Get up, speak out: "Poetry In The Pub"
Poet Aziza Lake reading her work at "Expressions" - Poetry in the Pub.
I'll say it again, to drive the point home further - Antiguans read. Antiguans read a lot. And Antiguans love their poetry - Okay? Done.
August Rush Productions mounted it's inaugural spoken word event last night, the first of many at O'Grady's Pub (formerly Funky Buddha). Emcee and 50% of August Rush, Linisa George, led the audience through an evening of words, and "Expressions"; expressions of love, of hope, of unrequited love and desperation - themes that threaded their way through the works of the men and women who very bravely stepped up to the mic and poured out their heart and soul.
It was refreshing to spend a night in the company of wordsmiths who can articulate the emotions many of us feel, but cannot come close to expressing so candidly. The atmosphere was calm, serene, alternatively buzzing and expectant. The receptive group was craving the delights of the spoken word, and they got it.
First up was Mr. Steele, who slid behind the mic and delivered with ease. He produced three poems, of which Tales of Her got more than a few heads nodding silently in agreement about this story of a love that could never be. Kyle Christopher's followed next with his blunt declarations in Suicide, of high expectations that are both unrealistic and downright dangerous, unless you can "tak[e] back what others expect of you". Christopher changed it up with touch of comedy about two (three? four?) men who loved one particularly special female who played them all like a fiddle. Or did she?
Marcella Andre, editor of Entertainment Bazaar, impressed upon me with her multi-talented self, in Message to the Men. A line that stood out was her insistence that women not be treated as mere empty bowls or vessels in which to pour men's "salty secretions". Andre's mantra about loving a man from afar in Pick Me, certainly hit home for many women in the crowd with lines like, "I've been jonesing for you for months - pick me!", "You're so f*****g clueless - pick me!". I mean really, can I hear an amen? Her set ended with a passionate cry for the people of Haiti as they face unprecedented devastation caused by the recent earthquake. Her rendering of the poem in English, French and Creole lent an added sense of urgency to the crisis unfolding before us.
It wasn't just "poetry pros" who took the plunge, a young lady Melissa who professed to it being her first time, hit us hard with her female-positive poem with passages like "I am woman, take me in all my complexities", "I do not need your permission", and "I am no simpleton awaiting a man to complete me." She spoke briefly, but hopefully the positive vibes from the audience will encourage Melissa and others to get up and speak their minds.
Featured poet of the evening, Aziza Lake, gave the crowd a mix of topics including a stirring tribute to Antigua arts icon, the late Keva Margetson. Lake's composition was written in the same vein as Ossie Davis' eulogy given at the funeral of another person she greatly admires, Malcolm X. In Someone, a poem Lake said was inspired by loving someone but hating them at the same time, she spoke of wanting to desperately be with the "someone" in her life, yet wanting to simultaneously kick him to the curb. The line that dropped me, "I smell the disgusting scent of you but when I turn around my offending nose has deceived me..." reminded us all that yes, it is a thin line.
August Rush Productions will hold "Expressions" Poetry in the Pub every other Thursday at 8:30 p.m. until June at O'Grady's, so you have many opportunities to see - and hear - for yourself, the talented artists who live right here in Antigua. Read here to find out more and spread the word.
Poetry in the Pub
