For love of the spoken word
HILLBROW - In September, 60 young poets from six provinces were challenged to take their art on stage and compete in the Drama For Life Lover + Another Poetry regional competitions.
The regional competitions chose two winners from each province to perform at the Hillbrow Theatre in mid-October, where they were tasked to deliver some of the most powerful, thought-provoking and beautiful poetry in the country.
The twelve poets, aged between 18 and 30, faced their audience and had to perform poems around the topic of Man.Woman: Any[Queer]ies?
The highly provocative topic saw poets tackling gender, rape, discrimination, love, attraction and societal pressures.
The poets spent the run up to the final at Wits University, exchanging ideas and tips in preparation for their time on stage. What the poets carved out of this experience was a mix of intimacy and sometimes humorous or heart-shattering poetry that provoked questions around gender roles, homosexuality and freedom of love. Naledi Raba was crowned the winner of the event, with second and third place going to Gauteng poets Tsholang Bodibe and Xabiso Vili respectively.
The poetry competition is an annual event implemented by Drama for Life, a Wits University-based academic drama programme.
