Poetry is immortal

After reading Victor Fenech's analysis on "What is poetry and is it still alive?" (The Sunday Times, October 2) I would like to say that I have heard of dead languages, but not of dead poetry. Poetry is immortal and can also be a life-saver and an emotional first aid.

Mr Fenech gave me the impression that he wanted to tell the reader more about himself than what his headline implied! Had he bothered to read The Sunday Times on September 25, he would have discovered that the Ghaqda Poeti Maltin published an anthology featuring contributions by 46 of its members - myself included - to commemorate Malta's membership of the European Union!

We certainly are "dominated by electronics" but we must not jump to conclusions, to the point of questioning whether poetry is still alive! As a small country, I feel we are blessed with a large number of true poets, who write for the love of poetry. The "old tradition" is still very much alive: the Ghaqda Poeti Maltin have group readings, and publish a journal, Versi.

Mr Fenech has to understand that unlike the success of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter we are poets promoting poetry for its own sake. How can we market our authors abroad, especially in Maltese? Why should the Maltese poet feel the need to widen his options, and what are these options exactly?

 I have published my work abroad, but in English and Italian. A poet writes because of a need to express himself, it gives him self satisfaction. As a poet I do not feel the need to face the hassle of publishing a book, I am happy to just write poetry. I put some copies of our anthology for sale and it's still there, of course.