• by Su’ur Su’eddie Vershima Agema

The Nottingham Poetry Festival 2024, held from the 7th to the 16th of June across various libraries in the city, featured amazing events. However, attending them all was always going to be daunting with the conflicting events and more importantly, the busyness of one’s schedules. With lots of hopping across the globe in virtual commitments and performances, work, daddying, and trying to catch my breath, I decided to attend at least one event and convinced my accomplice, AP @andrewpatience, to join me. We compromised on attending the PoGo (Poetry on the Go) session at the Strelley Road Library and one other event. After checking my schedule and the unbooked events, I chose Poetry Portraits by Fabrice Gagos as my second event. Who wouldn’t want their photos taken? The two events were beautiful and worth every second of the time we spent there. For Friday the fourteenth, after some work and checking out the awesome City Library, I amended my planned reading for PoGo and headed to the Strelley Road Library. Despite leaving on time, the heavy traffic made the journey slow. I arrived just in time and met Joshua Passey, a.k.a. Josh, the library official in charge, whom I had previously corresponded with via email. I kept looking out for AP, whose journey was even slower. After some waiting, the event began. We were introduced to the PoGo project – you really should check them out on the Play Store and their website. Our MC for the evening was the amiable Abigail Hutchinson, who launched the event with her poem, ‘To the Kids I Get to Guide.’ AP arrived, and we enjoyed the second performance by the graceful Meri Brooks, who offered a fine rendition of her poem, ‘Learning to Read,’ a coming-of-age hopeful piece that ends with the mature stance of the poet persona: “In a world where so many voices sound loud enough to shake tears from my eyes/I can look to you and hear your warmth, and my shoulders unknot themselves./And so, I know,/Matter not where I go,/Your Love will surround me/Through high and through low.” In many ways, the poem showed things in everyday life people might take for granted, those things that eventually make us who we are, that strengthen us and gave us the audacity to face the challenges that life always throws at us. Simone the Poet took us on a nature course with her poem, ‘Ode to Loona Lovegood.’ In her introduction, she referenced Harry Potter. Her poem had a Mary Oliver feel, with imagery evoking flowery sensations, even from the first lines that speak of ‘cherry blossom and cinnamon/pink clouds and kargles/dark blue fairy dust and salty glare…’ The poem speaks of light spreading cheer to the soul, addressing a light that sacrifices much and cultivates grace. In the end, there’s the question of what will grow out of all the beauty sown and its effects on the addressed. Abiodun Abdul took the final spot before half-time, reading a poem about finding language in a strange place, in a compartment on a train. It was lovely to hear her poem spiced with Yoruba lines, which she generously translated. The poem explored being on a journey in a foreign land and catching one’s language in diverse ways. It reminded me of a time I had been on a trip in a public vehicle, with two women passengers having a very blue conversation of their lives in Tiv, not knowing I was a member of their ethnic group! We had a tea break and some social time. I quickly made connections with Meri and Simone, who shared their works with me too. I mingled with the other guests, had some conversations, then took tea and a brief bathroom break before it was time for the second half of our readings. MC Abigail re-started events with her poem, ‘Phase 2,’ a brilliant poem on humanity written after ‘Phase 1’ by Dilruba Ahmed. Like Dilruba’s, there was the continuous refrain of ‘I forgive you’ for the many things that the persona accuses the addressed of. The final stanza gives an idea of a final forgiveness that might have made the addressed do most of what was they did, an inability to forgive the person’s self first. The poem called for deep reflection and made me think on how hurting people hurt, but the power we have to make a decision to end that cycle by forgiveness. I was called up next and I part read, part performed a poetised version of ‘Simply Mortal,’ a piece I had written many years ago inspired by Aunty Pat, Uncle Mark, and Verun, which is meant to appear in my forthcoming short story collection, A Maze of Fading Touches. It was funny that the opening lines coincided with the pouring rains outside: ‘The heavens cried is always a cliché till you stay by a loved one’s bed, the twin rivulets running down your cheeks…’ I had fun reading but was happy to sit back down and enjoy the readings that followed. Annie Cross read her poem, ‘Driving with My Brother,’ about family, especially the relationship between a brother and sister, loosely autobiographical. Annie’s reading had depth, and you could almost see her brother and witness their relationship through her gentle words until she finished. Josh read a poem by Connor Brown, which gave us a few laughs. It nearly made me ask why he didn’t read one of his own! They almost didn’t call AP, but after reminding Josh I had pre-registered her to read, she was called up. She read a powerful poem she had written during her time in America, a poem reminiscent of Maya Angelou’s works on identity and femininity, especially ‘Phenomenal Woman’. The poem was inspired by an event during her time in America, an interaction with a man who was curious about her accent and her origins. This triggered several thoughts that gave birth to the poem.  The summation was to call her who she was, all she had been through, that defies any pigeonholing of place. ‘I come from everywhere, I come from nowhere… I am not my body… Do not ask me where I come from, ask me who I am and I will tell you like God, I AM and SO ARE YOU’… Her energy shook the room, and everyone’s hands came together in appreciation. With all said and done, Abigail wrapped up the readings with her last poem, ‘It’s a Joy to be Heard and a Disaster Not to be Found.’ It was time to leave for another event, and there were several to choose from: Where I Belong at the Lakeside Arts, University of Nottingham; Linton Kwesi Johnson at Metronome; Eat Your Words at New Art Exchange; The Re-Return of the Fighting Nightingales and their More Talented Friends. The general party, led by Abigail, elected to go to ‘Speak Easy,’ hosted by the beautiful folks at Bad Betty Press. They soon left while AP and I stayed to look at an exhibition of Muslim Women in Nottingham displayed throughout the library. We took a few pictures as I curated the experience for her. Naturally, I took her fine pictures, and she took some not-so-great ones of me. We laughed and discussed various things, including our current partnerships and future collaborations. In the end, we too had to leave to attend to the other parts of our lives, mainly the domestic demands calling for our attention… The next day, I was able to catch up with Fabrice Gagos just at the tail end of the day, somewhere at The Carousel. He was in the company of the fine artist and poet, umbilica.songs [you should check them both on Instagram]. Though he had closed shop, he decided to give me a photoshoot – and boy, did I look good in those shots! I can’t wait to get them and pepper people 😉 As that went on, I got umbilica.songs to take us some pictures and she did a brilliant job. We gisted a bit after everything, then I was on my way out to find my way back to life! Overall, the experience was enriching and inspiring, leaving me with a deep appreciation for the poetry community and the creative energy that filled the two events I attended – from the poetry to the poems. A heartfelt thank you to all the poets, organizers, and attendees for making these events memorable at the Nottingham Poetry Festival. Hopefully, when next this season blesses me in this city or anywhere else as I traverse virtual and physical avenues, there will be far more to enjoy, and record.

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