The Immersiva event, hosted by Harmonity.Co was a layered creative experience, where art responds to art. Spoken word artists collaborated with visual artists to put words and create a story inspired by the piece.
The poem below was performed based off of the visual art piece named Passionat Abstraction created by Alex Mcdonald, also known as Abserdeus (Pictured above).
Dispassionate distraction
Qala rabbe sharhree sadre
Wa yassir le amree
Waohlul auqdatam mil lisanee
Yafqahee qawli
O lord expand my breast for me and make my speech easy for me and untie to knot from my tongue so that they may understand my words.
Some days I slip into life,
Like soft swirls on a page,
Soft swirls of water,
They are Life giving,
Then poured down the drain.
I am Easing into alive,
Breathing slow and deep,
Feeling the subtle tics of my muscles,
And the flutter of my eyes,
The deep set exhaustion,
That makes me sink beneath,
For a rest,
To return the most of me from which it came.
Today I stand firm on my feet,
Rooted to this life giving ground,
Spirit soaring,
Feeling enveloped by layers of love,
Like a petal hugged so tightly in place.
God made me,
He shaped me,
The flare of hips and soft touching lips,
Breathing purpose.
The words lay softly on these pillows,
I am so alive,
I am here to thrive,
I will feel pain but it fuel's my drive.
I am a mess of colours,
A mess of tears,
A mess of confronting my worse fears,
A mess of moments,
A messy fight,
My mess is so lovely,
And it is my right.
They say my passion shows,
And my smile reaches the birds of paradise.
A monk once asked me,
What is your secret to happiness,
It took me by surprise.
I thought,
They could see through it all,
The smiles lit by billowing flames of pain,
Shaking and shuddering because I always had to earn their love,
The laughs that disguise the sound of my Stuttering heart constantly aware of being perceived, and maybe... maybe... being seen.
Today I felt my half mast eyes, sliding closed as tears leak out because your joke was slightly funny,
And oh my God is this joy?
That's a new one for me.
On this floor and on many before,
I stood with a firm stance,
Rooted in my denial to let liars and inflictors of pain exist,
When my eyes meet yours,
I am seeking you out,
Asking you to stay for a moment.
See that it's not okay,
To let others be in pain,
This mouth was God given,
To say something,
And I will.
I'm not afraid,
I kicked dust in my abusers face,
And another kick to the balls for good measure.
I was reading the Quran the other day and it read
Bismilahilrahmanaraheem
wal asr
In al in sani lafee khusr
Inal latheena amanu wa amilisalihati wa tawa sawbil hakki wa tawa sawbil sabr
By time
Indeed mankind is in loss
Except for those who have believed and done righteous deeds and advised each other to truth and advised each other to patience.
In a world of passionate abstraction,
Dispassionate distraction,
Muddying clear waters,
To point at it and say I can't see,
I ask you…
Do not sway or beak apart in the wind,
Be patient but don't stand idly by,
Waiting for change without action.
Stand firm Rooted,
In your beliefs,
Rooted in justice,
In truth,
In advocacy and remind those who forget,
It's not okay to be passive.
It's not okay to ignore.
Take action and even if it is as small,
as a grain of dirt.
Every grain works together to keeps plants rooted,
To provide nutrition, allowing truth, justice and flowers to grow.