«I didn’t go to Valencia…» either “The dark swallows will return…” They are just two verses from some of the best-known poems by Vicent Andrés Estellés and Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer. Any lover of poetry – and literature in general – could recite these texts by heart. And, although it may seem curious, a hundred-year-old person could also do it. Definitely, This literary genre does not understand ages. As Federico García Lorca said, “The poetry does not want followers, it wants lovers”. And, luckily, he has many lovers. This has been demonstrated in some Valencian residences, where their users have been able to enjoy poetry thanks to the “Verses of major art” workshops», driven by the Valencian Poetics 2.0 platformwhich collects more than 400 poems performed by different actors and actresses.
Since last January -and until next May-, the members of this project They have visited several senior centers in the Valencian territory to claim the importance of poetry and promote it through various workshops and activities. «Poetry can be very evocative and fun for older peoplewho are reunited with it, enjoy its benefits and, in addition, rekindle their memories and imagination,” explains the co-founder and director of Poética 2.0, Mar Gómiz. In this sense, Gómiz remembers one of the “most striking” cases. One of the participating women knew all of Antonio Machado’s poems thanks to her husband, which, in her words, “was a way to remember her husband and everything they had experienced.”
A user with a poem.
Over the course of an hour (the duration of the workshop),The participants listen to some of the recorded poems and rewrite their verses to work on creativity and memory. Specifically, each day, the workshop, which has been held in 14 different residences in the Valencian Community, focuses on a theme such as love, the great classics or the poetry of Valencian authors like Estellés. In some of the sessions, they also participate the actresses Ana Conca, María José Peris or María Albiñana. “It’s very exciting because the recital is played on the screen and then it is the actress herself who continues reading the poem in person,” says Gómiz, who recognizes that “the objective is “playing with poetry to encourage reading.” These experiences move many of those present, who have not been to a poetry recital in a long time or who have never even been able to enjoy one of them.
The interest it generates in some centers is such that the organizers must extend the activity for a few more minutes. “We usually bring more poems because they are always left wanting more,” he claims.
Poems that mark
During the workshops, older people remember some of the poems recited and relate them to their experiences. “We started to recite the ‘Pirate’s Song’, by José Espronceda, or ‘The Swallows’, by Bécquer, and there are people who know the poems perfectly,” Gómiz shows, surprised. In this sense, she remembers a 102-year-old woman from the Bétera residence who knew Rubén Darío’s ‘La sonatina’ from beginning to end.
The activity extends beyond the duration of the workshop, since, sometimes, the users themselves write poems to each other or read them throughout the day. “It generates bonds and moves them,” says the co-founder.
Although the workshop ends this May, The organization intends to extend it during the coming months to reach other residences. «We have done it virtually in some residences where we could not go. It has been very well received and we have seen that it helps them, so we will look for other sources of financing to continue with the activity,” concludes Gómiz, who emphasizes that “it is a way of giving back to them for everything they have given us.”
