Tuesday 17 September 2013

#Day2 - Creative Week Cape Town 2013 #PromenadePoetry #CWCT2013 

I started day two in the morning at 10am. It was a completely different vibe down at the Promenade. Maybe it was because it was Monday, maybe because it was the morning or maybe it was just because of the weather but everyone was a lot colder ( no pun intended). Not as many people were walking past and the few that did were a lot more shy and hesitant to interact with me. So I was left alone with my beautiful view of the ocean for the first hour while waiting for someone to write a poem for. 





While waiting, I decided to write a poem about waiting for the public. Sometimes just the act of writing, is what is needed to get momentum going...

PromenadePoetryBlues

It's Monday Morning and Day Two
And I feel like I've got the Promenade Poetry Blues...
For what is a poet without a muse?

The ocean breeze is cold against my skin
But that won't stop the Fire within
Come over here 
And speak to me
So I can write you poetry!

Almost the instant that I picked up the chalk to start writing, I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I turned around and a woman put a handful of coins into my hands without saying anything. She held onto my hands and pure light radiated from her eyes. I asked her if she wanted me to write a poem for her and she said it wasn't necessary. I thanked her and said I would buy more chalk with the money ( I get through about 3 packs of chalk a day!) Her sweet smile was incredible and the warmth she radiated was almost tangible and just like that she was gone.

I don't always get a chance to photograph the people I speak to - sometimes the moment is so quick, it seems over as soon as it's begun. The street sweeper in the yellow jacket in the image above had broken English. He took a very long time reading my poetry. I don't know if he understood or not but I'm glad he came to say hello to me regardless.

Up next was a man who introduced himself as 'the man from the Yellow Pages'. In the short conversation that we had, we discussed family, music and anagrams. He said that he always tries to make people laugh and had some wonderful wordplay. He said that he will be returning to the Promenade later in the week with some music for me and I look forward to his return and to see what he'll bring. 

Meet Klaus - Day Two's Poetry Recipient
 Klaus known as The Mac Guy  is a German living and working in Cape Town. He fell in love with Cape Town and a South African in the 90s. His relationship didn't work out but his love affair with Cape Town did! He asked me to write a poem about graffiti. We had a short discussion about street art/graffiti and the public's perception of what it is. Check out some of his incredible photography on Instagram (@klauswarschkow) 
To see a short movie of me writing the full poem for Klaus, go to his Vimeo link:


Someone asked me yesterday what writing poetry does for me. I explained that it's who I am. I feel most alive and in the present moment when I write. Thank you to all of you who have come to share a bit of your story with me so far. I look forward to meeting more of you in the rest of the week. If you would like to see what time I will be at the Promenade, check out the Creative Week Cape Town Event Listing:











No comments:

Post a Comment