Date: 10 January 2018                                      Time: 12 p.m.                         Venue: Room 107, Central Block

There was a thing about room 107 in the Central Block on Wednesday. It smelt of anticipating wilderness with a simmering cheer. Looking at the 60+ students which filled the room, one could know without saying that it was the Spoken Word Poetry Workshop which was about to start. And who conducted it, you ask?
Well, none other than our local Bangalorean slam poet, Daniel Sukumar. I shall not delve into what all he has achieved now, for he says that one should be judged by their deeds not job. Hence, I shall let the contents of his workshop introduce him to you. He started his session with performing a fresh piece of his titled, 'Close Like' and then went about introducing the students to the motives of spoken word poetry. He also noted that all the knowledge he would be sharing were 'tools' for such poetry and not 'rules'- thus, they can adjusted, broken, modified to one's own desires.
According to him, the formula of such poetry lies in making the abstract into a material by taking audience input on which object love feels like. Among today's social media frenzy where poetry is only used as a tool to viral, Daniel emphasised on how the true purpose of one's poem is only fulfilled when the poet is true to its content. By writing 'Be Honest' in capitals on the black board, he stressed that the audience is looking for a unique voice and the most unique voice out there is that of your own story- so recite it. He also entertained the crowd with other original works of his namely, 'Clowns & Rivers', 'My mother can be a Russian Spy', etc. Coming to the audience review, the workshop was quoted as being "worth the money", "inspiring" and "enlightening". Furthermore, the people also wish to thank Literati and the organisers who made such an eye-opening session accessible to the students.

We look forward to more of such workshops for an ever more energised spirit of take back home. May the force be with The Literati.