For the love of poetry

Leungo Mokgwathi
DELIVERING: Midas the poet

To revive the love of poetry and to spread the message of love, healing, hope and especially the gospel of Jesus Christ, 23-year-old Tlamelo Office a.k.a Midas is putting together an evening of spoken word poetry dubbed, “The Hand That Speaks,” set for April 29th at the Artcase Gallery.

“In addition to reigniting the love for poetry, The Hand that Speaks is also about cementing the importance of poetry as an art form like any other,” explained Office.

Also a published author, Midas has been doing poetry since her Primary School Days. “I started as a writer and when I got to Junior School I advanced to Spoken Word Poetry.”

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Eleven years into the game, she has two published books under her belt.” The first was actually a feature with eight other poets contributing to the anthology called Gifted Hands Poetry. My solo book which was published in 2021 is called Brave.”

“As a spoken word poet, the biggest person I have shared a stage with is Dato Seiko. I perform at weddings, various church events, birthday parties and also feature on other poet’s shows.”

Midas says that her vision concerning The Hand That Speaks is to have the poetry show on a quarterly basis.

” I want to use this platform to inspire people through poetry. Alongside other featured poets, we hope to tell our stories in a way that will inspire audiences.”

In her view, poetry is an undermined art. She argues that it is as powerful as any other, or even more, which she intends to prove to people.

Through collaborations, she hopes to showcase upcoming and unseen poets to the world.

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“I may be the main act, but I want to see more upcoming artists who are extremely talented have that platform to showcase their talent and have the recognition they deserve. I want to reveal such hidden talents to the world.”

Midas ‘s day job is Sales and Marketing executive at a local institution that facilitates Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths [STEM) education to young people.

“My desire is to incorporate art into the STEM education programme,reinforcing that as much as you can be a doctor or engineer, there is always art involved somewhere.”

Supporting her act Will Be Troy, Elaine and Lefika who are all poets.

Phomzi, Hlabile, Maxson, Ayanda and Princess will also take to the stage that night to serenade the audience with their sweet melodies.

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