No frills: Naked poetry will bare the poet, all of him

The organisers claim that naked poetry represents an “extraordinary new literary movement spreading across Europe”, The Observer, London, reports.

Many poets are now taking off their clothes before reciting poems, believing that it “creates a greater spiritual connection with audiences”, according to Chris Hewitt, the ICA Live Arts curator. The three-day festival features pioneers like French naked poet Emmanuelle Waeckerle, who will “bare not only her flesh, but also uncover her soul”, the ICA says.

The movement originated in Russia last year when two poets, Tim Gadaski and Vladimir Yaremenko, were pelted with eggs and tomatoes during a poetry reading session in St. Petersburg. Gadaski and Yaremenkodecided that the only way to win over the audiences which got bored over poetry readings was to “expose ourselves totally to their frustrations”. There was no looking back for the two poets and the new movement was born.

Soon they went on a European tour calling themselves `Naked Russian Poets’ and claim to have met others in Poland, Austria, France and Germany. “The first poetry was created by naked people inspired by nature and love,” writes Gadaski in his book, Poetry is Nakedness.

“Today we feel that poetry needs to return to this initial state…Clothes, like chains, must be thrown away and poets become free and powerful,” the observer quotes Gadaski as saying. But not everyone is convinced. The Poetry Society in London has already rejected an application from the naked poets to host a poetry reading session. “It might well put the audience off the poetry,” says Society Director Chris Meade.

Meade says he is not convinced by the aesthetic value. “It is not the case that poetry is all aboutbaring the soul, all about revelation. What does taking your clothes off mean?”