A poetic punch

THE flavour of Bahrain’s entertainment scene is growing richer, this month, with the performance of international slam poet Taylor Mali.

On invitation from St Christopher’s School, Taylor Mali, four-time US National Poetry Slam champion and former president of Poetry Slam Incorporation, will treat Bahrain to his debut public performance in the kingdom next Wednesday, October 24, at St Christopher’s Junior School in Saar.

Slam poetry is the competitive art of performance poetry that places a lot of emphasis on audiences who are allowed to jeer or cheer as they deem fit. It was established in the mid-80s to encourage public interest.

Competitions and acts are organised in cafes and bars where original works of poets are judged by members of the audience and a jury for content and performance. Competing poets are not allowed to use props, costumes or musical instruments and the ideal time encouraged for every poem is three minutes.

Mr Mali’s passions lie in teaching and performing poetry. He said: “I write because I can – because I know how – and I’m pretty sure I do it well. I love words and I want to spread that love.”

At graduate school he discovered that he loved to teach and became a “vocal advocate of teachers and the nobility of teaching”.

Mr Mali spent nine years of his life as a classroom teacher. Today, he is a full-time poet and spends his time travelling around the globe as a spoken-word and voice-over artist and conducting teaching workshops.

Mr Mali developed ‘Teacher! Teacher!’ – a one-man show about poetry, teaching, and maths – that went on to win the ‘Jury Prize’ for best solo performance at the 2001 US Comedy Arts Festival and was recently showcased for the NBC network in America and at the HBO Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, California.

Mr Mali has authored What Learning Leaves (Hanover Press) and cut two CDs entitled Poems from the Like Free Zone and The Difference between Left and Wrong. 

His credits include the honour of being one of the principal subjects in Paul Devlin’s 1997 film documentary SlamNation and the recipient of the Golden Earphones Award for children’s narration for the audio CD of The Great Fire.

Tickets to his performance are available at St Christopher’s Senior School, Isa Town and the Goodlife Gallery, Budaiya.

An exclusive poem for Bahrain by Taylor Mali

Can you write a poem for a place you’ve never been?

 Remind Bahrain that we beat them in soccer in 2005

and made it to the World Cup finals for the first time ever!

says Roger, who is from Trinidad

(so you will have to forgive him).

I tell him I will do no such thing

while in Bahrain (even though I just have).

Mary tells me Bahrain is a city in Iraq,

but she is American (so you’ll have to forgive her).

I think there was a big battle there,

she adds.

Most Americans don’t know other countries exist

until our President goes to war with them

or puts them on the list of countries

who sponsor terrorism.

Teach me how to write in Arabic

Forgive me for my President

and I will wear it on a tee shirt.

Teach me how to say, I am from Canada.

I want to write a poem about peace,

about an environmentally sustainable world,

about justice and universal literacy.

But can you write a poem for a place you’ve never been?