Students from the Jean-d'Ormesson school in Nîmes discover poetry with the Syrian Maram al-Masri

Le comédien Hervé Gaboriau et la poétesse syrienne Maram al-Masri.

The Syrian poet Maram al-Masri is in residence at the Jean-d'Ormesson educational center, an establishment in reinforced priority education, in the Mas-de-Mingue district in Nîmes. 

A suspended moment, a time of gentleness, listening, sharing… All week, the poet of Syrian origin Maram al-Masri is in residence at the Jean-d&rsquo school ;Ormesson, establishment classified as reinforced priority education at Mas-de-Mingue, as part of the "Our school, let's do it together" system. Alongside the workshops she conducts on site, the writer met the students this Wednesday at Carré d’art, outside the neighborhood and school time, in the company of Hervé Gaboriau, from the Cie Paroles Transparentes.

A reinforced priority education school

Together, in Arabic and French, they read the poet's verses, as well as the texts written by the young students. Maram al-Masri also shares his vision of life. "Poetry is a window that we open onto the world. We live with the sky, the birds, our neighbors, our friends. It is important to build connections with everything around us. There are prisoners who don't have windows but they open them through their imagination", explains the author.

With attentive listening, the children question Maram al-Masri about Syria, which she left at the age of 20 to come to France, about her writing, her inspirations, her travels. She evokes the dictatorship, the war in her country, the importance of education and freedom, generosity, openness, meetings.

"Entering writing"

"The objective for children is to get into writing through poetry, explains Anne-Pierre Gavillet de Peney, director of the school. For students who have difficulty with language, poetry allows easier access to writing." At the start of the week, she met the CE2, CM1 and CM2 classes. She meets them at the end of the week, after having invited them to write.

For children, the dual culture of Maram al-Masri is important. "They see that their language can be admired", smiles the poet, translated into 19 languages ​​and who writes alternately in Arabic and French. "I'm like a woman pregnant with twins, I don't know which one will come out first", have fun -she, rich in her entire journey. "I am prohibited from entering Syria. I became French, but that does not take away the homeland that is in me, my childhood."