Monday, July 10, 2006

Normally, I post on the run. It's usually one of those moments when something says - oh, I need to post - and I take a second or two to rattle off some irrelevant words. Today, I have decided to call it a night early and have crawled into bed with my 'crackberry' to post. Not that it means I will be anymore coherent than normal, it just means I'm chilling when I do this.

Last week I started a new job, doing content and research for a television programme called Zwahashu. It's a new challenge and taking some getting used to but it is nice to have something new to try and figure out. I have spent a lifetime jumping between industries, never really settling in one space for too long, other than in the Word. Television production is an area that has always fascinated me. As a creative and corporate hybrid, I find that television is the one place that possibly allows me both. I have also been a TV junkie and drifted around the edges of the industry for some years now. Now I have one foot in and am hoping that I will find a place that allows for expression. Project management, writing, conceptualisation, creative thought - these are areas that inspire me and gradually I will have opportunity to explore all of these. It's also nice to finally have some stability.

I read somewhere that, over the centuries, there are few poets who have actually a living off their Word. I am consoled by that. I have learned that I do not need to exist in a space where the hope of my future lies solely in poetry and that seems to have released from a cell I had confined myself within. I love the Word, simply. I shall submerge myself within it till the end of my breathing days and beyond. But, my success shall not be determined by how many gigs I get or how many books I sell but rather by what my heart says.

A few weeks ago, I was featured at Xarra Books. It was humbling to sit in a space where people had left home just to come through to listen to my words - no back-up dancers, bling-bling, etc. Just a room with people open to hearing my truth. I have often wondered how artists who have reached greater heights feel. What that moment is like when you feel like you have attained some level of 'recognition'. Does one even know what that point is? It's all very confusing.

Okay, looks like this sitting to write breeds incoherence. My thoughts spill out randomly - very much in the way I actually think - and I start to lose myself.

This week is going to be another interesting one. On Wednesday evening, I will be on SABC3's 3Talk With Noeleen, with other poets. 3Talk is a talk show that flights every weekday around 17:30 (I think). On Sunday I perform at Constitution Hill at an event called 100 Men Stand, organised by EngenderHealth. It is part of a programme called Men As Partners and I am looking forward to finding out more about what the programme actually entails.

I was supposed to be going to the US for a gig but that seems to have fallen through. Really frustrating coz I really feel like I need to get beyond my current poetic space and share my word, but the time will come.

Phew, that was a mouthful. Easy
Blog: http://infinitepursuit.blogspot.com
Poetry:
www.artistswithoutfrontiers.com (Writer's Section)
http://othervoicespoetry.org/vol8/baffoe/index.html

2 comments:

Thami Mhlanga said...

Watched 3-talk last night, what a delight, Iam now officially your stalker....I was blown away by the perfomances and Ayob's piece always speaks to me in volumes...I love the poetry movement that is taking shape in this country....

Kojo Baffoe said...

Go looking out thami. the hustle continues.