Tag der Poesie in Basel (Poetry Day)14.9.2013

By: aromaproductions on 5:58 AM

Share it Please

Tweet

Tag der Poesie in Basel (Poetry Day)14.9.2013

On September 14, 2013, I was invited by Andrew Shields, an American poet and lecturer at the University of Basel, to share the podium with him at the annual Poetry Day in Basel. 

Andrew Shield reading his poems

We were the only English speaking readers present, but gladly shared the stage with Basel’s finest poets.



Althea Romeo-Mark reading selected poems
 

 

 

 

 

 

Reading were performed in categories, poets, musical poets (poets reading with musical accompaniment) and slam poets who went on a marathon of words to share their political satire.



Roger Monnerat, Stephan Anastasia Musikalische Poesie



 

 

 

 

Isabelle Schaub Lesung

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniela Dill, Manuel Diener, Micha Ebeling Poetry Slam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniela Dill, Manuel Diener, Micha Ebeling Poetry Slam



Daniela Dill, Manuel Diener, Micha Ebeling Poetry Slam

The event, which started at 10:00 a.m. and finished at 5:00 p.m., was held at different venues in and around the Middle-Aged, Münster Cathedral. It is organized by Alisha Stöcklin.

Not only were books by the reading poets on sale, there were also delicious spread of food on offer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Despite the day non-stop rain on a cold day, the poets did not abandon their fervor to share their work with the audience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were all grateful that people turned up despite the cold rainy day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a wonderful experience.  I read poems from The Stories of Immigrants which are part of my upcoming manuscript entitled, THE NAKEDNESS OF NEW.

 

Casting Off Shack

I.                  River of Fear

 

Rivers spawn in us

palpitating hearts:

we go swimming,

we go fishing

never to return.

 

Capsized boats are pulled

into the Nigi world.

West African mothers warn

that rivers are for the strong,

the brave, those initiated into

the realm of cultural secrets.

Invisibly armed, only the learned

can repel the advancing

armies of river people.

 

II.               Ocean of Death

White men,

on ominous vessels,

cruise West African shores,

capture our kin.

Now prisoners on their ships,

we watch them melt

into the horizon.

 

Chained and beaten,

heartbroken,

many succumb to death,

some rebel and

are tossed overboard

into the Atlantic

to become food for fish.

 

Enslaved on New World plantations,

shorn of language and culture,

they are forever lost,

and left with fear of water,

known to most as the giver of life.

 

III.           Ancestral Warnings

 

There are those who

test their manhood,

flirt with mermaids,

the colluders of Nigis,

learn to recklessly dive

for pennies tossed by tourist.

 

They become our fishermen

whose conch shells call us to shore

to a feast of yellowtail and snapper,

but many heed a Caribbean mother’s warning,

”if God wanted them to swim

He would have given them gills.

 

IV.             Breaking Chains

 

We, children of

Africa and the Caribbean,

flounder when in rivers and oceans,

we succumb to folklore and horrific history,

are fettered by ingrained fear.

We must shed this shackle.

 

*Nigi-In Liberian folklore, they are the underworld spirit/people who inhabit rivers

Copyrighted (c) Althea Romeo-Mark 2013

 

Tag der Poesie in Basel. Das Programm:

Bühne:
10:00 Alisha Stöcklin, Eröffnung
10:30 Roger Monnerat, Stephan Anastasia Musikalische Poesie
11:00 Christoph Mangold, Lesung
11:30 René Regenass Lesung
12:00 Isabelle Schaub Lesung
12:30 Andrew Shields, and his guest, Althea Romeo­Mark Lesung
13.15 Daniela Dill, Manuel Diener, Micha Ebeling Poetry Slam
14.15 Daniela Dill, Manuel Diener Poetry Slam
15.15 Daniela Dill, Manuel Diener Poetry Slam
16:30 Roger Monnerat, Stephan Anastasia Musikalische Poesie
17:00 Alisha Stöcklin, Abschluss

Kreuzgang Münster
13.30 Claudia Sutter Lesung
14.30 Claudia Sutter Lesung
15.30 Claudia Sutter Lesung

Münsterturm: (Kosten CHF 2.50)
10.30 Sandra Löwe, Lesung aus:
13.30 Inger Christensen,
“Das Schmetterlingstal” /
14.30 “Sommerfugledalen”

Raum Lesegesellschaft:
10.00 Audio-Wiedergabe
“Das älteste Systemprogramm
des deutschen Idealismus” (Hegel/Hölderlin/Schelling, 1796/97) gelesen von Alexander Tschernek
14.00 Svenja Herrmann Lesung
15.00 Johanna Lier Lesung
16.00 Ingrid Fichtner Lesung

Die Veranstaltungen sind kostenlos.

Ausgenommen Kosten für die Münsterturmbesteigung. (Anmeldung am Veranstaltungstag erforderlich; beim Büchertisch der Bachletten Buchhandlung von Matthyas Jenny; Bezahlung bei Anmeldung.)


http://www.tagderpoesie.ch