A huge thank you to the friends of Temenos for your encouraging support over the last weeks. As you may imagine getting a festival off the ground takes much passion, courage and endurance. Getting a Poetry festival off the ground has even further challenges. Besides bringing together poets and lovers of poetry from far afield, a lot of energy is spent reigniting an appreciation for the art. Far too many people I come acrosswere so poorly introduced to poetry by teachers who themselveswere never enflamed by it. They were incapable of passing on the spark. It astounds me that the sum total recall for many in a poetry class was of being forced to learn poems off by heart!
How different my experience was. I was taught by an English master who was passionate about poetry and whose greatest joy was to engage with students who were open to appreciating thedepth and the beauty of it. At least twice a week he would invite our own Braveheart Society to accompany him to the tearoom at John Orrs in downtown Johannesburg. There, over tea andscones ,we would be invited to join the company of T S Elliot and Yeats, Emily Dickinson and e e cummings, among a host of others.
He also revealed to us as though opening a magic casement,thsatpoetry was not only a marriage of craft and imagination.Itcould inspire us and make us think differently about what it means to be a member of the human race. Here was food for the soul.
‘After English class I used to like stopping by woods on snowy evening. I liked the coming darkness, the jingle of harness bells, breaking – and adding to the stillness, the gentle drift of snow………
But today, the teacher shared with us what everything stood for.The woods, the horse, the miles to go, the sleep.
They all had hidden meanings’.
If you have the opportunity next weekend do come out and rediscover the flame of poetry. Come for the day to beautiful McGregor. Relax in front of a log fire with a glass of our local wine, and enjoy the company of poets. Do you write poems ?Bring them along to a workshop or our Open Mic sessions.Don’t worry about measuring up to other writers. No one has the same genetic makeup, the same life experiences as you. No one sees the world quite the way you do, or can express it in quite the same way. You are already the world’s foremost expert on you!
Our bilingual Festival programme has something for everyone. Poetry walks in the garden at Temenos, installations and exhibitions, events and workshops for children and teenagers, passionate discussions on poetry, Music and poetry and much, much more. Visit our website at www.temenos.org.za for more details. Tickets are available at the door.
On a personal note I will have the privilege of presenting to lovers of the erotic and the mystical, the exquisite Song of Solomon. Friends who know me well know I enjoy nothing more than sitting in the Little Way with my head on the eastern wall reading the book that inspired the poets of the Western mystical traditional. You are welcome to come and share the passion. See you in McGregor.
With love
Billy
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