spare wheel

wing man

I'll be reading on Saturday at White space

http://auckland.scoop.co.nz/2011/07/poetry-comes-to-auckland/

(Bomber's blog interesting too).

It's the Poets connect...  see more about poetry day if you do face book by liking the New Zealand Poetry Facebook page to the right --->

A Poetry Review. Poetry Live

 It was amazing to walk into the Poetry live session last night with a whole room of the poetry family intently watching Sandra Sarala having just flown in from Berlin.  With the momentous vitality of the traveller, she sang, hollered, squealed cooed and wooed the audience. Garnering an adventurous theatricality about her with minimal adjustments of her clothes to make costume changes and character changes, she brought a classy Germanic take on the poetry performance to the crowd wo were palpably curious and sometimes quite moved.  Her work included a Polish lullabye sung to a cradled 'child', and haunting poem songs that bring aspects of polish singing to them.  In effect the sounds are akin to some celtic singing; southern states early poetic forms, and in a modern context borrowing from these older, - strongly women's sounds, bring a strong depth to 'noise poetry' in her performance.

The over-riding ambience of the Poetry live scene is of a respectful and provocative camaraderie.  With Poets delivering their selves to the room, there is always a precarious balance.  Sometimes a night tilts towards the uber provocative, sometimes the uber respectful, and with the perpetual tendency towards the 'confessional' poetic stance it needs to be kept in check, and given an encouraging kick in the ribs as you would the family pony, at the same time.  Strongly Confessional was a term I heard used by an australian to describe the comparative difference in New Zealand Poetry.  It has an academic history in describing the personal poem.  Being a confessional poet myself from time to time this comment resonated and stayed but I'm sorry I cannot provide references!

Michell Durey, making her debut as a guest poet let her poems do the walking.  Having been organizational in poetry over the last couple of years and drawing on a..mid atlantic modern poetry sound, I guess you could say,  her ears are tuned to wordswork that sidles along between the confessional, - with even an unrequited love poem thrown in for good measure, and the Professional-Confessional-Slam-Induced-Soul-Exposé!  Stand out for me was her tribute poem for fellow-poet Kenneth Arkind who clearly was a friend and influence during his visit to New Zealand.  True to the sound of bravery, the strong personal voice in the air, that comes with the slam scene, and yet such a tried tested and true theme, to write a salute to another poet.  

Respectful, and encouraging, nearly staid, but with room to move, and ready, providing structure for community and the flourishing of new poets, Poetry Live is emphatically holding its own as the central Auckland hub of poetry readings and performances, amidst all the many other venues and groups that have grown from its centre, and as part of the greater resurgence in spoken word.  The Lopdell House readings, the South Auckland Poetry Collective, Printable Reality,  The Literatti, Metonymy, to name a few, at venues like The Library Bar, Pah Homestead, and now the Pumphouse, and there's the 121 Cafe open mic,

Thanks to the inexhaustable energies of a few busy organ grinders, Auckland's performance Poetry has never been stronger.  

With a maelstrom of musical installation public and private showings of all kinds, the concepts of Poetry in performance in Auckland are once again being pushed to compete and tread that line between populist homogenized forms, and new stuff.  Brilliantly in my mind, the new stuff is winning out, as New Zealand poets retain their autonomy and allow for difference.  It's vital and personal, and you can almost hear them coming if you put your ear to the ground, ladies and Gentlemen, Auckland, ...the poets