Last
night I went to 'Word for Word', A monthly poetry shindig in the
East End of London hosted by Kat Francois. This month's event made me think on and explore poetry deeper to say the
least.
The
bill consisted of (yet was not limited to) poems of revolution, street culture,
love, hostels, identity and more. With a wide range of performers ranging from
a loud Scotsman to a not so loud American, 2 lesbians and an unashamed father
speaking of a detailed sexual fantasy (while his 11/12 year old son was looking on
from the crowd), all in all there was a lot to ponder on.
I found it interesting that some performers advertised their lifestyles
without shame or apology, while some used sentiment and sympathy as their tools
to ‘minister’ to mindsets. Other poems spoke deeply to me and made me think
about what I was doing with my life. Was I giving myself to the very world
system I'd spoken so much against? Had I forgotten the very reason I decided
to work in the world? All this left me with a challenge to reassess my purpose
and ministry.
The resident poet for the night was Tschaka Campbell. He inspired me in
different ways from the norm. It wasn't his subject matter so much as how he
said things. His metaphors and those things which you didn't get at first
process but you knew were genius. His pain, frustration and feeling in some of
what he was saying. How he got to grips with his subject matter, choosing to
write what was in his heart without seeking to be too clever.
The interesting thing was, I didn't agree with everything he said, but
I can't say I disagreed with everything either. Some points of resonance
included his references to Harriet Tubman, the underground railroad and
freedom, and the fact that all of us had come out to that poetry event to hear
something which would change us.
Lastly, there were a young group of poets named 'Rhythm of men' who
totally smashed it with their poem on youth culture, along with a guy named JJ
Bola who was sharing poems encouraging others to 'fly' and to become 'men who
are real'.
This whole night made me understand more deeply that God gave us poetry,
prose, words and rhyme for a reason. Through expression, creativity, wisdom,
study, thought, guidance and challenge we can explore deeper those reasons laid
on God’s heart. But as I said, it's more a choice than anything... :)
