Editorial
- Editorial
This August over 10,000 athletes converged on Beijing to participate in the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. The modern Olympic Games began in 1894 with the goal to promote international understanding through sports competition. At these first Games, held in Athens, there were just 245 participants, most of them from the host country, with a total of only 14 countries represented. Yet despite the interruptions by wars, boycotts, and political disruptions with sometimes-tragic consequences, the Olympic Games have survived—indeed thrived—and still symbolize the coming together of all nations to celebrate the human spirit.
Poetry, like sport, underscores the commonality of the human spirit. In the words of W.H. Auden, it "must say something significant about a reality common to us all…. What the poet says has never been said before, but, once he has said it, his readers recognize its validity for themselves." And this issue of is dedicated to its own Olympiad. Eight years ago, the Spanish department at Dickinson College began to hold its Semana Poética ("Poetry Week"), an effort to bring to America several poets from Spain for a week of readings. Four years later two events coincided that gave birth to . First, Jorge Sagastume agreed to serve as editor of a journal that would publish the poets featured at Semana Poética, and at the same time Semana Poética was internationalized, a group effort of the language departments at Dickinson that hosted poets from all around the world. debuted as a trilingual journal, presenting poems in their original languages, as well as in Spanish and English translation. The journal's combination of languages, as well as its inclusion of art and criticism, creates its unique appeal.
While Semana Poética has been held every year, the International Festival, it seems, marks an Olympiad for Dickinson College—this year, four years after the first International Festival, the College is celebrating its second gathering of poets from around the world. This October a dozen poets will arrive to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, hailing from Spain, Germany, Russia, Italy, Israel, Palestine, India, Costa Rica, as well as the United States. This issue features several of the poets participating in the festival; others, I hope, will appear in future issues.
While the International Poetry Festival at Dickinson may never grow the way the Olympic Games have, we certainly hope that it thrives in its own setting, and continues to bring together poets in an atmosphere of international appreciation. We also hope that will continue to bring our readers the expressions of these and other poets' spirit. [End Page 6]
- Editorial
Durante el mes de agosto más de 10,000 atletas se reunieron en Beijín a fin de participar de la vigésima novena olimpíada mundial. Los juegos olímpicos se iniciaron en 1894 y su meta fue la de lograr una unificación internacional mediante la competencia deportiva. En sus comienzos estas olimpíadas tuvieron lugar en Atenas, con tan sólo 254 participantes; en su mayoría procedentes de Grecia y en total 14 países tuvieron representación en ellos. A pesar de las interrupciones a causa de guerras, boicoteos y disrupciones políticas, que en ocasiones trajeron consecuencias trágicas, las olimpíadas mundiales sobrevivieron—de hecho, progresaron—y continúan siendo un símbolo de la unión de las naciones para celebrar el espíritu humano.
La poesía, tal como los deportes, exalta el común denominador del espíritu humano. De acuerdo a W.H. Auden, la poesía "ha de decir algo significativo acerca de la realidad común a todos… Lo que el poeta dice jamás ha sido dicho antes, sin embargo, una vez dicho, sus lectores reconocen la validez de lo dicho en sí mismos." Este número de está dedicado la olimpíada que le es propia a . Hace ocho años atrás el departamento de Español de Dickinson College comenzó a organizar su festival de poesía anual bajo el título de Semana Poética; esfuerzo que resultó en traer a los Estados Unidos a varios poetas...
