Egypt’s Poets Society, an ambitious project of amateur poets

CAIRO - 9 July 2017: Newly launched group of amateur poets, Egypt’s Poets Society, celebrated its first anniversary since its foundation with a poetry night gathering poetry lovers under the title of ‘Rhythms & Rhymes III’ that was held at the roof of 302Labs Coworking Space, Nasr City, Cairo on Friday.

Brainchild of 16 year old Salma Anany, Egypt’s Poet Society was established in 2016 and inspired by the Kuwait Poets Society on Twitter which brings together multi-talented writers in one forum. Anany was ambitious to carry out the same idea in Egypt and shed light on some talented Egyptians as part of her writing activity at “Artkhana” (Home of Art), a youth-oriented art NGO.

The group first started interacting in a basic Whatsapp group and later expanded through Twitter. Rami El-Agamy spoke with Egypt Today about the journey throughout the entire past year as a precursor to ‘threads’.

“A thread is a topic where members in the Whatsapp group send texts revolving around the chosen topics. These threads were later posted on Twitter. We also made a Facebook page which received positive feedback and welcomed our presence,” Agamy told Egypt Today.

Agamy says “The poetry night is Rhythms & Rhymes’ third edition. However, the previous two events had smaller audiences. Approximately 70 people attended the first event. The group is currently comprised of 53 active members.”

Anany believes that Rhythm & Rhymes is as an antidote to a lot of things endured in life.

“This platform has become a means of self-expression to many, including many amateur poets and professionals such as Samar Nazif,” Anany told Egypt Today in an interview during the celebration.

She mentioned that the group’s expansion plans also include poetry circles, open mic events, writing workshops, and creating an Arabic section.

“We as poets want to wander around everywhere from one place to another which is more inspiring than staying in one place,” added Anany.

Anany also explained that other activities will be carried out such as filming poets as they read out their poems and posting videos on the group’s official YouTube channel. The video will be recorded creatively to be showcased as a short film depicting the naturally-composed poems.

Poet/ singer/ painter Ashraqat is another founder of the group who actually drew up an action plan for Egypt’s Poet Society to grow, said Anany. “Inspired by the spirituality she experiences while praying, Anany is triggered to write poems based on conversations and random thoughts. Ashraqat says that feeling the real words within a poem is what she likes most about poetry.”

“Poetry was never meant to be about publicity, it is only meant to tell people about things they don’t know about in this world; therefore what makes art valuable is the fact that few people can reach it,” Anany remarked.

Sponsored by “Artkhana,” the poetry night featured 32 performers that included recently admitted members who applied through sending a sample poem to join the group. The event also featured performances by young amateur singers and guitar players.

One of the performers in the event 23-year old Salma Abu Zeid has recently joined Egypt’s Poet Society as part of her desire to join and contribute to anything that encourages poetry and arts.

Abu Zeid writes her own poetry on her personal account on Instagram and has previously published an Arabic novel called “The Willow of Half a Fugitive Spirit of Eternity” and she is currently working on a new novel called “The Silent Prayer”.

Abu Zeid recited two poems she composed and tells Egypt Today that what inspires her to write poetry is everything from a melody she hears to a film scene as well as anything she observes.

“My current novel tackles a philosophical, spiritual, Sufi blend where a teenager explores his conscious and subconscious parts, amid questioning life after discovering that his mother is diagnosed with a rare disease,” Abu Zeid said.

Another poet who organized the poetry night was Adham Jan, a board member of the group. He says that to be able to express oneself, even indirectly, is what he likes most about poetry.

“This is a place where you can be yourself undeniably and undoubtedly, without any shame; you can express yourself, love yourself and people here will support you. It is utopia where we become one family sharing good and bad times,” Jan told Egypt Today.

Jan recited two poems he composed during the event, one revolved around the love Jan’s parents had for each other which inspires him, and the other revolves around his interpretations of the world and life.

“I love going out in the balcony every night and reflect on how my day was like. I evaluate it to know where I stand as a person, at this moment. I tend to take out a notebook or my phone and start typing as words pour out. Even when in pain, beautiful works come out,” Jan added.

Egypt’s Poets Society has potential plans to expand into an NGO according to Agamy who said that contacts are underway with art foundations to help us develop a bigger vision.

“Our first vision was writing as a form of therapy, but we want to promote writing as a form of self-help in a society where psychological help is hard to reach. This is the group’s bigger vision,” concluded Al Agamy.