Indrani Perera

poet, publisher & mentor

Tag: Poetpre

The Melbourne Spoken Word Prize

On Friday night I headed into town for the extravaganza of words and wit that is the Melbourne Spoken Word Prize. Now in its fifth year, the prize features twenty-five of Melbourne's spoken word artists as nominated by the convenors of the regular poetry gigs held around Melbourne each week. If you're poet, Melbourne is the town to be in. If you don't believe me, head on over to Melbourne Spoken Word to check out the gigs on now.

The Prize was held in the ornate Collingwood Town Hall and filled with a group of chattering poets all keen to see who would take out the prize for Melbourne's best spoken word artist. There were three prizes for the night – Convenors Prize for most nominated poet, the People's Choice Award and the Judges Prize worth a cool $1400.

The poetry community is welcoming, supportive and inclusive. It's a safe space where you can be vulnerable and share your darkest and most painful moments. Going to a spoken word event is like getting a huge hug from all your friends. It was great to be there on Friday night, hearing amazing poetry and catching up with my poetry buddies.

The calibre of the performers was incredible. Their performances were electric. The way they could take a word and make it sing, turn a phrase with a deft ear, flip metaphors on their head and leave you shouting for more. I didn't envy the judges their choice at all. It was hard enough figuring out who to vote for in the People's Choice Award when all the performers were outstanding.

Emilie Collyer asked who I voted for – was it the poet whose language I admired? Or perhaps the one who tugged at my heart strings. Or maybe even the one who surprised and took the poem to unexpected places. I went for the person who moved me most. My stand out performers in a night of stars were Amy Bodossian with her poignant piece and incredible singing. Ren Alessandra with her don't mess with me feminist call to arms. Loran Steinberg with her quiet and compelling voice. Yoram Symons with his call to ad felinity to the divinity. Wahibe Moussa who hit me right in the feels. And Josh Cake for his timely piece about how much time we have left.

In the end it was Tabani Tshuma who won. And when I say won I mean he won all the prizes. The Convenors' Award, The People's Choice and the Judges' Prize. His performance was amazing. Masterful and powerful with an incredible use of language and imagery.

December 9, 2019
Poetry Challenge – Week Thirty-Five

Week 35 words from @poetpre: dazzling, mirror, oasis, constellation and reconnaissance.

the sunlight shimmers

on the surface of the mirage

a dazzling mirror of life

reflecting all you've hidden

– no oasis here

in her eyes reflected

a constellation

yet to be mapped

by a human reconnaissance

~~~~

Here are the words and my poem for the thirty-fifth week of the 2019 Poetry Challenge.

This poem wrote itself. It happens sometimes – the words come and I write them down, a conduit for inspiration and ideas. I'm not sure what it means, I leave that up to you to decipher and decide. This one was a gift and I for one am not questioning my muse or counting horse's teeth. I advise you to do the same should you ever find yourself in my position.

If you want to join the 2019 Poetry Challenge, head on over to my Instagram account (@indraniperera) where I post the words for the week on Mondays (mostly) in my story. Write a poem and post it. Be sure to tag me and use the hashtags #2019poetrychallenge and #livepoetsclub.

If you don't want to write a poem, you can still be part of the 2019 Poetry Challenge. Send me five random words and I'll use them in a poem. Either DM me on Instagram with the words or send me an email (indrani at indraniperera dot com).

Happy writing!

September 6, 2019
Fresh Voices

I've spent the last six weeks alternating between a state of anxiety and excitement. I guess you could call it nervous anticipation. The cause? My first ever feature as a spoken word artist at the Fresh Voices event as part of the Melbourne Spoken Word & Poetry Festival.

When Benjamin Solah of Melbourne Spoken Word asked me to do a fifteen minute set my response was 'Hell, yes!' I couldn't believe Ben had asked me to share the stage with Cat Lee, Thabani Tshuma and Poetpre. These guys have amazing poetry and have won all sorts of spoken words in the last year.

I've only been performing since the beginning of the year and although I dreamed of one day performing a set as a feature, I thought it would be years before that happened. Turned out I was wrong!

Once the excitement wore off however, doubt began to creep into the cracks and corners. Pretty soon it turned into dread. Fifteen whole minutes up on stage. Did I have enough material to make up a fifteen minute set? Was any of it good enough to share with an audience? Could I remember all my poems? What was I going to wear? How was I going to get there? What if no-one liked me and I died of shame?

~ these next photos were taken by Brendan Bonsack, photographer extraordinaire ~

Like most things, it turns out all the energy spent on worrying was a waste. I loved being behind the microphone and speaking to an audience of over 100 people at the North Fitzroy Library. My husband and beautiful girls came along to see my first ever feature and there were lots of friends in the audience too. It was my first time performing in front of them and one of the reasons for my anxiety (what will they all think of this side of me?). The experience of seeing familiar and friendly faces in the audience was incredible. I know I'm a poet but I have no words to describe it.

My friends loved the whole evening and all the open mic performers and other featured artists. It was fabulous to see their appreciation of the spoken word community and to share it with them. Sometimes the things you dread turn out to be the best things of all.

July 18, 2019