0:00:23.003,0:00:32.947
It's said that to be a poet you have to[br]descend to the underworld once.

0:00:32.982,0:00:38.950
The first time I entered the prison, [br]I was not surprised by the noise

0:00:38.985,0:00:45.073
of the padlocks, the closing doors,[br]or the bars,

0:00:45.108,0:00:49.066
or anything of all the things[br]I had imagined.

0:00:49.101,0:00:53.889
Maybe because the prison[br]is in a quite open space.

0:00:53.924,0:00:56.459
You can see the sky.

0:00:56.494,0:01:00.072
Seagulls fly through the sky and[br]you think you are next to the sea.

0:01:00.107,0:01:03.095
That you are really close to the beach.

0:01:03.130,0:01:10.215
But in fact, the gulls go to the dump[br]near the prison looking for food.

0:01:10.250,0:01:16.851
I continued walking in and I suddenly saw[br]inmates moving across the corridors.

0:01:16.886,0:01:21.066
It was as if I stepped back[br]and thought that

0:01:21.101,0:01:24.685
I could have perfectly been[br]one of them.

0:01:24.720,0:01:31.222
If I had another story,[br]another context, another luck.

0:01:31.257,0:01:38.609
Because nobody, nobody,[br]can choose where to be born.

0:01:40.000,0:01:43.463
In 2009 I was invited to join[br]a project

0:01:43.498,0:01:48.830
the San Martín National University[br]has in the Unit 48,

0:01:48.865,0:01:52.085
to coordinate a writing workshop.

0:01:52.120,0:01:58.530
The prison service ceded some[br]land at the end of the prison.

0:01:58.565,0:02:04.507
Right there they constructed the[br]building of the University Center.

0:02:04.542,0:02:07.230
The first time I met with the prisoners,

0:02:07.265,0:02:10.775
I asked them why they were[br]asking for a writing workshop

0:02:10.810,0:02:14.356
and they told me they wanted [br]to put on paper

0:02:14.391,0:02:19.887
all that they couldn't say[br]and do.

0:02:19.922,0:02:26.239
There I decided that I wanted[br]poetry to enter the prison.

0:02:26.274,0:02:30.009
Then I told them why we don't [br]work with poetry,

0:02:30.044,0:02:31.750
if they knew what poetry was.

0:02:31.785,0:02:38.347
Nobody had a clue about what[br]poetry really was.

0:02:38.382,0:02:42.521
Besides, they explained to me[br]that the workshop was not only

0:02:42.556,0:02:45.740
for graduated inmates,[br]but also for

0:02:45.775,0:02:49.456
all the common inmates.

0:02:49.491,0:02:53.113
And then I said that to start[br]this workshop I needed

0:02:53.148,0:02:56.600
some tool that we all have.

0:02:56.635,0:02:59.716
And that tool was language.

0:02:59.751,0:03:05.918
So, we had language, we had the workshop.[br]We could have poetry.

0:03:05.953,0:03:11.799
But what I didn't consider was[br]the inequality also in prison.

0:03:11.834,0:03:16.845
Many of them that didn't even [br]have a complete primary education.

0:03:16.880,0:03:22.275
Many couldn't use cursive,[br]but hardly print.

0:03:24.310,0:03:27.852
They didn't write fluently either.

0:03:27.887,0:03:35.336
So, we started looking for short[br]poems. Short, but powerful indeed.

0:03:35.371,0:03:38.977
And started to read, and read [br]an author and another author

0:03:39.012,0:03:44.812
and by reading those short poems,[br]they all begin to realize

0:03:44.847,0:03:47.519
that what the poetic language did[br]was to break

0:03:47.554,0:03:51.004
a certain logic and [br]it created another system.

0:03:51.039,0:03:54.768
Breaking the logic of language is [br]also breaking the logic of the system

0:03:54.803,0:03:58.755
they are used to respond to.

0:03:58.790,0:04:04.143
So a new system appeared,[br]some new rules

0:04:04.178,0:04:09.628
that made them understand really fast,[br]but really fast,

0:04:09.663,0:04:14.941
that with the poetic language they would[br]absolutely say what they wanted.

0:04:20.382,0:04:26.240
It's said that to be a poet you have to[br]descend to the hell once.

0:04:26.275,0:04:30.994
And they have plenty of hell.[br]Plenty of hell.

0:04:31.029,0:04:35.199
One of them once said:[br]"In prison you never sleep.

0:04:35.234,0:04:41.316
You can never sleep in jail.[br]You can never close your eyelids".

0:04:41.351,0:04:46.147
Then, I did like this now,

0:04:46.182,0:04:52.179
a moment of silence and tell them:[br]That is poetry, that.

0:04:52.214,0:04:58.314
The prison universe is there,[br]in hand.

0:04:58.349,0:05:00.364
All this you say,[br]that you never sleep.

0:05:00.399,0:05:08.236
This exudes fear. All the unwritten.[br]All this is poetry.

0:05:08.271,0:05:12.506
So we started appropriating [br]that hell.

0:05:12.541,0:05:16.034
And we plunged ourselves into,[br]the seventh circle.

0:05:16.069,0:05:20.012
In that seventh circle of hell,[br]our own and so beloved circle,

0:05:20.047,0:05:24.709
they learned that walls could [br]be invisible, windows could

0:05:24.744,0:05:28.691
yell and that we could hide[br]inside the shadows.

0:05:32.547,0:05:36.639
The first year the workshop[br]had finished, we organized

0:05:36.674,0:05:38.972
a little closing party[br]as they are done

0:05:39.007,0:05:42.322
when a job is done[br]with so much love.

0:05:42.357,0:05:44.700
You want to celebrate[br]and have a party.

0:05:44.701,0:05:49.964
We called family, friends, [br]the university authorities.

0:05:49.999,0:05:53.741
The only thing they had to do[br]was reading a poem,

0:05:53.776,0:05:59.614
receiving their diploma, applause and[br]that was our simple party.

0:05:59.649,0:06:11.803
The only thing I want to leave you with[br]is the moment those men,

0:06:11.838,0:06:14.454
at times huge when they stand by me.

0:06:14.489,0:06:19.930
Or very young boys,[br]but with an enormous pride,

0:06:19.965,0:06:25.523
they held their paper and trembled[br]like kids and sweated

0:06:25.558,0:06:32.697
and read their poems with their[br]voice completely broken.

0:06:32.732,0:06:40.693
That moment made me think a lot[br]that surely most of them

0:06:40.728,0:06:47.774
were applauded for the first time[br]for something they had done.

0:06:49.809,0:06:53.222
In prison there are things[br]that can't be done.

0:06:53.257,0:06:57.488
In prison you can't dream,[br]in prison you can't cry.

0:06:57.523,0:07:02.867
There are words that are virtually[br]forbidden like the word time,

0:07:02.902,0:07:07.996
the word future, the word wish.

0:07:08.031,0:07:13.282
But we dared to dream[br]and to dream a lot

0:07:13.317,0:07:17.826
because we decided that they [br]were going to write a book.

0:07:17.861,0:07:22.256
Not only did they write a book[br]but they also bound it.

0:07:22.291,0:07:25.072
That was by the end of 2010.

0:07:25.107,0:07:29.671
We doubled the bet[br]and wrote another book.

0:07:29.706,0:07:31.355
And bound another book.

0:07:31.390,0:07:35.439
That was a short time ago,[br]by the end of last year.

0:07:37.474,0:07:42.615
What I see week after week[br]is how they are turning into

0:07:42.650,0:07:47.679
different people, how they are[br]being transformed.

0:07:47.714,0:07:52.121
How words empower them with[br]a dignity they hadn't heard of,

0:07:52.156,0:07:54.094
they couldn't even imagine.

0:07:54.129,0:07:59.665
They had no idea of such dignity[br]and that could come from them.

0:07:59.700,0:08:07.057
At the workshop, in that beloved hell[br]we have, we all give.

0:08:07.092,0:08:09.442
We open our hands and hearts and give

0:08:09.477,0:08:12.441
what we have, what we can. All of us.

0:08:12.476,0:08:13.783
All of us equally.

0:08:13.818,0:08:18.346
In that way you feel that[br]at least, in little proportion

0:08:18.381,0:08:23.001
you are repairing that huge[br]social fracture that makes that

0:08:23.236,0:08:29.823
for many of them prison is[br]their only destination.

0:08:32.558,0:08:38.551
I remember a verse of a[br]tremendous poet, a great poet,

0:08:38.586,0:08:48.500
of the Unit 48 of our[br]workshop, Nicolás Dorado:

0:08:48.535,0:08:55.790
"I have to get an infinite thread[br]to sew up this huge wound".

0:08:55.825,0:09:01.679
Poetry does that. It sews up[br]The wounds of exclusion.

0:09:01.714,0:09:07.382
It opens doors. [br]Poetry works as a mirror.

0:09:07.417,0:09:09.772
It creates a mirror, which is the poem.

0:09:09.807,0:09:15.396
They recognize themselves, they look at[br]themselves in the poem and write

0:09:15.431,0:09:19.771
from who they are and they are[br]from what they write.

0:09:19.806,0:09:25.528
In order to write, they need[br]to appropriate the moment

0:09:25.563,0:09:29.615
of writing which is a moment[br]of extraordinary freedom.

0:09:29.650,0:09:32.648
They have to get into their heads,[br]search for that bit of freedom

0:09:32.683,0:09:37.414
that can never be taken away[br]when they write

0:09:37.449,0:09:41.255
and that is also useful to[br]realize that freedom is possible

0:09:41.290,0:09:45.718
even inside the jail,[br]and that the only bars we have

0:09:45.753,0:09:51.801
in our wonderful space[br]is the word bars and that all of us,

0:09:51.836,0:09:54.659
in our inferno[br]burn with happiness

0:09:54.694,0:09:58.669
when we light[br]the wick of the word.

0:09:58.704,0:10:01.704
(Applause)

0:10:25.663,0:10:32.007
I told you a lot about prison,[br]a lot about my experience

0:10:32.042,0:10:36.648
every week and how I enjoy it[br]and transform myself with them.

0:10:36.683,0:10:42.388
But you don´t know how much I'd like[br]that you could feel, live,

0:10:42.423,0:10:46.069
experience, even[br]for a few seconds,

0:10:46.104,0:10:50.104
what I enjoy every week[br]and makes me who I am.

0:10:53.151,0:10:56.151
(Applause)

0:11:02.228,0:11:06.429
"The heart chews tears of time

0:11:06.464,0:11:09.296
blind by that light

0:11:09.331,0:11:12.706
hides the speed of existence

0:11:12.741,0:11:14.364
were the images row

0:11:14.399,0:11:17.787
it fights, it hangs on.

0:11:17.822,0:11:21.519
The heart cracks under the sad gazes

0:11:21.554,0:11:24.187
rides through storms that spread fire

0:11:24.222,0:11:28.131
lifts chests lowered by shame,

0:11:28.166,0:11:31.577
knows that it's not just reading and[br]going on,

0:11:31.612,0:11:35.422
it also wishes to see the infinite blue.

0:11:35.457,0:11:38.645
The heart sits down to think about things,

0:11:38.680,0:11:41.847
fights for avoiding commonplaces,

0:11:41.882,0:11:45.270
Tries to love without hurting,

0:11:45.305,0:11:48.963
Breathes the sun giving courage to itself,

0:11:48.998,0:11:52.691
surrenders, travels to the reason.

0:11:52.726,0:11:56.064
The heart fights among swamps,

0:11:56.099,0:11:59.779
goes along the edge of the underworld,

0:11:59.814,0:12:03.681
falls weakly and doesn't yield to[br]the easy way

0:12:03.716,0:12:06.520
while irregular steps of intoxication

0:12:06.555,0:12:08.097
wake,

0:12:08.132,0:12:10.017
wake the stillness".

0:12:10.052,0:12:12.029
I'm Martín Bustamante,

0:12:14.006,0:12:15.984
I am a prisoner[br]in Unit 48 of San Martín,

0:12:16.019,0:12:18.972
today is my day of temporary release.

0:12:19.007,0:12:20.854
Poetry and literature

0:12:20.889,0:12:22.295
changed my life.

0:12:22.295,0:12:23.295
Thank you very much![br](Applause)

0:12:23.295,0:12:24.295
CD: Thank you!

0:12:24.295,0:12:27.295
(Applause)