Cayman’s finest wordsmiths are gathering for a very special poetry event.
Native Tongue: An Evening of Poetry takes place on Saturday, 25 May, at Camana Bay from 7pm. Its title comes from the fact that artists from several countries are involved, namely Cayman, Cayman Brac, Jamaica, Brazil, Portugal, America and Argentina.
Organiser Nasaria Suckoo-Cholette explains that every word that comes from the performers is an expression of who they are.
“The unifying theme is also native in that to speak from your soul is a language all of us can understand,” says Nasaria.
The event came about following Nasaria’s appearance at 2012’s Poetry Parnassus, the Poetry Olympics held at South Bank Centre in London at which she represented Cayman.
As Camana Bay was one of her sponsors for that adventure, she says that in return she is presenting this showcase of the spoken word.
“I wanted to include all of the great poets that are a part of the poetry community here because there are not many opportunities to share our work and we have become a support group for each other,” she says.
“I don’t think that the power of the written and spoken word is really recognised enough in Cayman, but everything can change with enough exposure. People just need to be educated in order to understand that if some of us did not write, create, perform, express, we may simply explode. How sad a world this would be without the arts: just money and bankers and contracts and cold.”
Quite so. The event is for an adult audience, as Nasaria did not want the poets to feel like they had to censor themselves. Performers include Nasaria Chollette, Randy Chollette, Damian Thaxter, Jamal Nugent, Kevin Creary, Michael McLaughlin, Melissa McField, Umberto Scano, Pal De Cruz-Jones, Krisha Arch, Clifton Hunter High School Year 10 Drama group, Alta Solomon, Gordon Solomon, Arikka Ebanks, Tish Scott, Priscilla Pouchie and Chelsea Walton.
The evening begins with hors d’oeuvres and drinks plus the debut of Lord I Didn’t Know, which is Nasaria’s poetry film debut and tracks her performances at the Poetry Parnassus plus pictures of her trip.
“The audience will also be able to visit the Poetry Doctor and get a poetry prescription for their ailment. Each audience member will be asked to write a random poetic line, which we will then put into a poem and I will perform it,” explains Nasaria.
So get down to Camana Bay and get involved with an excellent event that really does showcase the best of the best.
This poem by Nasaria will be translated into Portuguese and set to Brazilian music to be performed at the event. Here’s a sneak preview.
Come and Stay
Night has come and I have killed the moon
Walking on fire
I am standing in between sand and sky
And I have lost my way
Separation is like tearing skin from flesh
And I am labouring in a desert
Thirsting for light
Cast my eye to sky
They turn to blue
Call your name
Call your name
Come and sit a while
Come and stay
Cool like cascading coconut water over coal fed organs
Come and stay.
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