Poetry Platform at The Railway Inn Winchester (02/05/2017)
The Railway Inn host a Poetry Platform night every month during the student term and welcome one and all to experience, share and enjoy live poetry for free. From first time readers, creative writers and poetry veterans the night catered to every style, genre and emotion with some truly hysterical and deeply moving pieces. One of the opening performances came from a first time Norwegian reader Mary who’s poem You’re such a penis! made a detailed comparison of herself to male genitalia and was performed so expressively that it was near impossible not to laugh. Sex was on the agenda for many poets such as Scary Cupcake; an inventive alias, who took pleasure in “defying the gender norms” by referring to a male character in the 3rd person making the gender of the reader hard to distinguish, Cupcake was delightful yet sobering as one of the poems bravely detailed the troubles of self-harm.
A poet with another amusing pseudonym, Debt Collector had a quirky reading style and his poem inspired by all the colloquial euphemisms for vagina was both hilarious and strangely musing as he compared the mating of sea coral to our sex lives today. Many audience members were students who had just returned from their Easter break and many readers mused on their experiences of being home; Aiden’s poem The Shithole described his childhood haunts as ruined by “Ketamine Kevin”, the boy who once bullied him but is now a bin man. The reciters pains and pleasures were exposed in a welcoming environment, and despite the opinionated content of works it never felt that anyone was bring judged and every performance was followed by riotous applause and cheers.
Poetry Platform is a hysterical, inspiring and truly special evening that is medicine for the soul.