By Tanya Batson-Savage, Staff ReporterAFTER GOING down a very circuitous road, which persons giving directions insisted was 'one straight road', dodging cows, frogs, potholes and being shocked by a man who appeared to be taking a waterless bath outside his home (while talking to a guest), The Gleaner finally made its way into Treasure Beach.
The aim was to take part in a weekend of literary readings at the third 'Calabash International Literary Festival'.
The pull of the festival had evidently grown stronger than last year since this year's crowd had increased noticeably, with even greater tent space being provided. The organisers seemed to be particularly proud of the growth, as throughout the festival they made constant references to the first festival taking place 'over in di bush', a spot behind Jakes Village which could hold only a fraction of Friday night's crowd.
Friday night's performances would feature firstly, four representatives from the Jamaica Poetry Society, followed by the segment 'Tongues of Fire'. When The Gleaner made it unto the quaint grounds holding Jakes, Mel Cooke had already taken the stage. Cooke, one of the representatives of the Jamaica Poetry Society, was the first performer to take the stage during the three-day festival.
SHARPENED WORDS
At this time, Cooke was reading Word Terrorist. Like most of his pieces, this one had a very political overtone. It played with the word 'terrorist'. Shunning his regular guise as columnist, Cooke had tuned his pen to poetry and sharpened his words. Word Terrorist slashed through ideas of conformity and in a time when artistes are being encouraged to spout red, white and blue patriotism, boldly stated that it was opposed to American domination.
The poem also made several specific references to September 11, 2001 when the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre were destroyed. Despite his references, however, the poem did not embrace violence, only the willingness use the power of pen and paper. Thus Cooke noted that he would willingly arm himself with pen and 'three paper planes' to do his terrorism.
Anti-American domination was not all that came from Cooke's pen however. Changing topics to the Jamaican situation, Cooke continued to tickle the minds of the audience with Bad Word Poem. This piece looked at the inflation of the value of 'ten shilling', words which can now cost much more. Beginning with the words Talk no cheap, ask Alozade, it can cost whole 'eap the poem had the audience begging for more from the beginning.
Bad Word Poem punned on Jamaican 'indecent' language by using ordinary phrases which sound like 'bad words'. The crowd loved every syllable of it and he had to start over three times to the sounds of 'Pull Up' and other shouts from the audience.
The audience also seemed to be willing to laugh at themselves as they responded well to Cooke's tongue-in-cheek piece, Uptown Poetry Spot, which poked fun at them. The poem looked at the irony of middle class patrons clapping to words of revolution about poverty and starvation. It also suggested that they were really there to get close to 'nobility' in the guise of Derek Walcott, who had been originally scheduled to read at this year's 'Calabash'.
EXPERIMENT
The Poetry Society of Jamaica was also represented by Adziko Simba, Samuel Gordon and Sabriya Simon. Neither Simba nor Gordon gave the best representation of their works. Simba, who is also a wonderful storyteller, gave a decent performance, though it was not her best. Her work showed a distinct willingness to experiment with rhythm and form while she also delivered her words very well.
Gordon, however, the youngest of the group, appeared to be quite intimidated by crowd and quickly fled the stage after a rather short stint. It was quite a shame that the Calabash crowd had not been made privy to works he had performed at the poetry society, which showed him to have a sufficiently large store of talent.
Simon closed the segment and slightly re-heated the audience in doing so. Simon started off with My B-O-D-Y which she noted was the first work she ever read publicly. The poem deals with the value of inner beauty. She would also go on to look at promiscuity and spirituality since her performance included Dead Man Walking and Mr. Religion. The latter had made her the runner-up in the 'Poets Rush Di Mic' competition recently put on by the group Root Cause.
