Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer
Andrew Stone reads during the 16 th anniversary celebration of the Poetry Society. - CONTRIBUTED
WESTERN BUREAU:
THE POETRY Society of Jamaica celebrated its 16th anniversary on Tuesday night, with slight changes to its regular format.
The additions were a screen on which a slide-show of pictures from past poetry fellowships was shown and drumming and singing from Akwaaba. In addition, the general audience feedback which is normally given in the open microphone section was concentrated on a single poem, contributed by a member of the audience. The dissection of My Calabash Friend, contributed by Barry, was hosted by Owen 'Blakka' Ellis and M'Bala.
A large audience gathered in the amphitheatre of the Edna Manley College for the Visual and Performing Arts, Arthur Wint Drive St. Andrew, for the celebration, which was anchored by brief readings from Andrew Stone, Saffron and M'Bala. The three, regular contributors to the society's meetings, have all been published this year through the Calabash International Literary Festival Trust.
POEMS
Persons reading in the open mic segment were restricted to one poem each. Poems such as Jamaica Blues and After I Die ("they will never have to speculate about the weight of my pockets/I kept them empty/ask the IRS"), along with contributions from Samuel Gordon and the combination of Lynch and Sage marked the early going. Hanna's On a Good Day was a terrific trip into the poet's prowess "on a good day", the audience giving an overwhelming response, while Jagga's three-time trip into the land of getting 'bun' was met with gales of laughter.
Abebe Payne took a long, lyrical look at the fast life ("gaining property/through yu property" before Marsha Hall closed off the open mic segment with 'Jamaica The Failed State'.
Akwaaba went slow with By The Rivers of Babylon and Peace and Love, before closing with Bring I Back To Ethiopia Land, their drumming enhanced by the dancing of Tioma, before Andrew Stone began the guest readings from his Calabash published chapbook In Disguise.
"It is really good to be reading from my own book. Feel nice," Stone commented, before beginning with A Woman Walking Home From Work. Blue Morning, Sweet Words and In Papine Square completed Stone's reading.
Saffron began with African Proverb: Roots and Wings, written for her son, who she described as "a ton of hope lies sleeping/in these few pounds of flesh". "I do hope to live that long/to help you grow roots/to help you spread wings," Saffron said.
Butterfly In The Earth Kingdom was described as "definitely a Buddhist poem" and Fruit Picker 2 was the dissertation of the tree raider whose "map of Kingston does not know names like Barbican", still "I know the address in Kingston 6 and 8 of every mango tree".
She ended with the title poem of her collection, Soft Flesh which asked 'how can flesh so soft/harden into a weapon?" - and she was not talking about a fist.
INSTRUMENTAL TOUCH
In closing the readings, M'Bala employed his instruments as well as his voice, starting out with a poem about the creation of poems. "There is a cloud of mosquito words roun' me head/some a dem stink like swamp/get up mi nose/an mi no have no choice/but to blow dem out on paper/here, have a poem," he said.
M'Bala utilised the flute on Wud Boom, then sat for Jazzing In The War Zone. An untitled poem preceded Stranger, for which Tioma again danced, as M'Bala declared his desire to "be strange and beautiful/like nothing found in the pages of Time/Penthouse/Newsweek/any magazine". His collection is entitled Light In a Book of Stone.
Akwaaba closed off the Poetry Society of Jamaica's 16th anniversary celebration with drumming and chants.
