World Poetry Day, March 21, was adopted in 1999, during UNESCO’s 30^th session in Paris. It encourages a return to the oral tradition of poetry recitals, promotes the teaching of poetry, supports small publishers, and helps poetry to regain its popularity, reversing the misconception that poetry is an outdated art form. It also supports linguistic diversity.

Beyond UNESCO’s lofty goals, it’s a day to ENJOY POETRY!

Shinkichi Takahashi (1901–1987) Japanese poet who was a pioneer in the Dadaist movement in Japan. He was a master of expressing large ideas in the smallest number of words. His Collected Poems won the Japanese Ministry of Education Prize for Art.

To read Shinkichi Takahashi’s untitled poem click:

The wind blows hard among the pines
Toward the beginning
Of an endless past.
Listen: you’ve heard everything.

This translation of Shinkichi Takahashi’s poem is from Zen Poems of  China and Japan: The Crane’s Bill, © 1973, Grove Press 

Image: Lone pine of Georgian Bay