Opening Ratković's Poetry Evenings in Bijelo Polje, the Minister of Culture of Montenegro, Tamara Vujović, pointed out that this event has been confirming for more than half a century that poetry is a spiritual practice, an aesthetic and intellectual search for meaning, a mirror of the historical moment and the inner life of man.
"That it is a hidden secret that opens the way to what transcends words. It is born only where thought still knows how to blush before its own depth. Its truth resides in vision, in allegory and apology. The name that this festival bears is the central metaphor of an existential and poetic destiny. Risto Ratković, a poet of dark visions and lyrical upsurges, in his verses shaped landscapes in which life and death, reality and dream, light and dark water were intertwined," said Vujović, adding that his poetics opens a space in which language ceases to be just a means of communication, but becomes a territory of inner unrest, intellectual resistance and metaphysical search.
Ratković's poetry evenings, Vujović emphasized, are a tribute to an author and a dynamic space for the meeting of different poetics, languages, and generations.
"The festival, which takes place at several locations in the Risto Ratković House, the Poets' Park, the courtyard of the Homeland Museum, the city park, the Klik cafe bar and Slobode Street, testifies that poetry is emerging from institutional frameworks and entering the very everyday life of the city," said Vujović.
Director of the "Ratković Poetry Evenings" Public Institution Kemal Musić emphasized that this event is a picture of contemporary Montenegro, where different cultures intersect, words confront each other, artistic expressions are summarized, friendships are built, experiences are exchanged and new meetings are arranged.
"Ratković's Poetry Evenings are a picture of modern Montenegro, where contemporary poetic expressions from the East and the West, from the North and the South can be heard. A place of multicultural and intercultural dialogue. A place where everything else is forgotten, except the beauty of creativity," he said, adding that this is confirmed by this year's concept and program of the event, which is attended by poets from Italy, Turkey, Luxembourg, France, Ukraine, Russia, Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and North Macedonia.
The first man of the Municipality, Petar Smolović, welcomed the participants of the event, pointing out the importance of culture and the words of Winston Churchill: "If you cut the budget for culture, then why are we at war at all?"
"Risto Ratković never doubted the importance of art either, because - as he believed - its rivers are always directed towards the saving sea of beauty," said Smolović.
He noted that Risto Ratković was born on September 3, 1903, into a famous and wealthy family known for its ethical virtues.
"His father Đoko is remembered for giving workers plots of land for houses, and in the difficult times of war, the Ratković family selflessly helped others. They provided Risto with an education and a path to a prestigious diplomatic career. However, he remained most faithful to the originality of his style and life. He was a poet who embraced his own universe, rejecting the world as unreal - in favor of a poetic illusion, which he identified with his own feelings. He remained calm, withdrawn, dignified and elegant until the end of his life," Smolović emphasized.
According to Smolović, Risto flirted with several literary movements – from surrealism to zenithism – and made his mark in almost all literary genres: poetry, prose, novels, drama, memoirs, travelogues, translations, aesthetics and criticism.
"His contribution to literature remains lasting: through the metaphorical nature of language, the boldness of comparisons, the archaic color of words and the gallery of characters shaped with filigree precision," he said, adding that Risto Ratković introduced Bijelo Polje into the spiritual kingdom of world culture and, with his work, became part of the timeless currents of philosophical thought about the world.
After the opening ceremony, an international poetry evening “There it is, the Lim flows through the sea” was held, featuring poets from Italy, Turkey, Luxembourg, France, Ukraine, Russia, Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and North Macedonia. The following recited their verses: Dragana Tripković (Montenegro), Emilio Nigro (Italy), Asmir Kujović (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Ahmet Edip Bašara (Turkey), Petar Matović (Serbia), Julijana Veličkovska (North Macedonia), Darija Žilić (Croatia) and Barbara Delić (Montenegro).
Bonus video:
