The enthusistic young poets of Poetry Underground were launching their new collection of poems - Voices from the Underground - and we got everyone (except the very shy Nurul and Pey who is in the UK) reading one of their pieces and proving that this group is going from strength to strength.
Reza was first up and had the audience holding their breath (!) while he read a poem about a diver going deeper, deeper holding his breath. Amazing how this little ploy makes you really concentrate on the words!
Sheena Baharudin read her Dialogue in 3 Tongues - a love poem for God in English, Arabic and Malay.
Catalina Rembuyan.
Evanna Ramly read Emeralds and Sapphires - a beautiful piece spoken by a betrayed woman after the break-up of a relationship.
Hazlan read a powerful piece called Kabur, in Malay.
Kathleen read one of my favourite poems from the book - asking why people are afraid of poetry. Very apt and very true.
George read a poem that was NOT about all the controversial Malaysian issues he wanted to talk about and it ended up of course being about all the great unsaids.
Congrats to Kathleen Choo for getting this project together and for being prepapred to put her own money into the publication. No doubt it will be sold at gigs and I hope you will soon find it in the local bookshops, so do pick up a copy of this limited edition book so they can afford to publish the next one along.
Poetry Underground are loooking from fresh talent, so if you are a poet who would like to work at your craft, both on the page and in performance, please contact Kathleen via the Facebook group.
