Muscat, ONA) - Bait Al Zubair Foundation represented by the Poetry Laboratory held a seminar via video conferencing entitled "Modern poetic text: Problems of poetry marketing and issues of community commitment". The Omani poet, Aisha Al-Saifi, hosted both the Omani researcher and academic Dr. Humaid Al-Hajri, who holds a doctorate in modern Arabic literature from the University of Tunis, and has several critical publications and published research, and the Kuwaiti poet and journalist Dakhil Al Khalifah, one of the voices of the prose poem in the GCC and has several published collections.

The seminar raised many questions about the poet’s role towards community issues, and whether expressing the concerns of the street is a responsibility that he should take upon himself. Dakhil Al Khalifah said that it is not the poet’s job to document or describe events, but rather it is the function of the media in all its forms and that the poem is an internal chemistry and an action not a reaction, stressing at the same time that the poet must be aware of what is going on around him because his awareness of this will be reflected in his poetic text in some way, because the text remains and moves through time. It must express a sublime idea or a supreme value, not a specific event, nor the concerns of a specific community. Dr. Humaid agreed with him, emphasizing that this controversial issue has been discussed throughout history and opinions differed on it according to different circumstances and events, but he believes that every poetic experience reflects the concerns of the poet and the concerns of his community in one way or another, and that creativity cannot be completed without interacting with society and experiencing the concerns and events of the street.

The seminar also touched on societal censorship of poetic texts, especially in light of the poets' publishing of their poems on social media platforms. It is a health condition, as described by Dr. Humaid, because it creates an unprecedented interaction between the recipient and the poet. Dr. Humaid Al-Hajri believes that this commitment of the poet to develop himself and develop his poetic language artistically will make him more intelligent and sensitive to publishing, and he will gain experience in how to deal with official and community censorship. In response to the question of the seminar moderator, Aisha Al-Saifi, about how can a poet move in a safe space without being judged? The poet Dakhil said that the poet's task is to break taboos with clever language and symbolic formulations that can prevent him from the scissors of censorship or the rule of society. The poet is more concerned with this matter than others because he possesses the tools and possesses the language, and this is the only available solution that raises the general interest and at the same time forms the nucleus of awareness and acceptance in society.

Regarding poetic marketing, the seminar's guests talked about the shift in marketing methods for creativity in general and poetry in particular, most notably the video clips accompanied by music. The poet Dakhil Al Khalifeh believes that the poet must keep pace with development after producing the text and ensuring its quality. Dr. Humaid believes that marketing is a science and an art. If the poet does not have the skill to manage the marketing of his product, he should seek the help of someone who can promote it in a good way, such as cultural institutions. He must realize that reaching the masses has a price, because the poet is targeting a wide audience with different tastes. The seminar also discussed other topics such as the debate on ethics and creativity, the poet’s right to material return in exchange for his creativity, the poet’s relationship with publishing and the publisher, festivals and prizes in poetry competitions and other topics that the seminar’s followers interacted with by commenting and questions.

(ONA)