Open Mic participants

Open Mic Event in Tavira

Every year, during the Festa dos anos de Álvaro de Campos there’s an Open Mic event in Tavria. It’s a celebration of poetry and music, and there’s both Portuguese and English language participants. This year the event was held on November 20th, and it was really well attended. Not only were there poets and musicians, there was also a dancer.

Last year I read one of my dementia poems in English, about my Mum from my poetry collection Turbulent Mind, but did the introduction in Portuguese and English.

This year I pushed myself even further, and did my poem in both Portuguese and English. I’d been working with my Portuguese instructor for about 6 months on the poem. We couldn’t just do a straight translation, because the cadence of the poem just didn’t work in Portuguese. So I did a straight translation, and then made some amendments, and then my instructor helped to refine each verse so that it flowed.

Open Mic on the Night

I wasn’t feeling very well on the night, and took some sinus medication on an empty stomach, and ended up feeling really shaky. It was very nerve-wracking to perform my poem in Portuguese, but I got through it. Don’t think I’ll be doing it again though!

At the event i took a load of photos, and did a compilation sketch of a lot of the participants (me included)