By Danielle Lobito
Legendary Poet Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Yevtushenko
As we read 'Envy', a poem by Soviet and Russian poet Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Yevtushenko, we thought of an unknown poet. We last saw him some years ago. In fact, we bumped into him. He told us that he suddenly refused to go back to work after a disagreement.
His passion was writing poems which some of his colleagues enjoyed reading. We must admit that he was a damn good poet. One of the best unknown British poets we ever knew. It never occurred to him that some of the private readers of his collection of poetry hated him for being the centre of attention. Their smiles of envy hid inside the walls of their cheeks, and they bared their fangs in secrecy. They called him a loser who was wasting his life on poetics.
His slender frame and frustrated eyes glued to the wall as we encouraged him to enter competitions, and apply for further education. He looked at us, laughed and said, “I can’t afford to go to university. I don’t believe in accumulating debt just for education.” Out of sympathy, we did not want his talent to diminish. He had suffered so much in his life that he could not bear to suffer again. He said it was a pity that we didn’t know his life history.
He knew that the highest amount of copies that a poetry book could sell in Britain was not more than a few thousands of copies, and being a poet was not really a profession for most poets but a hobby. In fact, most poets are unknown. He also knew that anybody could become a poet by writing poetry, but it never occurred to him that the reason why some people cannot write a poem is because they never tried to.
The poem that almost destroyed his career was on the private establishment that he worked for. One of the jealous praise singers neatly hid a copy, and showed it to some people. When we saw it, we kept mute because we knew the poet was on his way out. Someone said, “Look at this, it was written by so, so and so.”
Another poet got a share of hatred for poets when a memo stated that those planning to go back to university in order to become Poet Laureates should promptly forward their resignation, so that such vacancies could be advertised appropriately.
The British primary school literacy curriculum is so good that children can even teach their parents how to write. A child told his mother to make sure that every chapter of her novel is interesting otherwise the reader may lose interest. A seven-year-old was writing poems. Some libraries and community centres conduct free creative writing classes or workshops for adults.
