‘It’s just love in there, it’s nuts’: freedom and verse at the Bankstown poetry slam
As the rain batters the Bankstown Arts Centre in western Sydney on a humid Tuesday evening, a first-time poet at the Bankstown poetry slam struggles to remember his lines.
Shifting nervously in front of a sea of masks and eyes, Paul stammers and pauses, scrolling at light speed through his phone, searching for the right words.
The crowd, piled into a tight but echoey space, seated on plastic chairs, begin applauding, slowly at first but building into a cacophony, their cheers bouncing off the walls, drowning out the rain and the nerves.
An explosion of noise greets Paul’s success, who smiles broadly before launching into his collection of images and moments, the crowd breathing confidence into his first performance.
Paul’s debut last month marked the first time the Bankstown poetry slam could play to capacity since the Delta lockdowns, which . Pre-pandemic,
