Pictures from the 2011 Poetry Festival are here

Programs from the 2011 Poetry Festival are here

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Poetry by Pablo Neruda

And it was at that age ... Poetry arrived
in search of me. I don't know, I don't know where
it came from, from winter or a river.
I don't know how or when,
no, they were not voices, they were not
words, nor silence,
but from a street I was summoned,
frm the branches of night,
abruptly from others,
among violent fires
or returning alone,
there I was without a face
and it touched me.

I did not know what to say, my mouth
had no way
with names,
my eyes were blind,
and something started in my soul,
fever or forgotten wings,
and I made my own way,



deciphering
that fire,
and I wrote the firts faint line,
faint, without substance, pure
nonsense,pure wisdom
of someone who knows nothing,
and suddenly I saw
the heavens
unfastened
and open,
planets,
palpitating plantations,
shadow perforated,
riddled
with arrows, fire and flowers,
the winding night, the universe.

And I, infitesimal being,
drunk with the great starry
void,
likeness, image of
mystery,
for myself a pure part of the abyss,
I wheeled with the stars,
my heart broke loose on the wind.

(Translated form the Spnish by Alastair Reid)

To submit entries, click here.

 

The deadline for entries is Monday, February 6, 2012

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Welcome to the homepage of the Colegio Bolivar Poetry Festival!

For 39 years now, teachers, parents and students have enjoyed this annual event which brings together 9 bilingual schools from Cali, Colombia in a celebration of verse.  Students from 5 years to 18 years old participate locally at their own schools and then are selected to read at the Colegio Bolívar Poetry Festival held at the Colegio Bolivar Swall Auditorium.

The schools which participate in the Colegio Bolívar Poetry Festival are Colegio Jefferson, Colegio Ingles de Los Andes, Colegio Bennett, Colegio Cańaverales, Colegio Hebreo Jorge Isaac , Colegio Bolivar, Colegio Colombo Británico, and Colegio Gimnasio la Colina.

The dates and basic guidelines for this year’s events (2012) are

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Preprimary - 6-7 Years Old First Grade - Thursday, February 16, 2012 - 9:00 to 11:30

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This event will be coordinated directly through the Preprimary office at Colegio Bolivar - for more information, call (555-2039) or email Carla Ravassa, Principal of Preprimary at Colegio Bolivar (cravassa@colegiobolivar.edu.co) OR see the letter here.

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Primary - 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Grades Thursday, February 16, 2012

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Participants should arrive by 6:30pm / Show Starts at 7:00

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You may have three Unpublished, two Published, one Groups (2-10 students each group), and one Dramatic Group (2-5 students) participate at this age level.

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Lower Secondary - 6th, 7th and 8th Grades Wednesday, February 22, 2012

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Participants should arrive by 6:30pm / Show Starts at 7:00

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You may have three Unpublished, three Published, two Groups (2-10 students each group), and one Dramatic Group (2-5 students) participate at this age level.

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Upper Secondary - 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th Grades Thursday, February 23, 2012

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Participants should arrive by 6:30pm / Show Starts at 7:00

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You may have three Unpublished, three Published, two Groups (2-10 students each group), and one Dramatic Group (2-5 students) participate at this age level.

This page has been developed to give our cooperating schools information about the festival and offer them an easy method to submit their participant list and their original poetry.  Nevertheless, we will also be offering some links to poetry websites as well as the Poetry Festival program, pictures, and other information online.

So, enjoy the site and make comments as you like to help improve it!

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Site designed and maintained by Thomas Rompf, Colegio Bolívar
email: trompf@colegiobolivar.edu.co
last updated Monday January 16, 2012