Plattan Poetry
Today was the yearly “Världens längsta bokbord” – the longest table with books in the world – on Drottninggatan. The idea is that a lot of stores that sell used books get a few meters each where to sell their books, and the tables stretch as long as needed to fit everybody in on Drottninggatan, which is in the centre of Stockholm. In addition to the book sale there was a poetry event on Sergels torg. Right on Plattan, István and Andreas were hosting an open stage with three featured poets – Daniel Boyacioglu, Malin Axelsson and my favourite, Stephen Rappaport.
Stephen is more of a singer/showman, of course, but the texts are important in everything he does.
I was glad to hear he had some new material – he’s been playing pretty much the same songs for the past couple of years.
Some thoughts on the event prior to Stephen’s performance…
The poets listen to the poets
disguised as pop stars for the
general public to understand
The general public disguised as audience
are in demand
The politicians disguised as poets
hit the stage with full force
their age disguised as rage
echo among the pillars at Sergels Torg
the heart of the city
where the people’s pity keep them in their seats
at best
The poets disguise as madmen
for the gazes of the crowd
if they pose as nutcases they will be allowed
or excused
The drunkards pose as audience
and fill every seat
And I disguise myself as the rest
but when they escape I remain
because I am a thief disguised as a listener
looking for phrases to steal
looking for phrases of steel
looking for phrases to make my own
The poets are the ones
who really listen to the poets
I bought five books:
Kiharu Nakamura – En geishas liv (Life of a geisha)
Nicholas Negroponte – Being digital
Sally Chapman – Love Bytes
Joanne Harris – En doft av apelsin (Five quarters of the orange)
Douglas Adams – The hitch-hiker’s guide to the galaxy
The latter was just because I liked the cover. Of course I already own the book since way back.
I got hold of V this morning, and he managed to help me with the Expedia.com ticket problem. So I’m relieved. I’m still not sure I booked the best dates, but atleast I’ll be able to at all travel. So it’ll have to do. Let’s just hope that my hosts will agree.
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