Coming from 40 countries, they meet in Washington

A cross-section of the world’s poets assembled in the United States capital for the Annual International Society of Poets (ISP) Convention and Symposium this August 8 – 10, 1997. This was the seventh anniversary of the world-wide poetry event. Ms Elizabeth Barnes, President of ISP claimed it as the largest gathering of poets in history. The convention attended by 2000 poets and guests was held at the Sheraton Washington Hotel where most of the participants were accommodated. Sheraton with 1338 rooms has a long history of being the site for monumental events. Every United states President since Herbert Hoover in 1929 has hosted an Inaugural Gala there.

I was one of the poets invited to read a poem at the convention. I am grateful to the Singapore National Arts council for giving me a travel grant to participate. The registration started on the 7^th evening as most of the participants had already arrived. It went on to the next morning as originally planned.

There were several events going on at the same time, so you had to choose what you really wanted to attend. In addition to an entire symposium of seminars, workshops, discussion groups and contests, poets from 40 nations celebrated with two memorable nights of entertainment, highlighted by Florence Henderson, Grammy winner Johnny Cash, the only entertainer in history to be awarded "The triple Crown" of music – by being inducted into The Songwriters Hall of Fame, The Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Johnny Cash has also been awarded the Nation’s Lifetime Award by President Clinton. Adding to the convention excitement was the Marvelletes whose many hits include the song, "Please Mr. Postman".

ISP- member Individual Contest reading was arranged in three sessions over two days. My turn was on the first day, at the first session. Originally, I had planned to read one of my poems, The Distant Shores. I had to substitute another poem, The Paper Boats, for this occasion as I was informed that The Distant Shores had advanced to the final round at another competition . It was also selected to be included in a 1998 anthology, The Star-laden Sky. In addition, it will be one of the ten poems to be recorded by a professional reader on audio-cassette under the name, The sound of Poetry, and released by the end of the year.

Poets were treated to a fabulous laser show in the Sheraton Ballroom, where every poet’s name went up in multi-coloured lights.

There were a number of occasions where you could read your poems to an appreciative audience. These were not considered as contest poems and no prizes were given, but a panel of judges evaluated them and gave their comments.

US Senator Eugene Mc Carthy, who was the special guest lecturer at the convention and the moderator at the members’ workshop, was suddenly taken ill, reportedly after a heart attack, and was admitted to hospital for emergency surgery on the first day of the convention. Mr. Westreich took his place and spoke on The Message and the Messenger. In Senator McCarthy’s absence, an autographed complimentary copy of his latest collection of poems, Cool Reflections, was presented to every participant.

Over the past seven years, the ISP has received international acclaim – including front page coverage in USA Today – for its unique World’s Largest Poem for Peace. Which continued to be written at the convention. The poem which gets larger everyday, contains tens of thousands of individual poems on peace written by poets from all over the world. This year, as usual, the participating poets got the opportunity to include their contributions alongside such notables like President Bill Clinton, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela.For each poem added, the society will make a donation to a charitable cause.

I had the opportunity to meet poets from Britain, the US, Canada, Bangladesh, India, Australia, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa.

It was an experience. An experience of a lifetime.

M K Bhasi

The Straits Times September 5, 1997