In the country of shattered windows .. How do Yemen's poets communicate during wartime?

In Yemen, the cradle of Arabism and poetry, a group of young poets from different parts of the country share their poems, opinions and feelings about the war through Watsab because of the bitter conditions of war across the country.

Intellectuals in Yemen suffer from communication difficulties due to war conditions, as well as considerations of personal safety. Houthi rebels and allied forces backed by Saudi Arabia and the UAE have both imprisoned and tortured activists, journalists and intellectuals.

Many Yemenite writers fear to express themselves honestly and openly, or become victims of their words and poems and end up in the jails of one of the parties to the conflict in Yemen, but a recent youth poetry initiative in Yemen is trying to break the deadlock.

Hair across WatSAP
"We have to say what we feel and what life is like in war, and how life was before," said Aisha al-Jaidi, a 20-year-old student from Hadramout who writes about women and peace issues. "This is what poetry means," she said. It is our duty to send this message to the world. "

The young activist volunteered for a project called "In the Country of Broken Windows", in which nine young poets from different parts of Yemen wrote long poems of their composition and performance within the activities of the Diwan Al-Fan.

The project includes poetic readings of young creators and creators, with the aim of highlighting the talents of young Yemenis through poetry dialogues that deal with the social and cultural aspects of their daily lives. Application of the waiver according to the official page of the project.

The initiative seeks to establish a dialogue among Yemeni poets on issues of concern and concern for their homeland through local means.

Because of the circumstances of the war, none of the participants met face-to-face, but they were bilaterally connected to convey the nature of their lives to people on both sides of the conflict, and to exchange audio recordings of poetry poems through Wattsab.

Seven of the nine participants managed to travel to Sana'a to meet face-to-face and work together in February this year.

"We wanted to modernize the poetic tradition, to make it younger, more youthful and more vibrant," said Ebei Ebrahim, founder of the Ramouz Foundation, a new, independent, non-profit organization based in Sana'a devoted to promoting and developing Yemeni art and culture.

"When I returned to Yemen last year, it was amazing to me to see and understand how life goes on despite the war," he told the British newspaper.

"Although outsiders think of Yemen as a country suffering from death, war and conflict, this is absolutely true. What we aim to do is to create another narrative that shows our humanity and our ability to adapt."

War and poetry
Yemenis sing lyric poetry from ancient times, and despite the neglect and the long wars experienced by modern Yemen, the texts of poetic songs are still in circulation in social events and political transformations, and include the poetry of the popular singer and influenced by colloquial language (Houmini) poetry and jurisprudence.

Although some poetic texts are not specifically known, the "Encyclopedia of Yemeni Poetry in the Twentieth Century" maintains more than six thousand and six hundred lyrical poems of more than 200 poet and modern Yemeni artist.

The revolution of change in Yemen in 2011 to restore the consideration of poetry has been inspiring to many poets and suitable to restore the heritage of national poems such as the poems of Mohammed Mahmoud al-Zubairi health Baath and the famous poem "Shabab al-Fida".

Today, four years after the civil war in Yemen, emerging young poets and writers explore how art can unify people on different aspects of the many fault lines of Yemen's raging war.

Yemeni intellectuals and poets suffer from the absence of platforms and the role of state cultural institutions in times of war. The suspension of literary newspapers and magazines has resulted in the loss of more platforms and monopoly by the parties to the conflict in the country.

Yet Yemeni literature remains active despite the brunt of the fierce war, by providing social media outlets with alternative platforms for Yemeni poets to broadcast their poems, grief and the suffering of their people.