Fluent in both Vol. 1 - 25th August

Fluent in both Vol. 1

25th August

Boavista restaurant

Nottingham

 

I ventured out,

Upon the early afternoon

Head entombed deep in thought,

playing rocking tunes.

To embark on a journey

that would take me

far and wide,

across vast landscapes

and never-ending countryside.

in giant metal beasts

that carved across the land.

To a little place called Nottingham.

 

In a busy, vibrant Portuguese cafe

outside Nottingham city centre,

We were treated to a new poetry event.

Hosted by friend of Get Mouthy, Hilario.

The night promised us 4 headline acts

and open mic, with a blend of poetry and music.

And it delivered.

 

The cafe was a buzz,

a lovely family feel

to the occasion,

there is clearly

a lot of love in the room.

Portuguese food was coming

Fresh out of the kitchen.

And slowly the buzz became a roar.

The energy was contagious,

everyone was happy to be there.

eating and drinking

sharing stories, connecting.

 

After a few minor technical glitches

which were handled swiftly and professionally,

Hilario took the mic,

and introduced us to fluent in both.

 

Fluent in both was started

as a way to give people

a chance to share their poetry

in their home language,

as well as in English.

This is a beautiful thing,

showing that you don't necessarily

have to understand the words,

to feel the emotion held within them.

 

Then asked if anyone wanted to take the mic,

So, I took the sacrificial first poem.

Giving a reading of my poem "even darkness"

*Shameless plug

available in my book in shadows,

end of shameless plug*

 

The night was to be split

into a couple of open micers

then a Headliner then break, 4 times.

This gave everyone that wanted to read a chance,

but also, enough time to socialise.

So, Hilario took off his host hat

and put on the poetry hat,

and gave us a great set,

with a mix of English and Portuguese.

Some laughs, some deeply emotional pieces.

 

Attila was the second Headliner

And this guy was brilliant,

reading his poems

in both Hungarian and English.

Both languages offered something

unique to each poem,

the sound of the words

when delivered in Hungarian was beautiful,

and made everyone stop and just admire.

 

The next Headliner was Davina Songbird,

who I've had the pleasure of seeing at some-antics,

and always delivers a powerful performance.

She gives us a blend of singing and Poetry,

Her voice is strong and soulful,

rumbling through the room,

pulling up a chair

and demanding that you listen to it.

Her poems are often

connected to the songs,

so, give a different take

on the same story or feeling.

 

We ended the night with

the amazing Parisa East,

and again, I had seen her perform before,

but when people are this good

that is a true joy.

She also gave us music and Poetry,

Her music is soulful, jazzy,

with a voice that sounds

like a sultry hot day

giving you a hug.

Absolutely beautiful.

It was also the day before her birthday,

so, the crowd erupted into song,

singing happy birthday,

as a cake was brought out

from the kitchen in surprise.

Another moment of pure family love.

 

I apologise for not commenting

on the open micers,

it was a new crowd to me,

so didn't get names for them.

But we had a great mix,

definitely some that

I'd like to see again.

and it is a wonderful thing,

being able to take the mic

and guide the audience into

a world they may not know.

it takes a lot of nerves,

and everyone did brilliantly.

 

All in all, this was

a beautiful evening of art,

culture, shared humanness and warmth.

Well worth the journey.

And well done to Hilario

for building it

and here is hoping

it has a big future.

 

Thanks to 

@Hilthepoet

@fluentinboth

@restaurant.boavista

and to all the poets and performers 

for an excellent night, 

and for being warm and welcoming.

Please support the local arts scene, 

try to get along to any events and support the artists,

without audiences these events cant grow, 

like flowers need the nouishment of the sun and rain,

artists also need the nourishment to blossom

and for events to fully bloom.

Peace, Love & Poetry

Kyle

Get Mouthy 2

 

Get Mouthy 2 

21st August 2023

 

So here we are,

with our second night

of the relaunched

Get Mouthy

and things

just keep getting bigger.

 

We had a beautiful turnout.

Full of lots of new faces,

and some of the familiar ones,

we have grown to love.

We managed to fill

all of our open mic spaces,

which is truly a wonderful thing.

It's the people that perform

that make the night what it is, not us.

 

First a massive thank you

to my co-host, Carolina,

who travelled back from Portugal

early on in the day, and managed to host

with her usual bright and sparkling style,

with barely any sleep.

And thank you to The Big Difference

for giving us the space to share all of this.

 

So opening proceedings

we had a Get Mouthy regular, Maria.

Who owned the stage,

she kept everyone listening

and shared some beautiful words.

Next, we had two comedians,

Jack and Joseph, which is something

we haven't had before but brought

a bit of humour to the mix.

 

Jo who was also new to Get Mouthy,

gave us two pieces, one about gardening

that had some laughs and some great lines.

and a second about the national trust,

which was a great piece of political poetry.

Our friend Hilario, from Fluent in Both

(Check out their night in Nottingham)

was up next and gave us two brilliant pieces, 

delivered perfectly and smoothly.

Then we had another get Mouthy regular, Harmony, 

giving probably the best performance I've heard from her.

 

We had a short break whilst drinks were purchased,

and we got a chance to mingle

 to get to know some of the new faces, 

and reconnect with ones we hadnt seen in a while.

Already it feels like we are building

a community feeling, which is exactly

what we are aiming for with Get Mouthy,

making everyone feel comfortable.

A safe environment to share our hearts,

minds, passions and our love.

To be able to support and nurture each other,

and watch as we all grow individually

like trees, but also collectively, like a forest.

 

After the break 

we welcomed our first headline 

act of the new era,

and I couldn’t have been happier 

with our choice. 

with some poets it's about theatrics, 

but Nancy Dawkins 

is more subtle than that, 

it’s just about perfectly chosen words 

delivered flawlessly, cleanly.

Her poetic stories/visions draw you in, 

like a warm fire on a cold winters’ night.

Seriously if you haven't had a chance

 to see/hear her poetry, 

then get down to a night 

that she is performing 

and just let her words take you away.

She has a mastery of words that is majestic,

it leaves you mesmerised 

like she is casting spells to entrap you in your seat.

You just can't look away. You can't listen to anything else,

it all just blurs away until you are just there in her words

seeing the vivid images, she describes.

Absolutely brilliant.

Also check her out in her other role as musician,

which is also amazing.

 

After this we had Rowan,

who was someone new to me,

but gave a great piece and opened

the second half perfectly.

Rhean who I've seen a few times now

and is still new to the stage

but is owning it every time they

take their place on the mic.

 

 

Jeet was another new face,

but one I hope we see more of.

Kim really involved the audience,

using us as a human soundboard,

creating a backing ambience to her poem.

Which was both brilliant and funny.

John Constantine was next up,

Some-Antics' house magician,

who also manages

to pull some great poetry out of the hat.

 

Next, we welcomed back the original

Get Mouthy founder, Samantha,

and it was great to see her

and for her to see her creation

starting to blossom.

She gave an amazing performance

of her poem, that had everyone

in the room feeling the emotion. Powerful.

Nakisha another Get Mouthy regular

gave us a powerful poem

about sexual assault

and the importance

of consent and education.

Then to round things off

I gave a poem about sweets,

and we read our communal poem.

And that was a wrap.

 

All in all, a brilliant night,

We had heart wrenching poetry,

Fun sweet poetry,

important message poetry

and all of the emotions inbetween.

We had our first comics

taking the stage,

and we had an

incredible performance

from Nancy Dawkins.

Met some new faces

who hopefully will become regulars,

connected with people

and shared some amazing poetry.

 

 

And a huge thank you

to all of the audience members,

poets, supporters and friends that turned up,

and to all of those that donated,

without your generosity

we wouldn't be able to afford

to have feature acts, etc.

 

Our next event is 11th Sept

with Cathi Rae as our headline act,

another night not to be missed.

 

Peace, Love & Poetry

Kyle.