Posts tagged ‘poetry’
More K’naan goodness – free download
Posted on | August 20, 2009 | No Comments
“I sometimes channel Robert Nesta up above.” I had mentioned in my previous review of K’naan’s work that there was more than a little Marley in his voice and words. Now teamed with J.Period (DJ/producer for Lauryn Hill, The Roots, Kanye West, Q-Tip and Mary J. Blige), he drops the first three tracks of a new mixtape release channeling and interpreting Fela Kuti, Bob Marley and Bob Dylan. Full of great rhymes and fabulous, familiar music, these three tracks explore what meaning the music of the previous generation’s musician-messengers holds for today’s MC. Love the references to Google and Nova Scotia. You can always tell a smart Canadian’s on the mic when those two appear in the same song less than 30 seconds apart :)
Poem: tibet
Posted on | January 28, 2009 | No Comments
to tibet she thinks where it is quiet
i wish to sit in a little cell of stone and gold
my clothes and things would not be important
and i would listen to the birds in my heart
to decide
why i always choose the wrong man
to decide
if i want to recluse myself forever
but i’m not sure she thinks i want
to carry on searching to find
a little cell of stone and gold
inside me one day
one day she says i’m going to tibet
Poem: [what remains ...]
Posted on | January 27, 2009 | No Comments
what remains
is a certain feeling
an aridity a lawless guilt
some unsung heroes in the quiet
the midmorning after you
gunned me down with your love
took me in your arms
and pressed so tight
what was then
i;
the silent white smoke
from the tips of your fingers
you blew away with a smile
warmly you touched me
on the chest
when i got cold and shivered
at you
you spoke the last words
i will ever grasp
that is
what remains
Poetry
Posted on | January 27, 2009 | No Comments
Between 1990 and 1995, I wrote poetry. Drawn to finding a creative outlet during a time of newfound English language proficiency, I stumbled upon a group of Cape Town poets organized by Peter Horn, then professor of German at UCT (where I was studying). Peter had impeccable political, academic and writing credentials, and had put together a poetry circle that met at his house in the Cape Town suburb of Lansdowne once every month or so. So, faithfully, my friends Rustum, Joy (an American exchange student) and I drove out to Lansdowne in my rickety white Golf with the 1.6 Litre Jetta engine and the bad brakes. On the way, we smoked cigarettes, listened to music and brought our own wine when we could afford it.
At Peter and Annette’s house, 6-10 writers regularly congregated as the “Lansdowne Local.” Originally conceived as a ‘local’ chapter of the Congress of South African Writers (COSAW), my memory now suggests that it may never have been formally constituted as such, probably because politics, though ever-present (these were heady times in South Africa), were never the primary reason to meet and read. I met a number of past, present and future luminaries of the South African literary scene and was lucky to have them listen to my often meager novice attempts at writing poems. I wrote and wrote and wrote… after realizing, through Peter’s thoughtful mentoring, that writing creatively was 90% sweat. You had to show up and do the work.
Reading in front of others was initially hard but became easier after the first few successes. Poets are a welcoming lot, and the encouraging words from people who wrote much better than I helped me a lot. I was published in a few “Landsdowne Local” anthologies, small publications created on Peter’s then cutting-edge personal computer and printed locally (university printers, undoubtedly).
In 1994, I moved away and stopped being part of the small community that supported and encouraged me. So I stopped writing poetry. Simple as that.
Lately, I have found a few of my old poems, dusty and hidden under layers of digital debris, strewn across the far reaches of the Internet. Two were posted by myself almost exactly 15 years ago in rec.arts.poems. The Wayback Machine has a few more, published by Peter on a no-longer-there version of UCT’s website. I must have 3.5″ floppy disks with many more on them somewhere. Of course, I don’t have a floppy disk drive anymore, so it’s anyone’s guess if I’ll ever be able to retrieve them (or whether the disks would still work after all these years in storage).
I’ll post one or two of the better ones from 15 years ago here. And maybe I’ll write some new ones one of these days.
Shane Koyczan
Posted on | January 11, 2008 | No Comments
This guy is awesome. He’s the most inspiring poet I’ve read/heard in a long time. I don’t follow poetry much anymore. I used to write it and now I think I want to, again.
(Direct URL: http://youtube.com/watch?v=yjjKchi7DWQ)
Shane’s first book is also incredible – I find that his performances are often very fast (though he also has great ‘flow’ to use that hip hop term, so they’re a joy to listen to or watch) and having the book helps me appreciate the words.
(Direct URL: http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0973813105/)
Link to Shane’s MySpace, where he showcases some tracks recorded with a band called The Short Story Long.
Recent Posts on Changebowl, Carsten’s other blog- Playing around with Ontario electoral geography August 11, 2010
- HelTweetica for iPad July 20, 2010
- Facebook privacy & digital NIMBY July 19, 2010
- What we can learn from gear porn May 31, 2010
- Are creativity and intellectual property rights inversely proportional? May 27, 2010
- Comparing the tech giants May 2, 2010
- Corporate applications and content on smartphones March 21, 2010
About
Carsten Knoch
Attentive music listener, reader, vegetarian, affordable audio hobbyist, software and services professional, vision enabler, instigator, product manager, marketer, thinker, writer, blogger, tinkerer, Internet dweller since 1992
Teabowl is my blog about music, vegetarian food, books, art and life.
Teabowl's sister blog Changebowl discusses technology, community, design and business.
