Thabang Tlaka, psychologist, author of The Taxi Philosopher and founder of Crazy Poetic Ministries, was the first poet up. His poetry explores the inverted relationship between good and evil and questions how society and humanity affect love. Tlaka’s poetry is inspired by everyday things, and he even made reference to the Oscar Pistorius trial. Tlaka says that spoken word poetry is for everyone and that there are no limitations. “The challenge is that most people think that they must copy other people or be a certain way. I think everybody has potential to share their stories. All you have to do is write your own material and not be afraid to share it.”
Given Illustrative Masilela, winner of the first Intervarsity Spoken Mind competition and author of Shifting Paradigms, was the next poet and he got straight to the point and resonated Tlaka’s theme of love with the line, “Greater is the man who becomes love than he who finds it.” Masilela says that his passion for poetry came from listening to rap, which sparked his desire to start writing. Masilela says that, “The power of word just does something to people, we are moved by words. I think this is why music is one of the biggest industries. There’s never been a time when music and words have been irrelevant.”
US electrical engineer and poet Chiccy Baritone performed her poem “Makeover”, among others. She told Perdeby that poetry is a powerful creative tool because “words are powerful and people can use poetry to talk about different issues in government, society, and communities. It’s no different than a celebrity or a singer writing a song on a political issue.” Baritone bases all her poems on real life situations or her own experiences, and turns them into something intimate and inspiring.