Limerick Pride 2017 started in perfect meter with an evening of ‘sharing words’ with Limerick’s home for poets, Stanzas. Performers took to the stage in McGettigan’s Pub delivering a mixture of everything from the traditional to slam forms of poetry.
Addressing issues of gender, bullying and lust among others, the six performers laid down a collection of words which saw the audience crying with laughter and stunned with silence.
“Last year Stanza’s birthday celebrations clashed with Limerick Pride, and we try as much as we can to collaborate with them,” said Shane Vaughan adding the poetry group moved their festival to a later date in July to avoid another clash.
The group said getting involved in Limerick Pride was an easy decision to make because of the support they receive from LGBT members as well as more than half the founding members being part of the LGBT community.
“Having seen the amount of LGBT poets that happen to come to our events; it is an outlet for them to say things that they feel they can’t really say in a conversation or on the street,” said Jared Nadin of Stanzas. The poet went on to say how the group gives you the chance to pick a topic that means a lot to you, like LGBT for those taking part on the evening, and analyse the topic.
“Poetry is a cheap art form, all you need is your voice. The most you will ever spend is on pen and paper. You can take your place, the world and everyone around you and present it at a microphone and then talk about it afterwards,” said Shane with Jared concluding, “You don’t need tools. You just need a thought.”
Stanzas will be celebrating their birthday from Thursday, 20 July to Sunday, 23 July, you can read about the events at www.stanzas.ie
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