Twelve Ugandan underground poets are vying for recognition by the acclaimed poetry publisher, Button Poetry.
Participating poets will for the next two months horn their skills in scripting poetry, a critical attribute for one to publish a book. Only the top three from the contest will be selected in the finale set for October 9, Independence Day.
Based in the U.S., Button Poetry is famous for producing and distributing poetry media, including: video from local and national events, chapbooks, collaborative audio recordings, scholarship and criticism, and many other products.
The annual Button Poetry video contest opened July 21 and entries close September 14.
However, Ugandan poet, Lus the Poet, told Plugged that Uganda will not take part in the international contest.
Instead, he proposed to Button that Uganda holds its separate video contest considering that the art here is still growing and poets wouldn’t stand the chance to match up the international bar.
Button agreed to avail him resources to put together the contest. The other local participants would help him put together the scripts, stage the shows through which three outstanding poets would be picked.
The participants were split into two. The first six staged their performances August 13 to 15 and the stagings were themed the ‘Last Anthems in the Slave Market’. The next group tackled the theme ‘My Anxiety’ and performed on August 29.
Sunday’s performance at Amazing Grace Gardens, Bombo Road, was ‘Skins, Minds and other Body Parts’, a joint script of the two themes.
“The semi finals are scheduled for September 26, where these kids will perform their originals which will be recorded and archived by Button Poetry. This time, they will write about their own versions on the themes I mentioned,” the spoken word artist, actor and playwright told Plugged on the sidelines of Sunday’s show.
“I have nurtured them to a point where they can write their own poetry. If you can’t script poetry, you can’t publish a book. Which is the reason you won’t find many nice poetry books by Ugandans”.
The next level of the competition, which is the Semi Finals will feature nine poets. After that, another three will be eliminated, leaving the six who will perform on Independence Day.
The three will win publishing and record deals, being signed under Lus and the Band, on top of doing regional tours in country. There will be cash prizes as well as opportunities to perform outside Uganda. But it will be the exposure, through featuring on Button’s online platforms which are followed by the big time players in global poetry, that holds more significance.
For the longest time in Uganda, poetry has and still remains an underdog compared to other arts like music, film and comedy. There has not been a poet who has staged a major show locally. Most of the poets still perform on underground platforms in Kampala.
Lus partly blames the poets for giving into the cynicism that those who came before them parroted, and failing to aggressively seek platform to showcase their art.
On what the ongoing contest means for Uganda, Lus says; “Every participant will get skills that the rest of the poets aren’t getting. We will have skilled poets that have the capacity to script a show and make people sit for 2 hours and listen, and poets experienced enough to coach poetry to the next generation, and poets who can monetize their art”.
