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FOR LOVE OF WORDS (FLOW)

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EHALAKASA & FLOW (For Love Of Words) based in Dallas TX USA in partnership with Gold Coast Restaurant presents the INTERNATIONAL SHOWCASE Ghana edition.
This international Showcase has been running actively for the last 9 years. It is a high-powered night of entertainment that features the worlds best Spoken Word Poetry, Live Music and Comedy.
We call it a celebration of the Arts. In the last 3 years FLOW have had the gracious opportunity to produce the show overseas in places like Jamaica, Aruba and Panama.
This October, Saturday 29 EHALAKASA is pleased to be hosting FLOW and some of its top-notch performers here in Accra.
Gate open at 7pm sharp, all road leads to the Gold Coast Restaurant, dress simple and classy and admission is FREE.
KINDLY CALL +233 55 407 4766 and book your seat NOW to avoid ThisAppointMent!

MOZ SLAM 4TH EDITION GRAND FINAL – SPOKEN POETRY BATTLE

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With the aim of bringing together young people and adults from different backgrounds and styles such as poets, writers, musicians, rappers, journalists and students, in recitals that have the active participation of the public, choosing the best performance and presented text.

The Grand Final of the 4th edition of Moz Slam – Batalha de Poesia Falada takes place on October 22, at 2 pm, at Café das Letras (Association of Mozambican Writers).

Twelve (12) finalist poets, selected in the four qualifiers that took place in June, July, August and September, will compete for the first three places of the Moz Slam Grand Final and, as a prize, will have the opportunity to represent Mozambique abroad (championships festivals and poetry festivals).

Throughout the event there will be activities such as book fairs, poetry recitals (open mic), exhibition of services and products related to literature, and the expected Poetry Slam moment, where the following finalists will compete for the first three places:

João Borges | Morgana Ossufo | Benny Parruque | Kirov Alexandre| Túlio Muchanga | Marlen Chauque | Jessica Cristina | Natacha Socre | Gertino Hilário | Luis Ventura | Octavio Raúl | Neyma de Jesus.

Rappers Iveth and Azagaia are the guest artists for the jury.

We will also have the artistic performance of the poets Gonçalves Gonçalo | Ivandro Sigaval | Ema de Jesus | Denise Fazenda, all finalists and the first two winners of past editions.

Dj AD will provide us with moments of music and Matilde Chabana will be the master of ceremonies for this magnificent event.

Moz Slam is a spoken poetry contest based on several rules that involve the performance and original poetry of its participants, a time limited to three (3) minutes for their presentations

EHALAKASA CARAVAN EN ROUTE TO SOLOKO CAFE, HO.

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Another Ehalakasa Community Project. As part of our Creative Social Responsibility, we bring the arts to the people. Using a public address system to address public concerns about the system and bridging the gap, face2face, and Activating Spaces.
Ehalakasa, It lives in us!

Friday, 21st OCTOBER, 2022
7:00PM – 9:00PM GMT
Venue: SOLOKO CAFE, at HO, Volta Region
COME WITH A FRIEND

Το partner/support call 0208251894

#ehalakasa
#ehalakasacaravan
#itlivesinus

Feelings

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I have completely lost everything
Lost everyone
I can’t even tell which is my tears of joy and my pain
And I feel each day like I want something done badly
Like trying to figure out something I don’t even know

I just don’t know what I want
If to be what they want
Or just be the always broken indecisive me…

I know I look really beautiful in makeup and that’s too fake.
I know,
But have you ever seen my eyes without makeup or lenses?
Do you know how many mascaras I buy in a week after coming from washrooms?
Do you have any idea how I struggle to be in my senses?

I smile too much cos it feels like a mask
And when I’m all alone in my room at night, and that heavy mask is off,
my water breaks…
Tears flow on default

If my pain were a school
I swear I’d be a school president and awarded the most punctual
Cos my emotions are always active

I’m not too proud
I just don’t know what I do
I hate to admit that I don’t know who I am

I’m either facing the remix from home
Or cracking up on my life
My head is weighing
My heart is breaking
Pleasant memories fading

And the color of my eyes keeps changing

What Is

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To understand “what is” is divine,
but to fetch and paint into the open “what isn’t” like it was lifeless in the first place is design,

when climbing up the vine to the top is the truthfulness of fakeness,
the fakeness of truthfulness overtly resigns,
leaving out the thin line between lightness and darkness…

visible only to a man insane enough to tell you the loudest noise in a room is nothing more than a whisper,
and then covers tightly under tons of filters, his eardrums,
afraid the silence may sicken it with its loudness:

wild wild visions of a visionary whose life is imagined to fit inside a box which can’t be thought outside of,
cos all he has to show is a toothless wallet and bunches of thoughtfully -beautifully- misplaced words about a world barely barely staying alive or rearing its head from the bud;

a new inspiration has dawned or a mirage just glistened from the rat race and if I may just bring myself to downplay the former whose good fruits seem closer to fantasy than reality,there’s this possibility that after a decade or more’s toil as a slave I might gain some cheese-bite,

eventually, you find yourself caught under sad sodium lamplights in gaze of a boiling pot of “should I just throw in the towel or just keep on keeping on because this abyss of a world needs someone to look it in the soul and write the life of it to life”,

In this lovely place of stillness and terror, the artist learns to embrace the fact his mission isn’t to forge a light because the light has always been there,
lying right amidst the darkness we so want to divorce.

Nassam Writes, What Spoken Word Poetry Means To Me

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Recently, at Joe Biden’s inauguration, there was a poetry recital by a renowned spoken word poet (Amanda Gorman) which caught the eyes of many people across the world.
You probably are familiar with what poems are and might have had the opportunity to recite one too many in your primary school days.

What if I told you that those poems go beyond what you think? poems can be used to send messages, express feelings, and even carry vital and critical information about the origin of a people and also promote peace.

A poem can be used to start a movement, and cause people to raise against oppression and fight for their rights. With poetry, young people like you and me can add our voices to very important issues(education, health, climate change, etc) in our schools, communities, and countries.

By now, I am sure you might be wondering what the difference is (poems, poetry, spoken word) because this here is too much information. Are poems songs or calls to action? Why don’t we try to unpack all these in the following paragraphs?

Poetry is the art of writing poems with the help of some literary devices (alliteration, irony, metaphor, etc ). A poem is any literary piece of writing that is used to evoke a feeling or emotion.

A poem can be written and recited in front of an audience. A poem is not a song. Unlike a song, a poem is recited not sung. A spoken word piece is also a poem meant purposely to be recited to an audience.

A person who writes poems is a poet while someone who does spoken word is an artist, a spoken word artist. Before you get confused keep this at the back of your mind, every spoken word artist is a poet but not every poet is a spoken word artist.

A spoken word artist makes use of literary devices as well but because of the interaction with an audience, he/she might make use of his or her elements to carry a message across. However, a page poet does not get that liberty since his/hers can always be revisited for clarity at any time.

Poetry/poems are really easy to write. All poets do mostly is rhyme and compare their thoughts and experiences with the environment. Eg if I were to compare a country to the earth? I could put it like this;
A country is a fertile soil
Suitable for the growth and development of its people

For one to successfully write poetry, it’s simple. You just need to familiarize yourself with what literary devices you need to write a poem and then with that you can write any poem you envision. you can express your thoughts in diverse ways and by so doing you would be writing poetry and then you can decide if you want to be a page poet, waiting for someone to come and read your work, or a spoken word artist, taking your work to people?

The spoken word for me is the vacuum through which I make my voice heard. As an artist, every time I mount the stage I feel alive. I tap into a completely different world where there is nothing like an impossibility.

I can draw people’s attention to things they would have never imagined and make them appreciate what they have as well as the vulnerabilities that exist around them. I am sometimes able to show them the opportunities that they fail to recognize.

This gives me meaning because if I can see something another person can, the least I can do is show them for that is my one job in this life.

If poetry were to me given the needed attention, our communities would be much better than they currently are. We would have young people paying attention to their environments and making critical and informed decisions regarding their future and sustainability. Ghana would be a much better country.

If young people make poetry a second choice and decided to give it a shot, they would be allowing themselves to see things from different perspectives and allow themselves to try different approaches.

SlamImpulse Series October : A Communal Incubator For The Future Of Performance Poetry in Ghana.

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A Communal Incubator for the future of performance poetry in Ghana.

As part of our responsibility to raise slammers and to see a thriving, sustainable verbal space for the future of poetry slam (competitive poetry) in Ghana, we (Ehalakasa) have in partnership with the Goethe Institut, Accra initiated a full day slam workshop dubbed SlamImpulse. SlamImpulse is intended to serve as a communal incubator for the now generation of poetry and spoken word performers, who want to make moves.

This will be solely to learn the game of slam and to develop the psychology and skill of playing it. All your questions and worries about poetry slam and or slam poetry will be undressed, addressed and redressed for you to be fully dress up to the coming nights.

Slam is the next phase to performance poetry. Slam is the sure way to see your own personal growth and development as a performer. Slam is the game you play if you want to challenge yourself with yourself. Slam is the game that helps charge your power bank for expression. Slam is a game of chance, not for the best only but also for rest. Slam is a green card to crossing boundaries and boarders. Slam is a master card to sharing and playing with champs and slammasters around the world. Slam is the way forward. Slam in An.Order.WAY.

SlamImpulse is to prepare us for what’s coming; the slam world is growing and has become a phenomenon for the human spirit to behold. Who will represent Ghana at the next West Africa Slam Championship in Niger 2023? Who will represent us at FESPACO Gold Slam in Ouagadougou next year? Who will lead us to Africa Cup of Slam Poetry 2023 and who will proudly lift the flag of Ghana to Brazil 2023 for the World Poetry Slam Championship? These are the responsibilities we have signed up for. Who is coming on board with us?

We are proud to be on the board of the WPSO and as a founding member of this global force. This is made possible by the able effort of Ehalakasa.

We are calling on poets, spoken word performers and or anyone who is genuinely interested in becoming a Slammer to sign up for these opportunities. You don’t have to be a poet to be a slammer; all you need is the willingness and the impulse. We got you!

There is room for ONLY 10 participants at a session.

More exciting Slam related events coming…

The workshop is every last Friday of the month
10am to 4pm @ Goethe Institut – Cantonments Accra

To register send a 60 seconds original piece of audio or video to +233205043890

HOW TO WRITE A POEM

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With poetry, you go in with the “3 Hs”.
That’s the HEAD, HEART, and HAND.
Just to make you a creativity killer.

Poetry writing can be easy and difficult most days. But it’s the challenges you face that makes you more creative.

Sometimes, inspiration strikes and the words just start flowing out of your mind and onto the page.

Here are a few tips to help you get started and write your next poem:

1 Be sure of what you want to write about
Unless you’ve been assigned to write a poem about a specific topic, the first step in writing a poem is determining a topic to write about. Look for inspiration around you, perhaps in nature, your community, current events, or the people in your life. Take notes on how different things make you feel and what they drive you to think about.
Once you have a topic and a theme in mind, the next step is to determine which kind of poem is the best way to express it.

2 Be sure of the format of your poem.
Your poem shouldn’t necessarily have a specific format though, but by determining a format you are sure of your kind of flow.
You don’t want to put yourself in a poem people cannot relate to.

3 Be clear of your words, rhymes and rhythm.
After the selection of format, feel free to read other poems in your line to give yourself a template to follow.
A specific rhythm or rhyme scheme can trigger you to come our with incredible wordplay in your poem. You must understand yours words with meaning and make sure your rhymes and rhythms are related and understood by other readers. Don’t make pairs because you want to make a rhyme.

4 Write the poem
Now it’s time to write! Whether you opt for using a pen and paper, typing on a laptop, or tapping on your phone, give yourself some uninterrupted time to focus on writing the poem.
Don’t expect to write something perfect on the first try. Instead, focus on getting your words out. Even if your lines don’t rhyme perfectly or you’ve got too many or too few syllables to fit the format you chose, write what’s on your mind. The theme your words are expressing is more important than the specific words themselves, and you can always revise your poem later.

5 Edit what you’ve written
Once you have a draft, the next step is to edit and proofread your poem. You don’t have to jump right from writing to editing—in fact, it’s better if you don’t.
Take a break if you are tired.
Don’t stress the mind. It’s okay to take days to complete a poem. Gather more ideas during your break and come back to your poem with a critical eye and a racing hand.
If you are okay showing it to other people to read, make sure they are people who understand art. distanced perspectives, from readers and writers of different backgrounds, can offer up ways to make your writing stronger that you hadn’t considered before.

Know Thy Balls by ThatTonguGirl

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October is here again.
And the campaign for everyone to care for their boobs is floating every street.

Well, we both don’t need October to enlighten us on the need to show each other love since we already do so effortlessly.

But then again, nothing spoil in joining the camp, paint the message on every walkway.

I know that the ties that bind us together is like that which bound my butt to Kitopa’s boxer pants during my Junior High School days. To know that you unveil the volume of my torso, awaken my senses to a bowl of refined closure with an irresistible pleasure is soul-stirring.

See, the mere thought of weighing you on the scales of my palm, rubbing and pulling your teats with my digits makes me want to stand guard over you every day.

Had you been lemons, we would parade the terrace of our day job freeing each other of every hurt hoarded up our trunk. It’s not like you are melons too. But does it even matter what you are like? I will always love and cherish you. Beautifully Bold and Fragile. So, whenever that hour calls for your freedom after a long day’s work, I never hesitate to let you breathe in the humid air at night. After all, it is therapeutic to my broad chest.

I still recall our occasional 3am hand-to-boob conversations we have butt-naked on our sheets under the moonlight. Your language of connection is not far from that employed by the mimosa plant.

Listening to your areola smile, frown, and shiver humbles my eyes every time.
If you have been wondering all this time why I can’t seem to stop rubbing my hand on you in a cyclical manner with the other arm raised…well, there you have it.
It’s my own way of showing you how much I love and cherish you.

Watching you take advantage of my weight and size worries me sometimes.
But hey, don’t go cringing on me now sweetballs.

Let’s just enjoy the minutes we have left before you’re made to shape your look for the day my Boobie Balls.

In all things dear reader,
…Know thy Balls and the best care to give them.

WHAT SPOKEN WORD MEANS TO ME by A B Ahmed

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For loving so missed the catch and the catch so needed indefinite rest from boneless promises,

from being a convict to the convictions of a world with the mentality of a clown in an armour suit to the definition of a warrior in a garden,apparently tilting and enriching the sands of an unseen but imagined time with his wound-cut-deep passion-brimmed soul,mind and body,

of the reality of a stranger,as a mockingbird and chameleon,who lives his life in mimicry of other realities and has nigh-clear picture of the size,color and stink every shoe heads,
and then shares this fantasy with the world for whoever has ears to listen,
throwing whoever the cap fits into utter awe,

for the catch so needed to be warmly held and loving so so grew weary that poetry found itself being spewed from a deep deep well of longing and anguish,
both slamming each other with the common truth that this world is an extremely cold space and these underappreciated words only a few people fathom are the most efficient leather coats to rock the weather,

to this word play thing that holds me together like a rubberband from losing my guts,
which serves as the alcohol that pushes out toxins for the world to call “exquisite”,
reminding every cell in my being that there’s indeed beauty in every abyss,
keeping the intoxicated in a pure state of highness and paradise.