Drawn 12 June 2013

City

Of Poetry

International

I am drawn

& cycle towards

The epicentre

Of the

Wordshake

Earthquake

I am an

Activist poet

& guerrilla style

Operation

I put up a

Dozen poems

Albeit

In the wrong place

Spontaneity before preparation

I convince myself

That the 24th

Annual Meeting of the European

Society of Paediatric and

Neonatal Intensive Care

(ESPNIC)

Needs poetry as

Much as the next

Guy &

Maybe even more

So

After a 30 minute

Wait in the lobby

I find out that the

Hub of words hummed

By poetry prophets

Is right across

The street in the

Theatre

So

I up & walk over

No more poem posters

In bag

& as I promise myself to

Return tomorrow

To put up some more

Poems on the

City’s walls

I walk in

Showing that I belong here

& display my

Two books

&

When the announcer

-akin to a department

Store promoting its

Latest sales over its

PA

With a preceding ding

Dong ding –

Informs that the readings

Are about to begin

I too go in

& tonight I am in

The presence of

Equals

Elke Erb & Roland Jooris

Reading poetry in

Rotterdam

I stand out from

The audience in that

I have taken a door

That leads to an unseated

Area & a lonely

Camera operator

Live streaming the event

To the world

I am a poet

I don’t need to pay

To shower myself with

The poems of my peers

Interval time

Another display of my books

At a table where I am

Accompanied mere minutes

Later by an anthropological

Student &

Two literature

Students

The anthropologist to be

Strikes up a conversation

With me &

She asks me about how I

Experienced the readings &

About where I live &

What I read &

Whether I will do a

Reading of my own

Work

Etc etc

A pleasant exchange

Chance meeting of

Spoken words

Vs the written ones

I am present

Right where I should be

For it is my

Duty to be

Out there

Interacting &

Observing &

Taking in &

Spitting out

When I am

Heading toward my

Trusted bike to

Head home I feel

The cooling drizzle

& see how the

Anti-gravitational pull

Of the fountain that

Is there on

Theatre Square

Is stronger

Than the opposite

One

The rain drops fall

Yet the water that

Spouts up from

Street level in the

Air a good six

Feet high

Draws this girl

Nearer

Interested

Wet

Warm

A pleasant smile

Upon her young face