The Importance Of Poetry And How A Young Man Showed Us It

Something surprising has happened. A poet has won the Spanish equivalent of the TV show  Talang. César Brandon – a 24-year-old – has managed to capture the audience only with the help of his words. No frills, just poetry. Alone on a large stage in front of hundreds of people, he reached their hearts with his words. No song and no gestures, just his verses. It really emphasizes the importance of poetry.

César’s life has not always been easy or free from adversity. He was born in Equatorial Guinea and emigrated to Spain seven years ago. If poetry is not something that everyone can do, imagine what it is like to do it in a language that is not your mother tongue.

He obviously does not lack talent,  but we know that you can not achieve success without effort, hard work, hope and perseverance.

César became known to the public thanks to a poem called  Poetry about Zero. In it, he tells the story of how  zero  finds  one,  and is very happy together. That is, until he leaves  one  to be with  minus one. A number metaphor for love. A love that does not always last.

With a lot of humor and a quick tongue, César tells about the adventures of the two figures. But it is far from an absurd or empty poem. Poetry, with all its metaphors, always gives us plenty of things to think about. It makes us see different interpretations, perhaps far from what the poet had in mind, but very relevant to us.

We find an example of this at the end of the poem:  “He began to count, to a number he was afraid of, perhaps infinity, or perhaps the number two.”  How close  are  our fears really?

With a more dramatic tone, he then again enchanted the audience with a story about two lovers. This time they were very shy. Earth and Moon. In this fantastic poem, César describes the hypothetical pick-up lines that the Earth could have tried to use to win the Moon.

For example,  “On Earth, we were all inhabitants of a place called the First World, for the second played little role for us and the third was evolving.”

The poem is loaded with social criticism. Verses such as,  “refugees do not consist of opinions on the internet”  strongly influence the listener.

Life is not easy. It is as César says,  “Two people fight, even though one does not want to and neither does the other. One thinks two is not enough and looks for another three, and the four try to be happy. The problem is multiplied and four finally call 016  (the number for Spain’s social services) ”.

The last poem, the one with which he won the competition, had a solemn tone. The poem was, as the name suggests, dedicated to his mother. In it, he compares her to predetermined parameters in Microsoft Word. He does not want his mother to have “the body of Calibri, size 11 and a point spacing”; he  wants her to be “straight with double line spacing and in Times New Roman.”

With remorse over his youth, César emphasizes the lessons of his mother that he did not value at the time. He also does not underestimate the father figure and says that they are ” all those whose dreams are too small for them, they need a little sleep to fulfill them”.

It is a good example of the importance of poetry, and he really gives us a lesson in humanity.

His win is a milestone for all lovers of reading and writing. César has succeeded in making something as ignored as poetry into something that everyone talks about. All this in a country where the average person reads less than one book a year. Where the most popular completely lacks any form of culture and respect. Where ridiculous things are valued higher than skill and work.

César Brandon has managed to fulfill one of his dreams. Although he is undoubtedly very grateful, we should also be grateful, because he has reminded us that we still know how to dream.

Poetry is also psychology. As Eduardo Galeano said:  “Scientists say we are made up of atoms, a little bird whispered in my ear that we are made up of stories.”

The people are the stories, stories that can be told in many ways. That is why diversity, multiculturalism and openness are so important. The bigger our vocabulary, the more beautiful our story will be. Behind the possibilities there is fantastic talent.

Have you discovered the importance of poetry?