Now that these words are written down, they suddenly sound somewhat pompous. But they are meant to be nothing more than common. There are only a few who are able to say how many poets have been at Poetry International so far and there really is very little need for such a calculation. Guests came from all over the world and from nearby, bringing both unfamiliar languages and those we understand, and each year also our own. The festival has never lacked poetry from our own region. Apart from all the other things it can be, the festival has, in particular, remained a celebration opened to all audiences.

Poets from all schools and movements have been present but in Rotterdam only their words mattered. Sometimes, participants could not even always be classified according to nationality, origins, creed and background. Ideologies were not to be found at all. Many poets had had a sufficiently difficult time anyway, in protecting their work against dogma, doctrine and fundamental thinking in general, and in trying to remain standing themselves. Here, it has always been the poetry that mattered, their own voice, different though it might have been from the others.

All have had their say here, and everything could be heard and read: nature poetry and that of the metropolis; scientifically reflective poems and more inspired poems; poems expressing social awareness and mystical poetry, visionary and precisely observed poems; linguistically playful and concretely constructed poems; politically argumentative and humorous poems. Love poetry has not been absent either. It is a summing up that goes on without end. As Bertolt Brecht put it: `On literary forms, you need to consult reality, not aestheticism, nor realism. Truth can be kept silent in a lot of ways and in as many ways can it be expressed.' The latter was always the objective.

Some poets used the diction of speech, others preferred a more literary language. Seemingly pretentious lines or verbal constructions could be suddenly put into perspective by a question mark, statements could be so charged that they became ironic. Sometimes the writing can be encountered again in the writer. Even the clothes and gestures of a reading poet could contribute to his form of poetry. To those who watched closely and listened well there were many surprising and fitting things to be heard and seen. That too makes Rotterdam a free port for poetry and Poetry International its World Bank.

Much can be done with good poetry. As with a rose that is taken apart the individual petals can still be beautiful. In a similar fashion, lines can be borrowed from a well-written poem. This has happened in Rotterdam on many occasions and since 1988 they can be found on the street sweepers and garbage trucks owned by the Rotterdam sanitation company Roteb. In the course of time the number has grown and together they now form an extensive anthology delivered at every house in the city throughout the year: as a salute, as stimulant, and occasionally as warning or admonition, depending on one' interpretation. Consequently, something like a permanent form of Poetry International has come into being and maybe, who is to say, it has brought inhabitants and passers-by closer to the poem. As happens with the various groups and individual visitors at the annual festival in the Doelen. Not because of the organisation but because of the poets who are there again each year. And: In every human being a poet is hidden, Breyten Breytenbach once said.

Since its foundation in 1970, Poetry International has always been open to new developments and changes. It could not have been otherwise in a festival that belongs to the visitors and the poets. They have had to make it and feel at home with it, as it was always meant to be. One year would show more radical changes than another, but it has always been Poetry's aim to go with time's flow and occasionally against it. From the beginning it has directed itself at all types of people, in the country and in the city, and at each separate individual. It started with the support of the Turkish artist Esma Yigitoglu as translator of and assistant to the poet Fazil Hüznü Daglarca, who has established his name here for good. It continues right up to this day. A Moroccan schoolgirl on work placement had to help out in finding an Arabic poem for this book. That too, is a way of getting closer to the poetry. There is no need for much more, the rest will eventually follow.

Poetry '96 will be an exciting and varied festival. All that is to happen can be found not only in this programme but also in the programme paper which elaborates on the information: on the international poetry afternoons and evenings and on the various projects and other activities that take place on at least two different stages between which the audience can choose. There are, by the way, a number of moments at which everybody comes together again. Everything just looks a little more varied than in preceding years. It may be said that all the invited poets eagerly anticipate this annual fair of international poetry.

Although it has been remarked before, it is certainly not a cliché to say that Poetry International has constantly been the instigator behind a number of new ideas and initiatives. Poetry on the Road is one of them. It is being held for the fourth time now on the 13th of June in the Bourla Theatre in Antwerp, once again organised by the Activity Centre Elzenveld. Should one like to attend this event, it would be a good idea to ask beforehand whether there are still any seats available. The theatre has been sold out on every previous occasion and things will not be different now. On friday the 14th and saturday the 15th of June, On the Road is in the Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht. In the Poetry International programme paper and in a few special publications all information can be found. The June issue of the Flemish literary magazine Revolver is entirely devoted to Poetry on the Road in Antwerp.

And finally this: the 27th edition in Rotterdam is one involving more drastic and far-reaching changes than has been usual in most previous years. We are parting from poets who, for a long time, have meant a lot to Poetry International and who have been partly responsible for the flowering of the festival. Apart from Joseph Brodsky, they are commemorated during the festival.

It is a different story with Martin Mooij, together with Adriaan van der Staay the founder of Poetry International and since the gaining of independence in 1988 general manager of the eponymous organization. The time has come for him to end his work for Poetry International. He will be sure to find other occupations waiting in store for him, some of it without a doubt closely related to his present work. Therefore there is no real reason to say goodbye. The personal relationships with poets, visitors and other people involved remain. He thanks everyone on whom he could count for support and who has been there for him throughout the years from the bottom of his heart. This goes out especially to the many volunteers, other people involved and those colleagues he has closely worked with. Their support and faith have meant a lot to him. He wishes the festival, the organization and the bureau and his successor Tatjana Daan all the best and all those involved a lot of enjoyment in their work. Poetry International stays, that is what counts. He wishes to leave it at that.

The Poetry International festival this year is once again supported by subsidies from the Ministry of Education and Science, the city of Rotterdam, the Ministry for Overseas Development, the Ministry of the Flemish Community, the Hivos Culture Fund, the ABP, the VPRO, the Centre for Visual Arts in Rotterdam and numerous other organizations, funds, companies and private individuals.