Buenos Aires, Argentina—UPF-Argentina’s Peace Council honored one of its members, Ambassador for Peace, poet Donato Perrone, who will be moving with his family to Mendoza, a city located in the Cuyo region near the Andes Mountains. The meeting was nostalgic with Mr. Perrone and the Council members remembering the experiences they shared together. Mr. Perrone, coordinator of Café Tortoni’s Lyric Space and a representative of the Livres Santa Catarina (Brazil) poetry group, has been involved in UPF-Argentina’s annual International Poetry Contest since the contest started in 2009. In 2010, he was appointed as an Ambassador for Peace.
UPF-Argentina gave Mr. Perrone several gifts, including a UPF banner, and a certificate of recognition and gratitude(1). At the end of the meeting, Mrs. Alba Rosa Contardo, a member of UPF’s Global Peace Council, read a poem by phone, as she was travelling(2).
(1) Content of the certificate:
“A way of expressing our deep gratitude for his support and collaboration as a member of UPF-Argentina’s Peace Council since its beginnings. For being a part of UPF-Argentina’s International Poetry Contest, a valuable initiative supporting a culture of peace. For his service, friendship and commitment, and for his contribution to the International Poetry Contest as a member of the jury since the contest’s first edition.”
UPF-Argentina Peace Council Meeting 114 – N° 4 2017
Buenos Aires, April 12, 2017
(2) Poem read by Alba Rosa Contardo:
Tiempo de Vino Nuevo
Para este tiempo nuevo
Es un tiempo de cambios
De tomar vino nuevo
Es el tiempo preciso
Para dejar lo añejo
Con un nuevo horizonte
Que la vida ha abierto
Comenzó el otoño
Y llegará el invierno
Y llegará la lluvia
Y vendrán los recuerdos
Pero el viento de Dios
Les dará aliento nuevo
Se despierta la alondra
Y el poema por dentro
Y saldrán poesías
Con ese viento nuevo
Acariciando vidas
Que necesitan vuelo
No es la despedida
Pues habrá reencuentros
Seguiremos unidos
Ese es nuestro deseo
Se cierra una etapa
Hay un nuevo comienzo
Hasta siempre amigos
Volveremos a vernos.
Alba Contardo