Hey Blog! This post will be about a poetry event I attended in Shefield before my exam, but haven’t had the chance to tell you about till now.
I love poetry, and have done pretty much since I can remember. It’s such a lovely way of expressing feelings, thoughts, and ideas in a style that people can appreciate. From the experience I gained in my Arts Award, I know that poetry is a form of art, and thus tells a story. This story could be a message, telling people about an idea or expressing a poignant point; a literal story, relating happenings, be they fictional or true; or something else. I have read quite a bit of poetry, and a few years ago, when my lessons were less online and more in-person, I had a weekly feature where I read a poem, discussed it, and then made a response – either another poem; or a picture; a summary; a perfect, calligraphy copy, or something else. While this has now dropped off the schedule, I still appreciate the poetic style. I therefore was intrigued and ready to go when Mum discovered there was a poetry reading in Shefield coming up.
Brian Bilston is a hilarious poet who we became aware of a few years ago. He is popular online for extremely funny poems on every subject from politics to late trains to modern art. While he sometimes includes more serious poems, the majority are ones which you can laugh your socks off at. Since we included some of his poems when I studied a poem a week as I mentioned above, he was a good draw. Henry Normal, the other poet speaking, we had heard nothing about, but he too seemed like a very good poet, and that was enough to get us to book places and attend.
Since we have family in Shefield, we chose to go up in the evening, attend the poetry readings, and
then stay the night there so we had some time to spend with them the next day. So about 7:15 in the evening, after some very nice falafel tortillas at a local restaurant, we went in to prepare for what would inevitably be some excellent poetry and a good night out.
I had never been to a poetry recital before. It’s not a very common activity, yet I think it should be more encouraged as it is most entertaining. I wasn’t sure what to expect – just one poem after another? How many? Would the poets be speaking in turn or one after the other, would there be two voices at once or would the audience have to participate? It turned out to be poems interspersed with anecdotes, perspectives, and various thoughts, which made a beautiful mix of the serious and the silly, the pun-packed and the putting-life-into-perspective. I think both poets spoke well, with Henry Normal (who spoke first) having the edge on the performance and Brian Bilston, who spoke second, having the better poems. The only problem I had with it was it was too short – i.e. I would like to go to another similar poetry reading some time soon! Hopefully. You never know – some of my poems may even be in the mix one day!