Poetry, music and intimate conversations took centre stage on August 22 at Hooyos Kitchen & Poetry in Kilimani, Nairobi, during Poetry After Hours.
The event was the second edition by Poetry Nights Nairobi, a live creative space founded by poet Tracy Wamarema.
The event drew together poets, musicians and audiences for an evening centred on intimate pieces about love, heartbreak, adulthood, childhood scars, self-discovery and personal experiences. The event also featured I Am Talking, a rhyming game that added a playful element to the evening.
Wamarema, founder, creative director and host of Poetry Nights Nairobi, says that Poetry After Hours builds on the idea behind Poetry Nights Nairobi that creates a space where people can engage with subjects that matter to them.
“People are baring their souls. We are skipping the small talk. I hope that they experience an authentic space more than anything,” she says.
The first event, titled Open Mic Poetry, on July 25 brought together poets Brian Casey, Charles Kinyanjui, Myra Muili of Female Poets KE, Cassil; musicians Christine Keni and duo Boys N’ Blues; and writer Vanessa Cyrilla.
Wamarema says that the two events share the same foundation, but each has its own character depending on the performers and activities.
Poetry After Hours also attracted a new audience. They described the event as authentic and safe, with some saying it felt different from other poetry events they had attended in Nairobi. They also asked when the next show would be held.
She started Poetry Nights Nairobi after years of writing and performing poetry. Her interest in hosting poetry events began while she was in high school in Eswatini, and she founded a slam poetry club and organised shows for the school.
After returning to Nairobi, she interned at a local television station, and she met fellow poets Charles Kinyanjui and Brian Casey. They invited her to create poetry content, which she shared online.
That experience made her consider creating her own platform. When she discovered Hooyos Kitchen and Poetry in Kilimani, she approached the manager, Yasmina, about hosting an event there. She reached out to poets and musicians, such as Christine Keni, Boys N’ Blues and Myra Muili.
“Poetry for me has always been a way to voice my thoughts and opinions and how I see the world. It is for me to communicate that with rhythm and complete honesty and vulnerability,” she says.
She believes that poetry can articulate thoughts that ordinary conversations sometimes cannot. A conversation can become distracted or move on to another subject, while poetry allows someone to stay with an idea that has been weighing on them and give it form.
That ability to express what is difficult to say is the kind of community that she hopes to build through Poetry Nights Nairobi.
The show explores themes of adulthood, careers, friendships, relationships, self-discovery and the meaning of life. It creates a room for conversations around subjects that people may hesitate to discuss publicly.
She believes that creating such a space needs vulnerability from the host. She begins by performing her own poetry for audiences to see her own experiences before inviting performers to share theirs.
“My poetry is inspired by life and personal experiences. I go through things, and poetry is how I process my experiences. I hope that it can be a space where people come and can talk about their feelings,” she says.
Performing her work at her own event, she says, is meaningful because the poems represent her values and give audiences a sense of who she is.
She has performed pieces like The Religion Dilemma, People Puzzles, Pig Equals Pork, Welcome to Corporate, and Education Is Power.
She has unpublished poems in her journals and has performed on her YouTube channel.
She thinks about her experience as a poet when curating the show. Since poetry can be dense and needs concentration, she pays attention to pacing, placing longer pieces with music or shorter performances to give audiences time to absorb what they have heard.
“I discover performers through social media, attend poetry events around Nairobi and reach out to poets whose work resonates with me. I give space to creatives who are doing it for the love of poetry,” she says.
Through the space, she has seen emerging poets gain confidence to perform publicly.
Hosting Poetry Nights Nairobi has taught her that people are looking for spaces where they can feel heard and understood but also have fun. They want a combination of fun, deep, authentic, and meaningful.
She sees live poetry as an important part of building community because it gives people an opportunity to recognise themselves in someone else's experience.
“The human condition is that we all want to be witnessed. We want to feel like somebody cares and wants to understand,” she says.
She explains that Poetry Nights Nairobi is about creating connections between people who might otherwise be strangers. She hopes to reach more audiences and artists and make authenticity more visible in everyday life.
“I want to change and make authenticity a trend. It encourages people to care a lot about each other, be vulnerable and have friendships that last long,” she says.