Cristina Domenech: Poetry that frees the soul (with English subtitles) | TED

Translator: Sebastian Betti Reviewer: Gisela Giardino

Prevoditelj: Antoaneta Mjeda Recezent: Sanda L

It's said that to be a poet

Kažu, da biste bili pjesnik, morate se ponekad spustiti u pakao.

you have to go to hell and back.

Kad sam prvi put ušla u zatvor, nije me iznenadila

The first time I visited the prison,

I was not surprised by the noise of the padlocks,

ni buka lokota, ni vrata koja su se zatvarala, ni rešetke,

or the closing doors, or the cell bars,

or by any of the things I had imagined.

ni išta drugo što sam zamišljala.

Maybe because the prison is in a quite open space.

Možda zato što se zatvor nalazi u prilično otvorenom prostoru.

Vidi se nebo.

You can see the sky.

Seagulls fly overhead, and you feel like you're next to the sea,

Galebovi prolijeću i misliš da ti je more odmah pokraj.

that you're really close to the beach.

Da si jako blizu plaže.

But in fact, the gulls are looking for food in the dump near the prison.

Zapravo se galebovi hrane na smetlištu blizu zatvora.

I went farther inside and I suddenly saw inmates moving across the corridors.

Nastavila sam i odjednom sam vidjela zatvorenike kako se kreću po paviljonima.

Then it was as if I stepped back and thought

Kao da sam koraknula unazad i pomislila

that I could have very well been one of them.

da sam i ja mogla biti jedna od njih.

If I had another story, another context, different luck.

Da sam imala drugu priču, druge okolnosti ili drukčiju sreću.

Because nobody - nobody - can choose where they're born.

Jer baš nitko ne može izabrati gdje će se roditi.

In 2009, I was invited to join a project

Godine 2009. pozvali su me da se pridružim projektu

that San Martín National University conducted at the Unit 48 penitentiary,

koji provodi Nacionalno sveučilište San Martín u Odjelu 48,

to coordinate a writing workshop.

kako bih vodila radionicu kreativnog pisanja.

The prison service ceded some land at the end of the prison,

Zatvorska uprava ustupila im je dio zemljišta na kraju zatvora

which is where they constructed the University Center building.

i baš su tamo sagradili zgradu sveučilišnog centra.

The first time I met with the prisoners,

Tijekom prvog susreta sa zatvorenicima

I asked them why they were asking for a writing workshop

pitala sam ih zašto su tražili radionicu kreativnog pisanja

and they told me they wanted to put on paper

i rekli su mi da žele staviti na papir

all that they couldn't say and do.

sve ono što ne mogu reći i učiniti.

Tada sam odlučila da želim uvesti poeziju u zatvor.

Right then I decided that I wanted poetry to enter the prison.

So I said to them why don't we work with poetry,

Upitala sam ih zašto se ne bismo bavili poezijom,

if they knew what poetry was.

ako znaju što je to.

But nobody had a clue what poetry really was.

Nitko nije imao pojma što je uistinu poezija.

They also suggested to me

Osim toga, predložili su mi da radionica ne bude samo za one

that the workshop should be not just for the inmates

s fakultetskim obrazovanjem, nego da obuhvati

taking university classes, but for all the inmates.

sve zatvorenike.

And so I said that to start this workshop,

Tada sam rekla da mi za tu radionicu treba

I needed to find a tool that we all had in common.

neki alat kojeg bismo svi imali.

That tool was language.

Taj je alat bio jezik.

We had language, we had the workshop. We could have poetry.

Imali smo jezik, imali smo radionicu. Mogli smo imati i poeziju.

But what I hadn't considered was that inequality exists in prison, too.

No, nisam računala da je i nejednakost prisutna u zatvoru

Many of the prisoners hadn't even completed grammar school.

te mnogi među njima nisu završili čak ni osnovnu školu.

Many couldn't use cursive, could barely print.

Mnogi nisu znali pisana slova, tek poneka tiskana.

They didn't write fluently, either.

Nisu ni pisali pretjerano tečno.

Tako smo krenuli tražiti vrlo kratke, ali i vrlo snažne pjesme.

So we started looking for short poems.

Very short, but very powerful.

And we started to read, and we'd read one author, then another author,

Počeli smo čitati i čitali smo jednog pa drugog pisca

and by reading such short poems, they all began to realize

i čitajući te tako kratke pjesme, svi su počeli shvaćati

that what the poetic language did was to break a certain logic,

da jezik poezije razbija

postojeću logiku i gradi drukčiji sustav.

and create another system.

Breaking the logic of language also breaks the logic of the system

Razbijanje logike jezika znači također razbijanje logike sustava

under which they've learned to respond.

kojem su bili naviknuti odgovarati.

So a new system appeared,

Tada se pojavio novi sustav, nova pravila,

new rules that made them understand very quickly,

koja su im jako brzo pomogla shvatiti

- very quickly -

da će jezikom poezije reći baš ono što oni žele.

that with poetic language

they would be able to say absolutely whatever they wanted.

It's said that to be a poet you have to go to hell and back.

Kažu, da biste bili pjesnik, morate se ponekad spustiti u pakao.

And they have plenty of hell. Plenty of hell.

A njima je pakla bilo previše.

One of them once said: "In prison you never sleep.

Netko od njih je jednom rekao: "U zatvoru ne spavaš nikad.

You can never sleep in jail. You can never close your eyelids."

Nikad se ne može spavati u zatvoru. Nikad ne možeš zatvoriti kapke."

And so, like I’m doing now, I gave them a moment of silence,

Tad sam napravila isto kao i sada,

nakon trenutka tišine, rekla sam im: "Momci, upravo to je poezija.

then said, “That's what poetry is, you guys.

It's in this prison universe that you have all around you.

Zatvorski svijet je izložen, nadohvat ruke vam je.

Everything you say about how you never sleep,

Sve to što govorite, da nikad ne spavate,

it exudes fear.

odiše strahom. Sve nezapisano. Sve je to poezija.

All the things that go unwritten -- all of that is poetry."

So we started appropriating that hell;

Tada smo počeli prisvajati taj pakao.

we plunged ourselves, headfirst, into the seventh circle.

Uronili smo izravno i duboko u sedmi krug.

And in that seventh circle of hell, our very own, beloved circle,

U tom sedmom krugu pakla, tako bliskom i dragom,

they learned that they could make the walls invisible,

naučili su da zidovi mogu biti nevidljivi,

that they could make the windows yell,

da mogu natjerati prozore da vrište i da se možemo skriti unutar sjena.

and that we could hide inside the shadows.

When the first year of the workshop had ended,

Prve godine kad je radionica završila,

we organized a little closing party,

organizirali smo malu proslavu za kraj godine, kako se već radi

like you do when a job is done with so much love,

kad se dovrši posao koji se radi s tolikom ljubavlju.

and you want to celebrate with a party.

Čovjek želi proslaviti i napraviti zabavu.

Pozvali smo obitelji, prijatelje, ljude s fakulteta.

We called family, friends, the university authorities.

The only thing the inmates had to do was read a poem,

Sve što su trebali napraviti je pročitati pjesmu,

and receive their diplomas and applause.

primiti diplomu i pljesak, to je bila naša mala zabava.

That was our simple party.

The only thing I want to leave you with

Jedino što ja želim zapamtiti je trenutak kad su ti muškarci,

is the moment in which those men,

ponekad ogromni pokraj mene,

some of them just huge when standing next to me,

or the young boys - so young, but with an enormous pride,

ili momci, iznimno mladi, ali s iznimnim ponosom,

held their papers and trembled like little kids and sweated,

držali svoje papire, tresući se i znojeći poput dječaka,

and read their poems with their voices completely broken.

čitali svoje pjesme potpuno slomljenim glasom.

U tom trenutku sam se zamislila. Za mnoge od njih je ovo sigurno bio

That moment made me think a lot

that for most of them, it was surely the very first time

prvi put da im netko plješće za nešto što su napravili.

that someone applauded them for something they had done.

In prison there are things that can't be done.

U zatvoru postoje stvari koje se ne mogu raditi.

In prison, you can't dream. In prison, you can't cry.

U zatvoru se ne može sanjati. U zatvoru se ne može plakati.

There are words that are virtually forbidden, like the word "time,"

Postoje riječi koje su zabranjene, poput riječi "vrijeme",

riječi "budućnost", riječi "želja".

the word "future," the word "wish".

But we dared to dream, and to dream a lot.

No, mi smo se odvažili sanjati i puno smo sanjali

We decided that they were going to write a book.

jer smo odlučili da će napisati knjigu.

Ne samo da su napisali knjigu, već su je i uvezali.

Not only did they write a book, but they also bound it themselves.

That was at the end of 2010.

To je bilo krajem 2010. godine.

Then, we doubled the bet and wrote another book.

Drugi put smo se kladili i napisali drugu knjigu.

Uvezali su i drugu knjigu.

And we bound that one, too.

That was a short time ago, at the end of last year.

To je bilo nedavno, krajem prošle godine.

What I see week after week,

Ono što vidim iz tjedna u tjedan je kako se pretvaraju

is how they're turning into different people;

u sasvim drugačije ljude, transformiraju se.

how they're being transformed.

How words are empowering them with a dignity they had never known,

Kako im riječ pruža dostojanstvo koje nisu poznavali,

that they couldn't even imagine.

koje čak nisu mogli ni zamisliti.

They had no idea such dignity could come from them.

Nisu znali da takvo dostojanstvo postoji i da može biti njihovo.

Tijekom radionice, u tom našem voljenom paklu, svi dajemo.

At the workshop, in that beloved hell we share, we all give something.

We open our hands and hearts and give what we have, what we can.

Otvorimo ruke i srca te dajemo

sve što imamo, sve što možemo.

All of us; all of us equally.

Svi jednako.

Tako čovjek osjeća da barem malo

And so you feel that at least in a small way

you're repairing that huge social fracture

popravlja tu ogromnu društvenu pukotinu zbog koje

which makes it so that for many of them,

mnoge poput njih zatvor čeka kao jedino odredište.

prison is their only destination.

Sjećam se stiha velikog pjesnika

I remember a verse by a tremendous poet, a great poet,

from our Unit 48 workshop, Nicolás Dorado:

iz Odjela 48, s naše radionice, Nicolása Dorada:

"I will need an infinite thread to sew up this huge wound."

"Moram pronaći beskonačnu nit kako bih zašio ovu veliku ranu."

Poetry does that; it sews up the wounds of exclusion.

To poezija čini. Zašiva rane isključivosti.

Otvara vrata. Poezija je poput zrcala.

It opens doors. Poetry works as a mirror.

It creates a mirror, which is the poem.

Stvara zrcalo - pjesmu.

Prepoznaju se, promatraju se u pjesmi i pišu,

They recognize themselves, they look at themselves in the poem

and write from who they are, and are from what they write.

polazeći od toga tko su i ono su odakle pišu.

In order to write,

Kako bi mogli pisati, moraju prisvojiti

they need to appropriate the moment of writing

trenutak pisanja koji je trenutak izvanredne slobode.

which is a moment of extraordinary freedom.

Moraju ući u glavu i naći onaj djelić slobode

They have to get into their heads, search for that bit of freedom

koji im baš nikad nitko ne može oduzeti u trenutku pisanja

that can never be taken away when they write

i da im to posluži da dokažu da je sloboda moguća

and that is also useful to realize that freedom is possible

even inside a prison,

iako se nalaze u zatvoru, i da je jedina rešetka koju imamo

and that the only bars we have in our wonderful space

u našem predivnom prostoru riječ "rešetka",

is the word "bars,"

and that all of us in our hell burn with happiness

i da svi u našem paklu izgaramo od sreće

when we light the wick of the word.

kad se zapali fitilj riječi.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)

I told you a lot about the prison, a lot about what I experience

Govorila sam vam dosta o zatvoru, o tome što doživljavam

every week, and how I enjoy it and transform myself with the inmates.

svaki tjedan, kako uživam i kako se transformiram zajedno s njima.

But you don't know how much I'd like it

No, ne znate koliko bih voljela da vi možete osjetiti, proživjeti,

if you could feel, live, experience, even for a few seconds,

iskusiti, barem na nekoliko trenutaka

what I enjoy every week and what makes me who I am.

ono u čemu ja svaki tjedan uživam i što me čini onim što jesam.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)

Martín Bustamante: The heart chews tears of time;

"Srce žvače suze vremena

blinded by that light,

zasljepljeno tim svjetlom,

it hides the speed of existence

skriva brzinu postojanja

where the images go rowing by.

gdje veslaju slike,

It fights; it hangs on.

bori se, ne prepušta se.

The heart cracks under sad gazes,

Srce napukne pod tužnim pogledima,

rides on storms that spread fire,

jaše u olujama koje zalijevaju vatrom,

podiže prsa smanjena od srama,

lifts chests lowered by shame,

knows that it's not just reading and going on,

zna da metoda nije samo čitati i slijediti,

it also wishes to see the infinite blue.

također želi vidjeti beskrajno plavetnilo.

The heart sits down to think about things,

Srce sjedne da razmisli o stvarima,

fights to avoid being ordinary,

bori se da ne padne u obično,

tries to love without hurting,

pokušava naučiti voljeti bez povređivanja,

breathes the sun, giving courage to itself,

udiše sunce ohrabrujući se,

predaje se, putuje razumu.

surrenders, travels toward reason.

The heart fights among the swamps,

Srce se bori usred močvara,

skirts the edge of the underworld,

okružuje rub podzemlja,

falls exhausted, but won't give in to what's easy,

pada iscrpljeno i ne predaje se lako

while irregular steps of intoxication

dok se nejednaki koraci oduševljenja

wake up,

ne probude,

wake the stillness.

ne probude mir".

I'm Martín Bustamante,

Zovem se Martín Bustamante.

I'm a prisoner in Unit 48 of San Martín,

Zatvorenik sam Odjela 48 u San Martínu.

today is my day of temporary release.

Danas su me privremeno pustili.

And for me, poetry and literature have changed my life.

Poezija i književnost su meni

promijenili život.

Thank you very much!

Puno hvala! (Pljesak)

Cristina Domenech: Thank you!

Hvala!

(Pljesak)

(Applause)