Every year millions of young girls compete in beauty pageants. In Colombia, for the Miss Colombia Contest, pictures of the contestants are published in newspapers and magazines weeks before the crowning. Soon after, critics and the general audience begin to deconstruct their bodies and minds in creatively horrendous ways. Her right breast is larger than the left, her voice is like nails scratching a chalkboard, her hips are too low, her plastic surgery scars are too evident, she's retarded, she can't walk, she can't talk, she's uglier than a sack of potatoes are just some of the commentaries published and aired about these brave contestants. But, they persevere and win or lose and life goes on. Most Colombians don't pay that much attention to poets. The whole world doesn't pay that much attention to poets. Poets struggle in the shadows to come up with beauty. They rarely get a chance to flaunt their verses to a wider audience than their close friends and other poets. Their egos can become more fragile than that of a beauty queen, but it's their choice.
Reading poetry isn't easy. You have to reread, digest, concentrate, let go, analize, interpret, memorize, and compare. Renson Said Sepulveda took the time to read some guy's poems and felt a visceral reaction towards them, like some some people do when looking at a beauty contestant with a light moustache, short legs, and big feet saying she wishes to teach African children to read. She has the right to say that, the people have the right to boo her, feelings get hurt, but you move on.
Now, don't tell me that queens put less effort into their performance than poets into their verses.
Now, don't tell me that queens put less effort into their performance than poets into their verses.
Alain de Beaufort
New York, NY
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