Poets to sizzle PACOFS

Plans to publish an anthology of all poems to be recited at the sessions are also in the pipelines

Last week Thursday marked the beginning of the Bloom Poetry Movement night sessions where poets from Bloemfontein gather and share the spoken word.

The Bloom Poetry Movement is a poetry group that has taken the initiative to enhance poetry as a form of art. The poetry night, as it is referred to, is the brainchild of Serame Makhele, known to many as ‘Icebound’.

Speaking to The Weekly, Makhele, who is also a co-founder of Colourful Poetry Nites, said the initiative was the beginning of many nights with his fellow writers.

“This is a vision of bringing together all Free State spoken-word practitioners, literature activists, writers and poets under one umbrella.”

Recently, the movement has collaborated with the Performing Arts Centre of Free State (PACOFS) to host poetry sessions fortnightly. The first session was held on May 30 and it proved to be successful.

About 20 poets participated in the open-mic session which captivated an audience of more than 50 people.

The poets included Hape Mokhele, a young female artist who came all the way from Odendaalsrus.

Other performers who are regulars at spoken-word sessions included published author, Hector Kunene; a young Sesotho prophet and a poet known to many as Ntate Thabo.

The group also plans to publish an anthology of all poems performed during the sessions.

“All poets who regularly perform on this platform will automatically be part of Bloom Poetry Movement and their works will be published in an anthology of poems meant for next year,” said Makhele.

He said their aim was to host a Bloem Poetry Festival in the near future.

“We hereby humbly call on companies, departments and individuals with necessary resources to come to the party as stakeholders in this initiative.”

The next session will be held next week Thursday at PACOFS’ Workshop Theatre. Entry is free.