Poets I love you, but...

I am mortified. I attended the weekly readers-writers club of FEMRITE and I am still reeling with mortification. A young gentleman hands in a poem with the first verse copied word for word from a hip hop song and wants us to glorify his writing. Another lad hands in a poem which is not bad just rather confusing. The problem is not the pieces themselves because we all learn from sharing, it is the attitude of these lads. Why do you submit pieces if you cannot listen to unanimous and honest feedback from the people who have taken time to read your work? Why do you sit and defend a piece of writing and yet it is obvious from the fifteen voices around you that there is need for improvement. It is the attitude that appalls me and while the club is and will always be a brilliant idea, I hold my reservation. The readers-club reminds me how and why I started the BN Poetry Award for women. I find women much easier to communicate with in the world of arts. They are more responsive and teachable in my opinion. When I held a poetry training workshop last year in October and gave feedback to the participants of the award, it was easy to engage with the poets, not so for most men; and so I will not include men in this competition to answer many of your questions. However, men are always welcome in the workshops and other poetry events because I have met some very talented poets.
I have come to realize that poetry is a tough world to live in. Some foreigners to this exotic world think that it is about muse, inspiration and rhyme. Others think that it is about love, sweetness and mushy feelings and still others are convinced that it is about lyrics. The true dwellers, whose faces and minds have been hardened and sharpened from the wisdom that is poetry; know that it is Robert Frost’s Road Less Travelled. They know that it is the beard that shapes Jajja’s face after 5 decades of marriage. The true citizens of poetry land understand the rings around the trunk of the great oak that have weathered the years. Poetry is hard work. It is like selling a ten- year business plan. It is like convincing your child to take vegetables and cod liver oil. The muse and inspiration and feelings are fine. Then there is the research, the editing, the reading and re-reading, the memorizing and placing the words on the page with the right shape. Does the poem sound like a poem? What does it look like? How do I feel after reading it? How do others feel? I will think of all this before I call myself a poet again.

Thinking with my heart not head.

Those two are the Corry boys, sons to my friends. Dear Journalists, take note.

I really do wish u a great year, 2011. I do not with you drastic change because that is superficial and we rarely learn anything from that. I wish you gradual change which enters us and gives us time to learn and grow from it. For those who have wished me well and send me love thank you. I have noticed that some of you who are sending me your undying love and elastic prayers, why is it whenever we go out, I am the one paying? I really hope that changes. I sincerely have a big problem with people who work and never ever offer to pay for a meal or cup of coffee. My sister started earning money from selling jewelry and washing cars while still a secondary school student. You don’t need the money to show heart, you just need the heart.

So dear friends, use your heart this year and I speak to myself. Using my heart this year. I must thank Kampvita press for being such dears and offering to publish the poems of the BN poetry award annual project and also the outstanding ones of the school project. Since I quit my job, I need such news for my heart because this is a year of following the heart. My head doesn’t always give me the right answers.

My recommendations this year. You must watch For coloured girls. No discussion. You must all read Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.No discussion there either.

Unmasking the publishing deception

I’ve unmasked the deception of publishing. My first collection of poetry in chapbook form entitled Unjumping , resembles left- overs from the Titanic before it capsized. To say that I am displeased by the stapling, the book cover paper, the paper type is to put it politely. Seriously? When I asked the publishers why the cover fades after a few weeks, he said that probably because I have too much black on it. Yeuwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!
After spending 800 British sterling pounds to bring the books from the Uk to here, I excitedly unwrapped the box and when I saw the books, my poetry radar went to hell and back. I am now selling the books at a quarter price and I warn all buyers that the cover will fade and begin to look like Wole Soyinka’s beard dipped in Novida soda.
Two weeks ago, I almost pulped the books. I almost drowned them in the maggots in the pit latrine but I reflected on the hard work and now I am sellingthem at 5,000/-.Thanks to all of those that have bought and those that are still calling me for copies. You have made the end of 2010 special for me. Now that I am doing my Masters in Creative writing, there will be a better collection of poetry which after being published, will have a better story.

BN POETRY AWARD 2011 IS HERE

BNPA 2011 IS HERE. This is the third round of the BN Poetry Award and we are looking for more poetic passion. The theme this time is HOPE. Criteria: Ugandan women residing in Uganda above 18 years of age. Poems must be submitted under the theme of Hope. Be as creative as possible. Poems must be 12 font single spaced and a maximum of 3 poems will be accepted. Email poems as word attachments to ugpoetryaward@aol.com or mail to PO Box 34942 Kampala, Uganda. Submissions will be accepted from November 15th 2010 to March 31st 2011. This time the award giving ceremony will be held in Jinja. Previous first winners are not permitted to re-enter. PRIZES First prize-250  an autographed copy of Unjumping, by BNN. Second prize-150 USD,and an autographed copy of Unjumping, by BNN. Third prize-100 USD, and an autographed copy of Unjumping by BNN. The next two winners will get the autographed books. Winners from 2009 and 2011 will be published in an anthology. Proudly sponsored by Stitchting Doen. Start sending your submissions.

Unjumping books are in Kampala

So my books, Unjumping are in Kampala, Yes yes blah blah they were published in the Uk,naye really eeeeh they could have done a better job,the binding not all that.. worry not--my husband and I have got a game plan in order to make those books look radically hot so that they are worth every 20,000/-. I am very grateful for the publication and now the launch-oba when?

Th poems look great in print , nwo to get them into the market-how do poets get that done, okay let me do my thing and get the word out.

The workshop was so ....dynamite

The workshop was hot. When I spoke to Ife Piankhi on phone, a Caribbean poet based in Uganda, I had no idea she was dynamite. Sh performed about her experience as a black person in the uk and wow, it was tremendous. Poetry is better once spoken off memory and she said we must read and travel a lot to different places in town , around the country and even across the borders.

Isaac T, coming from an academic background gave us the 411 of good poets to read like Leopold Senghor, Diop, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, William Wordsworth, Walt Whitman, T.S Eliot who broke the conventional rules and opened up creative free verse poetry. It was great.

Then we had the debate on if Okot p Bitek is the finest poets that Uganda has ever had, and we learnt about performance , in fact Susan Kerunen of Bayimba shared how she actually performed Okot's Song of Lawino.

As poets, it is also pertinent to have quiet time, we need solitude in order to get deep into ourselves. Being alone is not the same as lonely.Solitude is strength.
Poetry is quite divisive as well. A number of the participants thought that poetry must be performed while others did not and still some felt strongly about rhyming poetry and others not. It was great to go through the evolution of poetry and accept where we are and yet even stil some felt that contemporary poets had destroyed poetry and that we needed to go back to our old traditions. It was such an interesting diccussion. Onthe whole, poetry is about speaking about our environment and since that changes, so will poetry.
We may take the workshop to Pallisa next year after an invitaion from Hope, a poet from the region. We learnt a lot and yes, poetry can be done as a career, why not? If u believe it, why not? Thanks to Stitching Doen for making it all happen. And thanks to everyone that came.

October's going to be hot

Hi Friends,

during the time I have been away-hopefully making a positive impact at my workplace, i have been thankfully making a small impact around me. Two media articles hav appeared about th poetry event , One in the Observer newspaper on 22 July and the other in the New Vision of 28 July. Thanks guys, but pleeeeeeeeeeeease next time mention the sponsors-hey!
In October, will be holding a poetry training workshop with support fro Stitching Doen-thanks again.

Priority goes to the participants of either 2009 or 2010 poetry award and other interested as well. Looking forward to that and then my family and I will go for a one week holiday in Nairobi and Mombasa.

Hopefully in October, I will also hold my book launch but that depends on how fast I can get the books in Uganda. Take care now.

Cheers y'all great week.