By the time “The Genesis” poetry and spoken word event was started in Eldoret town, my online poetry platform, “Eldoret Poets Association” was only about six months old. The organizers of The Genesis approached me for partnership and seeing the prospects of expanding the artistic space in Eldoret, I agreed. We went ahead to stage monthly poetry and spoken word events in different venues within Eldoret town.
Being the first one of its kind in Eldoret and a totally new and unique event, the response, at first, was not quite impressive but with time, residents of Eldoret started thronging our events. The poets and spoken word artists who used to perform at The Genesis had one little problem though. They complained that The Genesis, being strictly a Christian poetry event, did not give them enough freedom to express themselves. They were being limited to Christian verses while they wanted to write about anything and everything.
This led to the formation of “One-night Stand,” a bold and fierce monthly Poetry and spoken word event. This event was popular for its boldness in both written and spoken pieces. It drew a larger audience with guest performing poets coming from as far as Nairobi, Kisumu, Nakuru and Kitale.I was privileged to be one of the founders and organizers of ONS as it was popularly referred to. I was among the panel to select and review the pieces to be performed at ONS.Many poets and spoken word artists would submit their poems and spoken word pieces but due to time limit (the event only lasted for four hours), only a few pieces would be selected by the judging panel.
There was a trend I noticed while the poets and spoken word artists were on stage. When a poet was performing a well-scripted poetry piece, he or she got a very dull response from the audience. Whether he was reciting his poem off-head or reading from a paper, all he could manage to get at the end of his performance were a few clumsy hand claps. This was not the case when a spoken word artist performing in sheng’ went on stage. The audience came alive. They would give thunderous claps every time the artist unleashed a “punch line” and at the end of the performance, he or she would get a standing ovation.When the performers noticed this, all of them wanted to do spoken word. Those poets who used to do poetry readings at ONS shied off. They preferred to let the spoken word artist steal the show. They would retreat in a corner and forget about writing poems again since no one appreciated them. Only a few who stayed true to their writing prowess stayed put.
People nowadays are in a hurry to get entertained. They prefer short-lived “punch lines.” They do not want to be bored with deep poetry. They have not time for a poet who gets on stage with a typed poem or a book and goes ahead to read stanza after stanza of a sonnet or a well,structured,standardised poem.No.They want to hear “punch lines” delivered fast in Sheng’ like a comedian delivering “punch lines” at a Churchill Live show. This has made many poets to take a back seat during poetry, spoken word events and watch their spoken word counterparts take all the trophies.
This generation of fast internet, fast money and fast foods prefer fast poetry. Something hastily written so long as it has some few “punch lines” here and there. A piece that is unpublishable and that cannot pass the test of time because it was written for the moment. A spoken word piece that was written in Sheng’ a few years ago to parody Dr.Evans Kidero slapping Hon.Shebesh is now obsolete and irrelevant. People are looking for a new and up-to-date “punch line.” Maybe something on the Miguna Miguna saga would do for now. And next week it will become irrelevant and therefore another “punch line” would have to be sought for.
When I relocated to Nairobi and after attending a couple of poetry and spoken word events, I have found out that the situation is the same. The craze for “Punch lines” is killing real poetry in Kenya and it requires a brave heart for a poet to sail through this madness. Many poets are now resorting to online publication and poetry prizes for consolation. Many are running away from stage performances.