Poetical thoughts....

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... :)