Poets Weave the Spirit of Resistance and Remembrance

In the heart of Caracas, where the word becomes both sword and sanctuary, the 19th World Poetry Festival of Venezuela (July 14–20) unfolds as a profound act of poetic solidarity. With Palestine as the honored nation, the festival gathers twenty poets from four continents, each bearing verses forged in memory, defiance, tenderness, and truth. From the depths of the Amazon to the frozen scars of winter, these voices converge to remind us that poetry remains the final frontier against silence and erasure.

Below, we share glimpses of 20 poets’ offerings—poems that do not merely speak, but burn, bloom, and mourn within us.

1. Yuri (Venezuela)

“Only the snakes come to its defense…”

“What holds up the sky / is gunpowder and dead flesh / of men and women… / why polish stones / if mercury licks everything…”
Yuri’s fragmented vision of the Amazon is a cry against environmental and human devastation, silvered by sorrow and prophetic clarity.

2. Saley Boubé (Niger)

“I kiss hell daily / under the ravenous gaze of justice…”
An activist and emblematic voice of Africa, Saley confronts institutional violence with unflinching poetic courage.

3. María Alejandra (Venezuela)

“Sunset is also that face / that, each minute, keeps dying…”
With contemplative lyricism, María evokes the soul’s quiet dissolution at dusk, threading life and loss with meditative grace.

4. Ghada (Palestine)

“When they clung to the rubble / of a bombed house / and would not leave, they said: / how can we abandon a bleeding heart?”
Ghada’s voice stands among the ruins, a living testament to endurance amid destruction.

5. Héctor Padrón (Venezuela)

Poet and organizer, Héctor reaffirms that the Festival is a people’s promise—peace through poetry, reaching youth and elders alike in barrios, schools, and plazas.

6. Ali (Jordan – Palestine)

“I saw the dawn / emerging from an Arabic phrase: this is my country.”
Ali’s verses carve identity from the riverbed of memory, reinventing homeland through image and echo.

7. María Laura (Uruguay)

“Today I baked bread, / made an apple pie… / but something in me disturbs.”
Beneath domestic calm, María’s lines betray the quiet terror of trauma that lingers beyond the headlines.

8. Melissa Sauma (Bolivia)

She extends an open call to “celebrate poetry, embrace one another, and listen.” Her voice carries the spirit of reunion, gentle and luminous.

9. Libeslay Bermúdez (Venezuela)

“Poetry is the voice of memory and spirit…”
Libeslay honors Palestine and proclaims poetry as both protest and prayer.

10. Markus Hediger (Switzerland)

“In the mirror of the bathroom… / a glance, her glance… / My mother, silent at the end of the table.”
A haunting memory, where reflection blurs time and mourning—a cinematic tenderness infuses Markus’s lines.

11. Chary Gumeta (Mexico)

A vibrant celebrant of Latin American sisterhood, Chary arrives with joy and conviction to lift the poetic banner for Palestine.

12. Sohkna Benga (Senegal)

“Let us end border crossings forever…”
Her poem cries out from barricades and forgotten ghettos, urging the dismantling of walls—literal and poetic.

13. Alexandra Cretté (French Guiana)

“Is my heart / a bitter fruit / or a hole of abandonment?”
With searing vulnerability, Alexandra gives voice to children lost, to grief that clings like salt on the estuary wind.

14. Aminur Rahman (Bangladesh)

A messenger from South Asia, Aminur invites all to join in this transcontinental embrace where “poetry resists forgetfulness.”

15. Rodolfo Häsler (Cuba/Spain)

“We wanted to be hammers / but became the night / on the heart’s reverse…”
Rodolfo’s poem lays bare the impotence of rage when language itself is wounded.

16. Murad Al-Sudani (Palestine)

“I am the tattoo / of the scar / upon the stone of water.”
Leading the Palestinian delegation, Murad brings ancestral weight and poetic dignity to a nation’s living wound.

17. Shirley Villalba (Paraguay)

“The night barks my name / like a dog that’s lost its master…”
A howl of absence, Shirley’s verses curl beneath skin and stir something ancient and aching.

18. Memo Acuña (Costa Rica)

Poet, sociologist, and advocate, Memo invites us “to the place of permanence that is poetry.”

19. Khalid Raussoni (Morocco)

“The word is some god’s secret / whiteness is our eternal nakedness…”
In luminous, labyrinthine verse, Khalid explores exile, divine silence, and the absences that define us.

20. Huu Viet (Vietnam)

“There was a hole… / always resting over my heart.”
From the depths of Vietnamese memory, Huu Viet’s “Winter Scarf” is a soft ache wrapped in wool and time.

These twenty poets do not merely visit Venezuela—they inhabit it, carrying with them the unfinished sentences of their peoples. As the festival dedicates its heart to Palestine, it also affirms the universal cause of poetry: to remind us that we are not alone, that every scar is ink, and that from the ashes of silence, the voice—resolute, rebellious, and radiant—still rises. The festival has also invited more poets to spread its poetc  wings across the world