More from Hanniffa here. Thanks to Acey for the photos – see the full album here.
Last Monday marked the first day a woman hosted all three rounds of Spoken Word Paris.
I feel pretty honored to have been that person. Not because it sounds cool to say ( although it does) :-), but really because I am so pleased to have been asked to take a more active role in this awesome community. I LOVE Spoken Word Paris. I have learnt and grown so much. I’ve made some great friends and been blessed to have met some of whom I believe will be this generation’s finest poets.
Last Monday was also simply tons of fun. We heard impressive pieces from everyone, all three rounds were great! If you read, kudos to you, you are a talented bunch! To the visitors who dared to share, thanks much for leaving a bit of you here with us in Paris. To the guy who made unkind comments and spoke right through Fran’s reading, you actually made the event that much more exciting. So thank you too. And Fran, don’t worry, your story was still awesome!
Thanks to the audience for being supportive and patient in the situation and to the the two strong guys, Alberto and Apo who stepped in to play bodyguard when things got a bit heated. They were true renaissance men, “writers and fighters”.
No one stayed on theme. But as usual, everyone tried to squeeze the theme in. Haha!
There were a few pieces that stood out for me. The first from Micah from New York, who got us thinking with his powerful piece on trying to convince his friend not to take his own life. Then there was Tyler’s moving reading on his mother’s battle with cancer. Fred was hilarious in his monologue on animal documentaries and his questions on “what if men were like animals and by extension trees”…I think. I’m not too sure. I was honestly too busy laughing. Alberto read his poem in “Italiano”and Caitlin told of her her dead/divorced husband and the Spanish man on the bus, who fell in love with her. Dawn, sang a song about her friend…Caitlin.
It was also a pleasure to have Will and James, the editors of The Belleville Park Pages, visiting with us. (Buy a copy, it’s only 2 euros). 🙂
Bon, bref. Monday was great. You laughed at my corny jokes and endured my bad dancing. You were so kind. You listened as I introduced every female poet by saying she was “lovely”. You gave generously to the hat. Thank you for making my first time a truly memorable one!
Big thanks to David and Alberto, these guys are stars! David you have created something totally beautiful, thank you for your vision. Thanks also to Acey the awesome photographer. To you all, please continue to support the community of Spoken Word. Keep writing, keep sharing, keep coming out to listen and see you next Monday 🙂
— Hanniffa
See you tonight at SpokenWord with the theme SUPERSTITION
Au Chat Noir
76 rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud
metro Parmentier
Sign up 8pm-9.30pm. Poetics begin underground at 8.30pm
SpokenWord Paris 