The morning has been another fully charged head-spinningly glorious morning of spoken word.
Things were kicked off in style once more by Poetry Can F**k Off and the raucous talent of the Antipoet who shared their views on festivals and bondage nights!!
After them was a truly beautifully rousing set from Sara Hirsch, her piece Play Fair had us all on our feet and asked us to remember in times of crisis, even when we lose, ‘at least [we are] playing fair’.
After that we had a full hour of glorious festival goers, muddy in numerous, incomparable ways giving us there own tales on the open mic. Ably hosted by the excellent Dominic Berry, they all gave us a lift as they shared stories about family ties, Syrian drone strikes and reminded us that we need to ‘be cheerful, and strive to be happy’. One of our open mic folk shared this beautiful line from Muhammed Ali ‘Me? We.’ Words we should all learn to live by.
The wonderful Joe Sawden from our backstage crew also shared some glorious, moving words.
Next was JJ Bola who melted my soul in a million myriad different ways. He talked gorgeously about his own refugee experience leaving the Congo (‘ a refugee is simply someone who is trying to find a home’, he eloquently dissected the toxic culture that surrounds masculinity, allowing us to see that ‘real men don’t exist, only men who are real!’ and he ended sweetly with some poems about love. Stunning stuff.
Jemima Foxtrot brought her lyrical gorgeousness back to the stage for the second time and sung us all in to a stupor.
Then – well – it was me. I shouted things about feminism and this festival that I love so dearly and hopefully sent people away remember that Glastonbury is all about ‘mud at our elbows and love that spills out from the seams’.
I was closely followed by some turns by the magnificent Leicester duo who both made explosive music all over our stage for the second time this weekend. Toby Campion thrilled once more with his powerful dissections of all kinds of prejudice and his positive messages of love and unity.
Jess Green and the Mischief Thieves, the political trio with fire in their instruments and lungs gave us poignant analysis of our current political climate. These are days for the poets, these are days for activism through song and through words.
And now our Saturday showcase spot is hitting the stage, Luke Wright. More soon x
