezuela/Mexico
Sebnem Senyener, poet, novelist
Judyth Hill, poet, United States, Mexico
Alexandra Evtimova, poet, translator, Bulgaria
Dieulermesson Petit Frere, poet, editor LEGS EDITION, literary critic
Baron Wormser, poet, writer, United States
Félix Villeneuve, writer, P.E.N. International, Canada
Fernando de la Cruz, poet, translator, México
Luther Jett, poet, United States
Rita B. Rose, Poet, United States
Barry Fruchter, Poet, United States/Canada
Marjolijn de Jager, translator/poet, United States
Esteban Moore, poet, translator, Argentina
Usha Akella, poet, India/United States
Roody Edme, writer, Haiti
Wendy McBurney, poet, professor, United States
Martina McGowan, MD, poet. United States
Bertha Rogers, poet, United States
Luis H. Francia. poet, United States/Philippines
Jiwon Choi, poet, United States
Jaime Garcia Maffla, poet, Colombia
Ellen Bass, poet, United States
Marie Howe, poet, United States
Michael Rothenberg, poet, United States
Forrest Gander, poet, United States
Gordon Langford Magill, poet, United States
Linda Marie Cossa, United States
Margaret Feitlowitz, writer, translator, United States
Priya Sarukkai Chabria, writer, editor, India
Karen Poppy, poet, United States
David Raphael Israel, poet/musician, United States
Gregory Luce, poet, instructor, United States
Afsar Mohammed, poet, India/United States
Julie Weiss, poet, Spain
Fizza A. Rabani, writer, Pakistan
Kirk Greenway, poet, United States