Milatović: Ratković's poetry evenings connect the culture of our region along its most beautiful seams

Ratković's Poetry Evenings are among those rare events that connect the culture of our region along its most beautiful seams, preserving its diversity, openness and breadth, announced the President of Montenegro, Jakov Milatović, tonight.

He opened the 56th Ratković Poetry Evening in Bijelo Polje.

"It is a great pleasure to be in Bijelo Polje tonight. In the Lim Valley, which leaves fertile soil in its valleys and gorges, and which has left this city something even more – a trace of genius, the inspiration of a creator and an amalgam of our cultural identity. It left behind Risto Ratković, Avdo Međedović, Miodrag Bulatović, Ćamil Sijarić and many other people who permanently testify that this river is the true bloodstream of Montenegrin literature, and that tonight, all of us, are in its very heart," said Milatović.

He added that it was a special honor for him to open the 56th edition of Ratković's Poetry Evenings, "an event of special national importance for the culture of Montenegro, which, due to its duration, regional influence and the name it bears, deserves such a character."

"For more than half a century, this event has been a meeting place for different poetics, languages, generations and cultures, but also a space in which art is greater than all the boundaries that a person can draw between people," said Milatović.

In addition to Milatović, the opening was attended by numerous participants and guests, including the Vice President of the Municipality of Bijelo Polje Tufik Bojadžić, the President of the Municipal Assembly of Bijelo Polje Selma Omerović, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Culture and Media Miloš Nenezić, and the Minister in the Government of Montenegro Ernad Suljević.

Speaking on behalf of the host municipality, Bojadžić pointed out that Bijelo Polje celebrates with great reason and pride the author of the first Montenegrin modern novel and the great poet Risto Ratković.

"From this time distance, I would like to acknowledge all the cultural workers of that time who gave the idea of ​​organizing the Ratkovićević Poetry Evening and special recognition to the then Mayor of the Municipality, Radivoje Šćekić, for his visionary spirit in accepting the idea and founding the event in 1971. The duration of the RVP alone speaks volumes about the merits and justification of organizing poetry gatherings," he said.

Bojadžić added that at the time of their creation, Ratković's Poetry Evenings aimed to be a unique place for the valorization of our literary scene, as well as the affirmation of young talented poets, as a place for meeting creators and their current poetics.

"For many years, this goal has been achieved. In their growth, the RVP had ups and downs and shared the fate of the state that fell apart in the last decade of the 20th century. The brilliance and occasional shadows caused by the storm, or rather the time in which the muses were silent or spoke in whispers, gave Ratković's poetry evenings the right to continue and new achievements," said Bojadžić.

In these decades of renewal, he emphasized, a new spirit of manifestation was born, which is many times more productive.

"The programs themselves are colored with a modern sensibility, devoid of the burden of the past, while presenting writers from Montenegro, the region and beyond, writers of different generations and different poetics. Simply put, art has returned to the Ratković Poetry Evenings. This has made the Ratković Poetry Evenings one of the most prestigious events in Montenegro and far beyond, which has led to the fact that in the surrounding area, an invitation to participate in the Ratković Poetry Evenings is a measure of quality and literary prestige," Bojadžić pointed out, adding that the Ministry of Culture, recognizing the quality and importance, in 2010 included the Ratković Poetry Evenings among four events of special cultural importance for the state, with more regular and greater financial support, and only two years later the Public Institution (PU) "Ratković Poetry Evenings" was established, which created the prerequisites for its accelerated development and additional affirmation.

Bojadžić noted that this year's Ratković Poetry Evenings have additional significance, because during the past year, the correct decisions of the competent local government bodies removed the greatest burden they had been carrying.

"Cleansed of that ballast, Ratković's poetry evenings have the opportunity to grow into a cultural beacon not only for our city and country, but also for the entire region. When we gather here every year on September 3rd, we are not celebrating another event in a series, but rather returning our debt to the great poet Risto Ratković, because, as the poet Ismet Rebronja said, 'the homeland is always indebted to its literary greats'. Bijelo Polje is a city that recognizes and deeply respects the power of art, as Risto Ratković wrote, 'do not doubt art, its waters all flow into an all-encompassing sea of ​​beauty'. The pages of ancient books confirm that the literary word here in Bijelo Polje has been accepted and listened to with pleasure since the time of Grigorij Dijak, the artist we know left his name on the margins of the manuscript of Miroslav's Gospel. Here, on the soil from which the greats of the written word originated, Risto Ratković, Ćamil Sijarić, Avdo Međedović, Miodrag Bulatović, Dragomir Brajković, Ismet Rebronja and many others, because poetry is not a passing form, it is our identity and our window to the world. It connects us and reminds us of the most beautiful thing in a human being, opening up vistas that transcend all borders," said Bojadžić.

The evening continued with the International Poetry Evening "Lim Flows Over the Sea", featuring poets from Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey.