Today’s
Enlightening Entertainment
will be presented
in Spanish,
with subtitles in Arabic,
Aulacese (Vietnamese),
Chinese, English,
French, German,
Indonesian, Italian,
Japanese, Korean,
Malay, Mongolian,
Persian, Portuguese,
Russian, Spanish
and Thai.
The rain.
The night opens up,
and a dove is born.
The Heaven swells its clouds
to embrace it in its lap.
Greetings
aesthetic viewers,
and welcome to
Enlightening Entertainment.
Through the expressive
form of poetry,
Dominican Republic
poets create verses
that reflect their national
identity, social concerns,
and life experiences.
Today, please join us
as we attend
a poetry reading event
titled “Women of Words”
in New York, USA,
featuring female poets
of the Dominican Republic
and their original poems.
It is a celebration
that we have every year,
this is the second
poetic encounter of
the women of red in black.
“Women of Words,”
we have almost made
an organization of this,
I mean, just the fact
of being able to gather,
listen to each other,
see each other
is a beautiful excuse
to read poetry.
I feel very satisfied,
the fact that all
of our poets could come.
They did
an extraordinary reading
of their work, and it was
a tangible demonstration
of what is being produced,
of what female poets here
in New York,
the Dominicans,
are producing.
For that I feel very good.
We are in the company
of Adriana Devers.
Adriana, how do you feel?
Happy, proud,
not only about
participating in this event
but also for all the talent
that we can enjoy there,
for all those fellow women
and everything
they have achieved,
each one of them,
through this path.
I feel very happy
about participating
in this meeting
of poets and writers.
For me, it is really
a satisfaction to know
that within our
Dominican community
we are working
to leave a legacy
for our future youth,
for the people,
and the emigrants from
different countries, not only
the Dominican Republic.
The Dominican Republic
is a country
with diverse cultures
introduced by the Spanish,
American Indians,
Africans, Germans,
Irish, Italians,
and Jewish people.
The multicultural nature
of the Dominican society
has produced
a unique culture of its own,
as described in the poetry
of Ms. Gladys Montolios.
I am a Dominican
in my bones,
as they say in my country.
I have been writing
since a young age.
My interest,
it was poetry that I wanted.
The thing is,
I wrote anything
that came to my memory.
And now that I have been
here working with women,
I was inspired by them
to write this book.
I tried to write
about everything that
I was hearing and living.
I have Latin blood,
multicolor blood,
as fiery as the sun!
My hips move like a whirl
to the tropical rhythm.
My race, multicolor,
White, native and Black
blood, I am multicultural!
I have Latin blood,
fiery, eloquent, beauty
without match.
I belong to my beloved land,
little piece of sun,
exotic paradise,
humble, simple people,
of great faith.
Hardworking, honest,
of great capacity, creative,
loving, ingenious,
intelligent, that is
how our women are.
Noble gentlemen,
very wise, make us proud
with their great capacity.
I am cosmopolitan,
multicultural.
Without being arrogant,
my race is unsurpassed.
I have Latin blood!
I don’t fancy myself
as superior,
but still I tell you,
I am so privileged…
to be born in the Caribbean,
spectacular island.
I have Latin blood!
A fusion
of more than 20 countries
makes it special,
turning my race into
a universal sensation.
I have Latin blood!
I am multicultural!
Thank you.
“Women of Words” are,
as you have seen,
mothers, wives,
hardworking women,
politicians, who have
come to this great nation
to light the flame of love
and freedom and work
so that immigrants
can be more than just
capable of doing
mechanical work, but also
of exalting the spirit
and leaving a legacy
to future generations
and youth.
Next, Ms. Lucila Rutinel
reads a poem written by
her mother when she was
a respected consulate
in Port-au-Prince, Haiti,
the neighboring country
of the Dominican Republic.
The poet conveys
her mother’s love
for the city and people
of Port-au-Prince.
I love you, Port-au-Prince,
for your people, simple,
humble and hardworking.
Because since long ago
I searched for the mother
I find in you.
And when I glide through
your Kenscoff
and your black mountain,
I clearly revive the times
when barefoot,
with my long hair,
my eyes dilated
by your pure beauty,
I breathed your air,
planting big trees,
harvesting vegetables
or feeding the goats.
I love you, Port-au-Prince,
for your devotion,
your dignity and kindness,
for your clear beauty
of looking upward, and
gathering all the strength
of the earth,
showing the world
your personality,
inventing your language,
your art and religion.
And without looking back,
standing by yourself,
you offer the whole world
your exotic beauty,
your courage
and your history
in this new world,
of that new world
of Christopher Columbus.
I love you, Port-au-Prince,
port to which
I have come back,
tired of roads
and inhospitable deserts.
And like a good mother,
you have given me a lap
on which
to cradle my anxieties,
cradle my strayings,
drink bitter tears,
preach my tenderness,
give my lullaby.
And in this life that
I have dragged up to you,
looking for your renovation
and your comfort,
and towards the other lives
that await me in the
unpredictable millennia.
Our next poetry recitation
is presented
by Ms. Maria Farazdel,
a native
Dominican Republican
who has lived and worked
in the United States
since she was 17 years old.
Presently, she works as
an editor and photographer
for the literary newspaper
“Palimsesto.”
Her book,
“My Little Paradise,”
is a collection of poems
and photographs
through which
she expresses her love
to her homeland.
For me,
the writing of this book,
I thought it was
that I was doing it
for love of my homeland,
love for my country,
the Dominican Republic
that I love so much.
And after I finished it,
I understood that
it remains as a legacy,
it is part of history,
so the goal is to improve.
In my second book,
which is coming out soon,
“Labyrinth of Waiting,”
it is a work
that is completely
different, better, where
you can tell the difference
between a poet
that starts out and a poet
with more experience.
Here I also have
“Poets of the Era,”
an anthology which just
came out two weeks ago
in Santo Domingo,
Dominican Republic,
where there are some
poems of mine in English,
Spanish and French.
There are poems there
such as “The Hat,”
“The Message,”
where the country
is always calling us back.
You say you will go,
and then you always
wait a little longer, like,
“Oh no, I have to
earn some more money.”
“I have to do
some other things.”
When you come to realize
a lot of time has gone by,
like I have been here
37 years already,
and so the time is coming
for me to return
because I think it is enough.
So, in the meantime,
this is my comfort.
Two beginnings, one end
Final destination:
back home
Where a hat waits for me
to cover my visage
and my head
from the intense rays,
rainy days and cool nights.
When my heart sees you,
my eyes beat and jump
of joy.
We both cry
for the soldiers lost.
Glad to be part of you again,
of your whispering wings
in nights,
and perfect usage
for that hat,
which awaits patiently
for my head
to fill the empty hole
where it hangs,
a place I call home.
In Ms. Norma Felix
Peralta’s poem, she also
expresses her longing
to go back to her
hometown, Constanza,
in the Dominican Republic.
Constanza, where the joy
of the lost path lives;
there, in that order,
arrived her gaze,
dyed in deception.
All of us, one day
we dream of that journey
which makes us happy,
even if we go
looking for absences.
We deliberate about
getting there,
then walk away slowly,
always leaving a trace,
something that will
make us go back,
even if dragging an idea
with a thin, pious thread.
Finally, the distinguished
Dominican Republic poets
convey their
uplifting thoughts on
poetry and world peace.
I definitely believe that
poetry changes the world
and transforms who we are.
I think that poetry is love,
and love is poetry.
It is information that
transforms our society.
You have to proclaim peace
in order to feel it
around you.
You have to carry it.
You have to give love
and with love
you achieve peace.
With peace you can
accomplish many things
in the world
and you spread an aura.
If you spread an aura
of peace around you
and you carry it with you,
that is what you are
going to transmit
wherever you go.
World peace is the essence,
because it is what creates
the love of humanity.
What is your message
of peace and
your wish for the world?
To continue writing,
continue writing
beautiful things
that come from the mind,
to maintain peace
in the whole world.
It doesn’t matter
which language you speak,
doesn’t matter
the hair color,
the complexion.
You go one, two,
and when the lights go off,
we are all the same.
We are all the same,
so the message is love,
love and peace
for everyone.
Our appreciation,
all the brilliant
Dominican Republic
lady poets and organizers
of this warm gathering,
for enriching people’s lives
as you do your own
through your sensitive
poetic expressions.
May such heartfelt verses -
and voices -
of the Dominican Republic
continue being heard,
bringing inspiration,
peace, and love to all!
Noble viewers, we enjoyed
your presence on today’s
Enlightening Entertainment.
Coming up next is
Words of Wisdom,
after Noteworthy News,
here on
Supreme Master Television.
Wishing you
and your loved ones
tranquility and joy.