BODY AND POLITICS

THE POETS IN A SQUARE IN SALVADOR (1980)

Abstract

The present article aimed to investigate a part of the Poets in the Square movement (Salvador/BA - 1980). The chosen time frame demonstrates that this period was filled with vibrant historical events throughout the Brazil, due to the censorship imposed by the State, its institutional bodies, and its forms of prohibition and repression. During the occupation of Piedade Square, located in the city center, the poets organized gatherings among people and groups of artists, with the purpose of reciting poems and selling alternative books. For the Poets, it was limited to confine poetry to restricted spaces that were detached from the people on the streets, who, in turn, needed to hear and read since their access to book knowledge, even today, remains very limited to a few. The theoretical foundation of this text relied on the works of the following authors: Antonin Artaud (1984), Jean-Luc Nancy (2000), Walter Benjamin (1985), Drummond (2013), Didi-Huberman (2011).