Darkroom rhymes

Wouldn’t it be great if you could read out your poetry to others without worrying about stage fright Well, now you can at the Blind Poetry session at the Hive. This is the first endeavour of More than Mics, a poetry initiative by 17-year-old Aranya Johar and 16-year-old Prachi Mashru, two friends who wanted to give a platform to up-and-coming poets in the city. The idea behind the initiative is that a session completely in the dark will help more people come out of their shell and share their verses.

“I’m quite shy and spoken word poetry was just a dream until my English teacher made me write and perform a poem in class,” says Prachi. “If I’d had a platform like this, maybe I would have come out and started performing sooner.” The event will have a number of amateur poets performing their pieces in the dark. The audience will show their appreciation by waving glow sticks, making the event somewhat of a mini-concert for each performer.”

The spotlight will shine for a moment on the special guest of the evening, 17-year-old Shruti Ghosh, who has been in the performance poetry scene for a year. “The aim is not to give the audience members big names but great content instead,” says Aranya. “We provide people more than just a stage for performing; we want them to be able to better themselves.”

Another reason why the two friends have taken up the endeavour is because most spoken-word poets still read out their poems. “It really limits their capability for expression,” says Aranya. “During most poetry slams abroad, you have people performing their pieces with a lot of dramatisation which you just can’t do if you are holding your poem and reading it.”

More than Mics plans to organise several more blind poetry sessions in future and also host sessions delving into the fields of experimental theatre and comedy.

Blind Poetry is taking place today, 7 pm onwards at The Hive, Khar (W)