There is an empowering quality about poetry, the kind that gives you courage to tell your secret and instils strength in the face of any adversity. Poetry is malleable to suit your mood, and one poet’s story can be interpreted to suit your own story. Poetry is funny or sad; it can rhyme or ramble and be nonsensical. At Urban Solace, they encourage this expression and last week, poets from across the city who have wrung tears of joy, nods of recognition, wistful memories and happy applause came together to celebrate 100 editions of “Tuesdays With The Bard”.
The programme for the day was divided into five separate segments that began with the Morning Show that featured young poets; followed by a Noon Show that saw poets who wrote in Indian languages, the Matinee Show for LGBT poets, the First Show for women and Second Show for male poets.
The LGBT session was chaired by Mari Eva Mendes and this session was not just about their sexuality but also about love, family and nature. Rohini who writes for a living was first up, “I am not feeling very poetic, and feeling more prosaic, so I will read a story I wrote,” she said before she went on to hold fort.
Danish, who read after her, described his poetry as a bleak realistic view of humanity, and so he tempered it with some prose. He started with Cities Of Blinding Light . “I wrote this when I was a staunch Delhi lover,” he said and the crowd gasped. His poem was a beautiful allegory of what every city meant to him, He fell in love in Bangalore and hurt in Hyderabad and hid in Bombay, but Delhi loved him back.
He followed it up with Court Of Love – a poem he wrote at a particularly angry time, the poem was laced with humour and was a charming account of a man whose heart had been broken and wanted justice. He concluded with a conversational piece which he called We Need To Talk .
Mari Eva Mendes went next and began with a poem she called Different Wheel , which she wrote after ending her straight marriage of 16 years. She also read Passion, Love, Truth And Freedom , four words that have been tattooed on her back, a motto of sorts to live with passion, love, truth and freedom. And Without My Children she when she fought the custody battle for her children. Joshua Muyawi closed the session with poems he read from his series Telling Stories, Telling Lies .
