As many as 100 people attended the Poetry Writing Workshop with the theme 'A Million Poems for Jakarta' organized by the Jakarta Library and Archive (Perpusip) Agency and Dharma Wanita Persatuan (DWP) in a hybrid format, Thursday (3/17).

Writing a poem is easy since it is close to us

The workshop, which was broadcast live through the Perpusip Agency's channel, featured a writer and poet Jose Rizal Manua as the speaker, as well as Jakarta DWP Chairperson Komariah Marullah and Jakarta Perpusip Agency Head Wahyu Haryadi.

Wahyu Haryadi in his remarks said that the workshop was a part of Jakarta's program as a City of Literature. He hoped that DWP members who took part in the workshop could write poems about Jakarta, then pass on their poetry writing skills to their children.

"In October 2021, Jakarta received a title from UNESCO as a City of Literature," he stated.

According to him, all poems written by participants would be turned into a book and used as a collection in the library.

Jakarta DWP Chairperson Komariah Marullah assessed the workshop had broadened DWP members' knowledge about literature, especially in writing poetry.

"The speaker has taught us how to make a poem. In fact, it is not as difficult as we imagine because there are tricks on how to make a poem," she conveyed.

On the other hand, the poet Jose Rizal Manua explained that actually everyone has the material for poetry. For example, when a person feels touched, happy, weak, tired; all of them can be written in a poem.

"Writing a poem is easy since it is close to us. Even, DWP members can write a poem within five minutes," said the founder of Tanah Air Theater.