Today on My Poetic Side we bring you three stories: a poetry reading at a railway station, a cross-cultural play written by a poet, and a Holocaust memorial poetry competition.

Poet Takes Part in Poetry Reading at Railway Station

On Friday, 1^st December, the poet Lemn Sissay took part in a rather unusual poetry reading at St Pancras International Station. The event was organised by Hatchards, the bookstore near their St Pancras store, as part of a celebration of the station’s literary Christmas tree.

Sissay is currently promoting his new book “Let the Light Pour In”, which is a collection of some of the best short poems he has written over the course of the last decade. Every morning, he has made it a habit to create a short poem at daybreak. The resultant collection is life-affirming, full of wonder and witty and offers a look at the poet’s own battles with the dark.

Cross-Cultural Exchange and Cooperation Celebrated by International Stage Production

A collaborative effort between theatre artists from Spain, Japan and China will celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of Chinese and Spanish diplomatic relations. The production, which is titled “Silence in Bloody Wedding”, is the highlight of the current Create Theatre of China Theatre Festival and will be taking place from the 14^th to the 16th of December. The production is based on a Frederico Lorca play. Lorca is renowned for his profound understanding of human nature and his artistic flair and is known as the “Shakespeare of Spain” for his writing, which includes both poetry and plays.

This is a 90-minute production which tells the tale of a tragic love story. There are a number of different artistic disciplines incorporated into the play, including a live guitar performance, singing, theatre, and flamenco, all of which help it to transcend language barriers.

This is the 10^th occasion on which the Vertebra Theatre, which is Shaghai-based, has collaborated on an international basis and the first time that a contemporary theatrical production has been produced as a result of collaboration between Spain and China. The director is Japanese.

During 2022, an eight-day workshop took place in which the director worked with the theatre company to test the potential of the play for cross-cultural expressiveness. As a result of this, he has blended improvised songs and dances into the final production in a process that he likens to cooking with a number of different ingredients.

In the New Year, the play will move to Spain, where it will be staged at the Teatro Espanol in Madrid.

Holocaust Memorial Poetry Competition Opens

This year will mark the second year of the poetry competition that was set up as a reminder of the horrors that have taken place in the past and a reminder of the lessons that need to be learnt. This year, the theme is “The Fragility of Freedom”.

The competition is only open to those who live or work in Salisbury, and the judges will pick two poems from each category, which will be read during an event that will take place at the end of January.