Saturday, October 15, 2011

Darlinghurst Blog: People: Slam Poet Hollie McNish

I was fortunate enough last night to be paid a surprise visit by UK slam poet Hollie McNish (above), who is in Australia with her partner, hip-hop artist MC Inja, for a series of poetry and spoken word events around Sydney. 
Inja was at their temporary seaside home with their baby, while McNish was hitting the town,  performing at a Penguin Plays Rough event at the Kings Cross Hotel, where she had many a man swooning over her modern, sensual piece, Touch, taken from her album of the same name.
Post-work I had rushed to the FBi space at the KX Hotel for the event at the beckoning of my pal Sarah Allely and her lover-boy but in the madness of Friday evening I arrived just as the trio were leaving.
Somehow we ended up back at my place where, after much coaxing and a little bit of sparkling wine, McNish performed Touch at my dinner table. 
It gave me goosebumps. 
There's a much faster version of it online here, but when McNish recited the poem to us, it was slower and sexy; a musing on how much people touch each other, the different types of touch and the value of really good touching, or connecting. The words really rang true for me. 
Anyway, I'm writing about it here, because I thought you might like to see McNish, Inja and some other spoken word poets in action this Thursday when two FREE events are being held at the Queen Street Studio, on Kensington Street in inner-city Chippendale (from 7pm), and the Surry Hills Library on Crown Street, across the road from the Clock Hotel (from 9pm). More information below.

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