Audible to be Accessible (Audio link)

Last week I performed at a North-London spoken word event called 'Verses' mainly for the sake of getting a new poem out that I've been dying to share. I have had an abundance of new poems go from pen to paper or finger to computer in recent months and I'm loving it. This one is basically a letter of complaint slash bitter love letter to one of my former favourite brands where snacks and guilty pleasures are concerned. I wrote it with conviction, sincerity and humour knowing that many other fans of the brand especially long-time fans, would relate. It made the crowd happy with laughter and I got my point across, even more so I intentionally tweeted it to the company in hope that they pay attention to customer feedback regardless of the form in which it is expressed.

Now although this performance was filmed by the organisers, on this occasion I wanted to record my myself for a specific purpose. In recent years I have seen a dramatic increase of disabled people of various disabilities and of all ages, however I've noticed an increase in young (up to 30yrs old) disabled people, well in London anyway. Blind people stand out to me a great deal and tend to gravitate towards me in general especially at train stations for some reason.

Anyway, I have come to be in awe of how some blind people make the best of their lives despite lacking sight. Knowing of Ray Charles and seeing Stevie Wonder achieve so and do so much, regardless of not being able to see the piano they were actually playing on always blew my mind. Only a month ago I learned about the astounding career Opera Singer Andrea Bocelli who lost his sight at age 12. Even Blind Fury who I saw on BET's 106 & Park freestyle rap battle (which was one of the best segments of that show by the way), blew me away at how he completely held his own.

I actually began writing a poem about a visually impaired young woman I saw walking with her rollerball white cane, semi-confidently on a hazardous, pot-holed, scaffold infested busy high street. Every pedestrian and driver stared at her in shock as did I, although I was thinking less of judgement and more of her safety. In comparison to watching the men on TV, I'd say that watching and observing this lady in person left the greatest impression on me with regard to empathy.

I have become more mindful with the acknowledgement that other than road crossings, free parking, certain door entries, discounts, some public toilets and some technologies; still many daily life things do not consider the blind, deaf or physically disabled (e.g. Wheelchairs). In recent years I have simply grown a large appreciation and a whole lot of respect for people living with disabilities, blindness in particular and have started to be more considerate of their needs in regards to my own business activities.

With that said I know that there is always braille however, reading poetry or seeing a spoken word performance in all its glory is not going to be fully received by blind people. Yet that does not mean they they can't be entertained by it in another form i.e. Audibly. So I want to reach out to blind audiences more by voice recording my performances for them. This will also give me good reason to be more active with my Soundcloud page that I do not update often. I'd love to have my poetry be more accessible to a wider audience this way or similar. I much prefer to do voice recordings as opposed to video ones anyway for both the ease and comfort, although this audience was my sole motivation, as it is for me to do audible versions of future books and the recent idea to upload readings of my food blog posts.

Verses was a fun night that fully made up for the crap night I had earlier in the week at a show that invited me down just to waste my time. It was all positive vibes, good poetry and friendly people. My stage experience was funny for me not even due to the content of what I was saying, it was due to a dog running up to me in the middle of my performance, my dry eyes watering like crazy ironically effecting my vision and my hay fever provoking that further.

To say I was multi-tasking and keeping my cool was an understatement. Watery eyes and interrupting animals aside, I pushed through my performance being the pro that I am. I'm just pre-warning you for some moments on the recording that may throw you off. Take a listen, share with any blind poetry lovers and enjoy!


@LK_ReelDeevah

I'm Present During My Absence

Long-time no blog. I apologise for those that have been on the lookout for any 2019 updates only to not receive any unless you of course check out my Twitter page. Although I'm not the biggest fan of social media I have come to appreciate Twitter and LinkedIn (that I haven't been able to log onto since last year funnily enough) but you really should follow me via @LK_ReelDeevah if regularity on updates, activity and connectivity is what you seek from a professionally friendly stand point.

The past 7 months have been interesting, difficult, confusing, enlightening, somewhat exciting and all other adjectives that left me in deep thought with the need to distance myself. In many ways I have been on my own island, in a much needed reclusive state of mind to indeed exercise my mindfulness. This just means that as a consequence of many events and reflection, I have been making firmer choices to focus on myself more in a healthier holistic way.

However, despite my noticeable absence and sporadic appearances in regard to self-promotion, online activity and social circles. I have in many ways still been very present. My eye is not off the ball, it's just that my interests and priorities have changed- for the better. It goes without saying that I have still been working all this time, developing my projects and what have you. Furthermore my greeting cards continue to push the bar and celebratory emotions. Some of my recent creations have been very 'wordy' pun intended.

 

These are two designs in particular that I have had in mind for a couple of years and have only just had the right opportunity to be unleashed. I just didn't expect them to be made around the same time however I can't control the costumers needs- that I'm happy to meet. Outside of the orders I receive, I am making a few more cards that will be featured in something that I am working on.

What I have really been excelling at though, excelling as far as baby steps go, is cake decorating! You don't understand, this means the world to me as I have been wanting this forever, before wanting to pursue film, publishing and even before I went to culinary school. It all felt so far out of reach that I would only bake and cake decorate vicariously through television shows like Cake Boss and Cupcake Wars. I began pushing my love for cake decorating with my dessert table designs via my events company. I was just testing the waters as making dessert tables was the best excuse for that creative side of me to finally go into action.

 

My designs completely outdid my baking I must say, although it was the perfect opportunity to improve on my cake decorating skills regardless of how minimal. To learn to bake properly and make delightful glorious cakes and pastries has long and I mean like 25yrs long, been a dream of mine. I will make that happen dammit. More of that and my foodie experiences can be seen on my beloved  Deevah's Cravings blog. My food writing hasn't been on hiatus during this time, as food is another kind of joy that will demand attention and dedication from me more so. On that blog you'll find food stories and food porn to salivate over.

The best thing that I've been doing this year and what I've been most excited about is my reignited writing of poetry FOR ME. For the past five years, I have had off and on writing blocks when it came to writing or completing poems spontaneously or just for the fun of it. This also goes for writing stories, my food novel and old incomplete scripts that were and are of great importance to me. In turn, without fully realising it at the time I have dedicated that passion and motivation to writing for others and completing other written projects under commission.

This in some ways was good because it brought in business nonetheless and made customers happy which made me happy, but the huge problem that followed was the inevitable pile up of missed out opportunities and unfinished, un-started things that I wanted to achieve personally! That was driving me mad. My sh*t kept falling into the back burner for more new sh*t that meant less to me. Although I managed to get the odd thing done on that list, the reality is that years were going by of unmet goals or unmet needs of personal creative expression. This can devastate an Artist or any type of creative individual who just wants to create any and everything that comes to mind, especially when you're passionate about it.

I am glad to say that, that self-imposed dilemma is becoming no more and it feels wonderful. Dec-Jan in particular I wrote 3 new poems out of the blue AND TO COMPLETION! That meant everything to me. One of them I performed at She Grrrowls. I have noticed a little pattern in my recent poems; Dec-Jun although they are all different there's a theme they share between them being that of lifestyle, loss, desires, children, opinions and mother-daughter relationships. The content has been quite vulnerable whether I'm speaking my truth or that of someone else's. The ones involving parenting and family dynamic banter isn't even from my perspective, such as many things that I have come to write they simply came from a source of observation and passiveness.

My poems are also getting increasingly longer which I didn't even think was possible as I am known to have long poems anyway (not the longest ever heard but I am known to write in excess). It hurts my hands while doing so but while I'm writing or typing I'm saying to myself "I just need to get this sh*t out!" That is also one of the many benefits of getting back to writing for the sake of saying what I want to say even if it's just for my eyes and ears only, is that I do not need to concern myself with cutting it down to make it shorter or more comfortable for others. I can just do me and lessen the anxiety of people-pleasing, which again feels wonderful.

This week I wrote a poem about falling out of love with Haribo sweets, for those that know me they know that one hits home as also seen on my food blog. The loss is real, quite a humorous yet relatable piece. I look forward to performing that one and two more out of the 7-8 poems written so far in the near future. As a Poet it is natural for me to write with a performance in mind or the thought of it being read by someone, however such as with this blog entry that has been a bit of an obstacle to complete, I have to bear in mind my friend's wise words "Not everything needs to be shared." With that said, I know to keep some things to myself in both regard to what I could add to this post and what I have written in my new poems. At the end of the day I wrote those for me for therapeutic reasons and therefore consider them to be private diary entries. What I will share will be intriguing nevertheless don't get it twisted ;-)

Until then, wish me baking progress and more continued success with my mindfulness journey. I wish everyone, even more so my loyal supporters and anyone going through heavy things that are making you anxious or unhappy, more and more brighter days.


@LK_ReelDeevah