At first, I wanted to make this a bit of a different post. I wanted to every now and then share some of my creative writing with you because I believe that a graduate, who wants to go into theatre always needs to practice their writing and that we could use this chance to share thought, idea and advice with each other. Also, I believe in the healing power of poems and stories,and I don’t think there can ever be enough of them around.
While I’m still going to do this, I noticed when writing this post, that I could also use this chance to introduce something to you that might be of interest for everyone, who lives in Wales or thinks of creating and showing something creative in their area but isn’t quite sure what this something could be. If you’re one of these people, keep reading, share and borrow.
So, as you’ve probably read me mention before, the existence of National Theatre Wales comes with many perks.(I’m not being paid by them to say this by the way). One of them being TEAM, a network of many different artists from any background you can possibly imagine. These artists are not only a great resource of support, advise and a helping hand, but they also have many good ideas that lead to entertaining, healing and powerful evenings, days and events.
The format I want to introduce today is called Word4Word. (You can find more information on the National Theatre Wales TEAM facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ntwteam?fref=ts and on the NTW community site http://community.nationaltheatrewales.org/ ).
Word4Word is a spoken word event organised by the very talented spoken word artist Frank Thomas (you can find him here: @FrankThomasAG and here: https://www.youtube.com/user/FranksStartingPoint ).
Word4Word brings different poets and writers and spoken word artists and people together and allows them to share their work and to connect and network with each other. It’s a great entertaining evening that has introduced many talents into the Welsh performing arts landscape. The events are being held on a regular basis, manly in Cardiff and they are really worth going. So, please, if you want to take part in a Word4Word event or just come and see what others are up to or learn about how to organise such event, talk to Frank, he’ll show you the way.
Okay, back to my original intention, here is the spoken word piece I wanted to show you (and yes I know that it’s somewhat ironic to blog something that needs to be spoken out loud but maybe you could do me the favour and read this out loud to yourself, ha):
What I need
I want you to think that I know who I am.
I want you to think that I know left from right.
That I know right from wrong.
I want you to think that I never go out of the house with two odd socks.
I want you to think that I know that the country of Serbia Montenegro is now the countries of Serbia and Montenegro.
I want you to think that I read more than one newspaper article on the same topic before I form an opinion.
I want you to think that I prefer raspberries over melon because they are the sexier fruit.
And that I know how to spell “raspberry” and that I have never looked up the word “dictionary” in a dictionary.
I want you to think that I don’t mind that your mother leaves out the “a” at the end of my name, I want you to think that I find that a-dorable and that I don’t wonder at all whether she wishes I was someone else.
I want you to think that I threw away all my ex-boyfriends’ presents and that I didn’t keep the Mary Poppins DVD and one earring of the only two, one of the two ever gave me.
I want you to think that I’m not used to being with someone who’d rather not hear from me than hear from me. And I want you to think that I’d never allow anyone to treat me that way.
I want you to think that I never get cold, and that that’s the reason why I can walk to where you are in the deepest of winter to build a snowman outside of your home, to walk back knowing you’re not alone when you get there.
I want you to think that I never get anxious when you don’t reply to my message for hours.
I want you to think that I don’t have a rule in my head that says if I contacted you last, you have to contact me next, if you contacted me last, I have to contact you next.
I want you to think that I don’t feel guilty when I don’t follow that rule and that I never think that all is over because I rang you first.
I want you to think that I don’t live in a world where one simple mistake of mine can make you disappear.
I want you to think that I would never chew my scarf when I get nervous.
I want you to think that I never get nervous.
I want you to think that horses, a large crowd of people, fireworks, and water cress don’t scare me.
I want you to think that I never am scared because I’ve got you.
I want you to think that having you doesn’t scare me, that I don’t lie awake at night wondering how to break up with you because the thought of you leaving me doesn’t allow me to take a breath deep enough to fill my lungs and the blood pumping through my veins.
I want you to think that I know the difference between being alive and living and that I know what love is.
I want you to think that I really look this pretty when I wake up in the morning; I want you to think that I love my body and that I believe you when you say that you love it too.
I want you to think that my scars remind me of what I survived, that I don’t stand in the shower to forever look at them and remember how I got every single one.
I want you to think that the scars on my body never disappear until only one is left that rearranges itself to the place of a scar on your right wrist that reminds me of who you are and the pain I want to share with you.
I do, I do want you to think that I’d never write 697 words on what I want you to think.
I need you to know that I do, but really that I don’t…
Christina
(image credit: http://blog.emilysuess.com/)
The Confines of the Theatre 