Poetry that frees the soul
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0:03 - 0:06It's said that to be a poet
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0:07 - 0:11you have to go to hell and back.
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0:12 - 0:15The first time I visited the prison,
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0:15 - 0:20I was not surprised by the noise
of the padlocks, -
0:20 - 0:24or the closing doors,
or the cell bars, -
0:24 - 0:28or by any of the things
I had imagined. -
0:28 - 0:34Maybe because the prison
is in a quite open space. -
0:34 - 0:36You can see the sky.
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0:36 - 0:39Seagulls fly overhead,
and you feel like you're next to the sea, -
0:39 - 0:42that you're really close to the beach.
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0:42 - 0:48But in fact, the gulls are looking
for food in the dump near the prison. -
0:49 - 0:55I went farther inside and I suddenly saw
inmates moving across the corridors. -
0:56 - 1:00Then it was as if I stepped back
and thought -
1:00 - 1:04that I could have very well been
one of them. -
1:04 - 1:10If I had another story,
another context, different luck. -
1:10 - 1:16Because nobody - nobody -
can choose where they're born. -
1:18 - 1:22In 2009, I was invited to join a project
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1:22 - 1:28that San Martín National University
conducted at the Unit 48 penitentiary, -
1:28 - 1:31to coordinate a writing workshop.
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1:31 - 1:38The prison service ceded some land
at the end of the prison, -
1:38 - 1:43which is where they constructed
the University Center building. -
1:44 - 1:47The first time I met with the prisoners,
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1:47 - 1:50I asked them why they were asking
for a writing workshop -
1:50 - 1:54and they told me they wanted
to put on paper -
1:54 - 1:58all that they couldn't say and do.
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1:59 - 2:04Right then I decided that I wanted poetry
to enter the prison. -
2:05 - 2:09So I said to them
why don't we work with poetry, -
2:09 - 2:11if they knew what poetry was.
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2:11 - 2:16But nobody had a clue
what poetry really was. -
2:19 - 2:20They also suggested to me
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2:20 - 2:23that the workshop should be
not just for the inmates -
2:23 - 2:28taking university classes,
but for all the inmates. -
2:29 - 2:32And so I said
that to start this workshop, -
2:32 - 2:36I needed to find a tool
that we all had in common. -
2:36 - 2:39That tool was language.
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2:39 - 2:45We had language, we had the workshop.
We could have poetry. -
2:45 - 2:51But what I hadn't considered
was that inequality exists in prison, too. -
2:51 - 2:56Many of the prisoners hadn't even
completed grammar school. -
2:56 - 3:01Many couldn't use cursive,
could barely print. -
3:03 - 3:07They didn't write fluently, either.
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3:07 - 3:12So we started looking for short poems.
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3:12 - 3:15Very short, but very powerful.
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3:15 - 3:19And we started to read, and we'd read
one author, then another author, -
3:19 - 3:24and by reading such short poems,
they all began to realize -
3:24 - 3:29that what the poetic language did
was to break a certain logic, -
3:29 - 3:30and create another system.
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3:30 - 3:34Breaking the logic of language
also breaks the logic of the system -
3:34 - 3:38under which they've learned to respond.
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3:39 - 3:42So a new system appeared,
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3:42 - 3:47new rules that made them
understand very quickly, -
3:47 - 3:49- very quickly -
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3:49 - 3:51that with poetic language
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3:51 - 3:56they would be able to say
absolutely whatever they wanted. -
3:59 - 4:05It's said that to be a poet
you have to go to hell and back. -
4:05 - 4:10And they have plenty of hell.
Plenty of hell. -
4:10 - 4:15One of them once said:
"In prison you never sleep. -
4:15 - 4:19You can never sleep in jail.
You can never close your eyelids." -
4:20 - 4:27And so, like I’m doing now,
I gave them a moment of silence, -
4:27 - 4:31then said,
“That's what poetry is, you guys. -
4:32 - 4:37It's in this prison universe
that you have all around you. -
4:37 - 4:40Everything you say
about how you never sleep, -
4:40 - 4:41it exudes fear.
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4:41 - 4:46All the things that go unwritten --
all of that is poetry." -
4:47 - 4:52So we started appropriating that hell;
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4:52 - 4:55we plunged ourselves, headfirst,
into the seventh circle. -
4:55 - 4:59And in that seventh circle of hell,
our very own, beloved circle, -
4:59 - 5:03they learned that they could
make the walls invisible, -
5:03 - 5:06that they could make the windows yell,
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5:06 - 5:09and that we could hide inside the shadows.
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5:12 - 5:15When the first year
of the workshop had ended, -
5:15 - 5:18we organized a little closing party,
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5:18 - 5:22like you do when a job is done
with so much love, -
5:22 - 5:25and you want to celebrate with a party.
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5:25 - 5:29We called family, friends,
the university authorities. -
5:29 - 5:33The only thing the inmates
had to do was read a poem, -
5:33 - 5:36and receive their diplomas and applause.
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5:36 - 5:38That was our simple party.
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5:40 - 5:45The only thing I want to leave you with
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5:47 - 5:51is the moment in which those men,
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5:51 - 5:54some of them just huge
when standing next to me, -
5:54 - 5:59or the young boys - so young,
but with an enormous pride, -
5:59 - 6:05held their papers and trembled
like little kids and sweated, -
6:05 - 6:10and read their poems with their
voices completely broken. -
6:12 - 6:16That moment made me think a lot
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6:17 - 6:21that for most of them,
it was surely the very first time -
6:21 - 6:26that someone applauded them
for something they had done. -
6:29 - 6:32In prison there are things
that can't be done. -
6:32 - 6:37In prison, you can't dream.
In prison, you can't cry. -
6:37 - 6:42There are words that are virtually
forbidden, like the word "time," -
6:42 - 6:47the word "future," the word "wish".
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6:47 - 6:52But we dared to dream, and to dream a lot.
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6:52 - 6:57We decided
that they were going to write a book. -
6:57 - 7:02Not only did they write a book,
but they also bound it themselves. -
7:02 - 7:05That was at the end of 2010.
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7:05 - 7:09Then, we doubled the bet
and wrote another book. -
7:09 - 7:11And we bound that one, too.
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7:11 - 7:14That was a short time ago,
at the end of last year. -
7:16 - 7:20What I see week after week,
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7:20 - 7:24is how they're turning
into different people; -
7:24 - 7:27how they're being transformed.
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7:27 - 7:31How words are empowering them
with a dignity they had never known, -
7:31 - 7:33that they couldn't even imagine.
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7:33 - 7:38They had no idea such dignity
could come from them. -
7:39 - 7:46At the workshop, in that beloved hell
we share, we all give something. -
7:46 - 7:51We open our hands and hearts and give
what we have, what we can. -
7:51 - 7:53All of us;
all of us equally. -
7:53 - 7:58And so you feel that at least
in a small way -
7:58 - 8:01you're repairing
that huge social fracture -
8:01 - 8:07which makes it so that for many of them,
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8:07 - 8:10prison is their only destination.
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8:12 - 8:18I remember a verse
by a tremendous poet, a great poet, -
8:19 - 8:24from our Unit 48 workshop,
Nicolás Dorado: -
8:28 - 8:35"I will need an infinite thread
to sew up this huge wound." -
8:35 - 8:41Poetry does that; it sews up
the wounds of exclusion. -
8:41 - 8:46It opens doors.
Poetry works as a mirror. -
8:46 - 8:50It creates a mirror, which is the poem.
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8:50 - 8:54They recognize themselves,
they look at themselves in the poem -
8:54 - 8:59and write from who they are,
and are from what they write. -
8:59 - 9:02In order to write,
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9:02 - 9:06they need to appropriate
the moment of writing -
9:06 - 9:09which is a moment
of extraordinary freedom. -
9:09 - 9:12They have to get into their heads,
search for that bit of freedom -
9:12 - 9:17that can never be taken away
when they write -
9:17 - 9:21and that is also useful
to realize that freedom is possible -
9:21 - 9:23even inside a prison,
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9:23 - 9:28and that the only bars we have
in our wonderful space -
9:28 - 9:30is the word "bars,"
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9:30 - 9:34and that all of us in our hell
burn with happiness -
9:34 - 9:38when we light the wick of the word.
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9:38 - 9:41(Applause)
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10:05 - 10:12I told you a lot about the prison,
a lot about what I experience -
10:12 - 10:16every week, and how I enjoy it
and transform myself with the inmates. -
10:16 - 10:20But you don't know how much I'd like it
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10:20 - 10:25if you could feel, live, experience,
even for a few seconds, -
10:25 - 10:29what I enjoy every week
and what makes me who I am. -
10:32 - 10:35(Applause)
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10:41 - 10:45Martín Bustamante:
The heart chews tears of time; -
10:45 - 10:48blinded by that light,
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10:48 - 10:52it hides the speed of existence
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10:52 - 10:54where the images go rowing by.
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10:54 - 10:57It fights; it hangs on.
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10:57 - 11:01The heart cracks under sad gazes,
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11:01 - 11:04rides on storms that spread fire,
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11:04 - 11:07lifts chests lowered by shame,
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11:07 - 11:11knows that it's not just reading
and going on, -
11:11 - 11:14it also wishes to see the infinite blue.
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11:14 - 11:18The heart sits down to think about things,
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11:18 - 11:21fights to avoid being ordinary,
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11:21 - 11:24tries to love without hurting,
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11:24 - 11:28breathes the sun,
giving courage to itself, -
11:28 - 11:32surrenders, travels toward reason.
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11:32 - 11:35The heart fights among the swamps,
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11:35 - 11:39skirts the edge of the underworld,
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11:39 - 11:43falls exhausted, but won't give in
to what's easy, -
11:43 - 11:46while irregular steps of intoxication
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11:46 - 11:47wake up,
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11:47 - 11:49wake the stillness.
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11:49 - 11:51I'm Martín Bustamante,
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11:52 - 11:55I'm a prisoner in Unit 48 of San Martín,
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11:55 - 11:58today is my day of temporary release.
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11:58 - 12:02And for me, poetry and literature
have changed my life. -
12:02 - 12:03Thank you very much!
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12:03 - 12:04Cristina Domenech: Thank you!
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12:04 - 12:07(Applause)
- Title:
- Poetry that frees the soul
- Speaker:
- Cristina Domenech
- Description:
-
“It’s said that to be a poet, you have to go to hell and back.” Cristina Domenech teaches writing at an Argentinian prison, and she tells the moving story of helping incarcerated people express themselves, understand themselves — and glory in the freedom of language. Watch for a powerful reading from one of her students, an inmate, in front of an audience of 10,000. In Spanish with subtitles.
- Video Language:
- Spanish
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 12:37
Sebastian Betti edited English subtitles for Cristina Domenech | ||
Helene Batt edited English subtitles for Cristina Domenech | ||
Helene Batt approved English subtitles for Cristina Domenech | ||
Helene Batt accepted English subtitles for Cristina Domenech | ||
Helene Batt edited English subtitles for Cristina Domenech | ||
Helene Batt edited English subtitles for Cristina Domenech | ||
Helene Batt edited English subtitles for Cristina Domenech | ||
Helene Batt edited English subtitles for Cristina Domenech |