18 August 2020
Online
companions is a series of poetry readings organized by Christopher Kirubi. Originally conceived as a series of live events, each reading involves several poets whose readings are set alongside one another, drawing from their own writing as well as the writing of other poets whose work has developed their understanding and sense of pleasure in poetry.
To be accompanied is to understand that we do not stand in this world alone, that we have the right to move and navigate towards our goals, dreams and desires in the safety and the emotional recognition that comes with being in the company of others . To accompany someone allows us to bear witness to their needs and to stand with them, to hold space for difference in motion together, it is to play the harmony out loud so the melody need not sound out alone.
This series of readings seeks to bring together and magnify the moments where words, practices and lives can both slip together and produce friction and, by operating through the archetype of the pair, invoke the openness of intimate conversation whilst allowing us to bear witness to the accumulation of many layers of voices, thoughts and feelings.
The poets participating in the companions series are Chloe Filani, Deborah Findlater, Rhoda Boateng, Ebun Sodipo, Esther Heller and Maxine Sibihwana.
Listen to the first episode here and to the next one here.
The project is supported by Arts Council England Grants for the Arts.
Communication image based on print of Audre Lorde by Oretha.