Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer
Left: Andrew Stone, the host of the second season of 'Lyrically Speaking', reads from his book, 'In Disguise', at a monthly meeting of the Poetry Society of Jamaica at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts. - CONTRIBUTED. Right: Poet Dingo - FILE
IMAGES AND verse, rhythm and rhyme hit the Arnold Road, St. Andrew, studios of the Creative Productions Training Centre (CPTC) on Tuesday evening, at the shooting of the pilot for the second season of Lyrically Speaking.
Like the first season, which was done about 18 months ago and since aired on CTV, the CPTC's television arm, the second season of the poetry show will run for a full 13 episodes of half-hour programmes.
There have been some changes, with Andrew Stone hosting the series currently being recorded, while Mutabaruka hosted the first. There is also a 'feedforward' segment, where the poems which are presented are assessed by a guest on stage.
POETIC ASPECTS OF THE PIECES
Millicent Graham with Rain Days, Tyrone Reid with Viola, Gail Walters with Remembering Gwendolyn Brooks and Dingo were the poets for the pilot programme, with Nicole Burgher and Sheena Johnson-Brown highlighting the poetic aspects of the various pieces.
And before them M'Bala read Linton Kwesei Johnson's If I Was Top Notch Poet from the collection Mi Revalushanary Fren', that poem also coming up for discussion about its merits.
Gary Neita, manager of CTV, told The Gleaner that after "the first series that featured Mutabaruka, the one and only, as our host, we had a very long break," as there had been a fire in the studio and the smaller one that was used on Tuesday had to be rebuilt. However, "we always knew that Lyrically Speaking had to come back."
"We were very happy with what we had with Muta, but we decided that we wanted to spread it. We wanted to get different feels, different looks, different perspectives," Neita said.
As for the first run of Lyrically Speaking, Neita said "We have had positive feedback ... what has restricted it is our audience reach." He said that although CTV is carried by a number of cable providers, there is not islandwide coverage. However, "those who have seen it have been receptive to it."
ADDICTION
Host Andrew Stone said that in addition to exposing people who are writing, "I want to expose a particular level of work. I want to inspire people to aspire to that level of work and higher.
"By showcasing people who are entertaining but who also show that they take the craft seriously and are working at that craft, we want to show people who may not be on the show that this is the level to aspire to," Stone said. He said that the objective may not be to have people write like outstanding poets Derek Walcott or Lorna Goodison, "but to aspire to a standard."
Stone said among the attributes he wanted persons to approach poetry with were honesty, integrity, love, passion "and some good old-fashioned hard work."
After recording, the programmes will be edited for broadcast.
