Poet X
Parramatta: A Dictionary of Place and Memory - P
Omar Sakr is a poet. So is Fiona Wright. There is Wadih Saadeh. There’s Sara Mansour and Bilal Hafda of the Bankstown Poetry Slam (last Tuesday of every month). There’s Maryam Azam with The Hijab Files and then Kate Fagan with Song in the Grass. There’s Sara Saleh with The Flirtation of the Girls and Peter Skryznecki with Immigrant Chronicle.
I return again and again to The Lost Arabs and Non-Essential Work.
Wadih Saadeh wants immediacy with his readers and his entire archive in Arabic and in translation can be found online.
There is no measure for the effect of the Bankstown Poetry Slam on the community. It is warmth and energy and welcome all in a single place.
The Slam goes on tour sometimes. The carpet is a fixture and it transports the magic, giving expression to the undercurrent and the obvious.
Every community should feel like the Slam. It is independence, the art of performance, and an audience of safety and care.