The Lantern Project

Renee Liang talks about the power of poetry, from the aphrodisiac effect of poems written on glowing lanterns during Chinese ‘Valentine’s Day’, to one of the enduring images of this year’s Auckland Writers and Readers Festival. "A bunch of older women joyfully popping balloons to get at the poetry inside."

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On the fifteenth day after the start of the Chinese New Year, streets throughout China are festooned in lanterns.  Families and lovers wander the streets to read poetry written on the glowing paper.  Some of the poems are riddles, others wishes for prosperity or tributes to love. The alternative name for this day is Chinese Valentine’s Day, due to the fact that poetry written by young men on lanterns seems to have an aphrodisiac effect.

I wish we had a poetry festival where everyone went poetry-mad.  (The Montana Poetry Day, this year on July 24th, comes close … but it’s only one day).   Maybe it would be a cure for all the doom and gloom about the recession and the executioner’s rope of the Supercity hanging above us.  After all, everyone knows that poets not only have great parties, they also have been scientifically proven to have more sex (well, more lovers, anyway.)

That being said, perhaps we’re partway there already. There has certainly been a fair amount of poetry and other cool poetry-related stuff bandied about.  At the recently-wrapped Auckland Writers and Readers Festival, I was the astonished witness to 350 sweaty bodies jamming Toto’s (normally a classy Italian restaurant and opera venue.) 

The event was Poetry Idol and, whipped (not literally, unfortunately) into a frenzy by MC Penny Ashton, everyone from young students to grey-haired arts lovers screamed and bayed for the poets to come out.  It was a bear-pit of a night, a vast conglomeration of words and ideas and not an insignificant proportion of sexual innuendo, and everyone seemed to be having the time of their lives.  Could I really be talking about poetry?

A couple of days later, poetry was back in the polite seats as poets (some of them scrubbed-up versions of the ones seen in Toto’s) took the stage at the Aotea Centre for poetry open mic.  If you’d ignored the cardigans and plaid and listened to the words you would have realised that these poets, too, were walking on the wild side – but then, that’s what poetry is.  It refuses to be categorised.  Instead it changes shape to accommodate different riders. Sometimes it takes on a hybrid form, such as when it pairs with visual artists, as in the Metonymy project that I’m involved with.

Our Metonymy exhibition is in its second and final week and quite frankly, I’m very proud of what we’ve done with the tiny resources we had.  Many of the works in the exhibition have an emphasis on interaction and fun. It’s rewarding to watch people wander in and emerge with a big grin on their faces and a tin can of art or photocopied chapbook of poetry.   One of the enduring images of this year’s Auckland Writers and Readers Festival is of a bunch of older women joyfully popping balloons to get at the poetry inside. 

It also reminds me of the need for poetry to stay real.  If no one can access it then I’d argue there’s no point in making it public.  And there’s a place for all kinds of poetry - I guess that’s why pub-style poet John Carr, with his bumbling but confident delivery and comedically awful end-rhymes, was the eventual winner of Poetry Idol.

But back to the lanterns.  In a couple of weeks, I’ll be installing my own version of the Chinese New Year lanterns (never mind that it’s not New Year’s for another 8 months.)  My play Lantern is on at The Basement in the Auckland CBD (June 8-13), and to go with it, The Basement bar will be covered in fairy lights and paper lanterns will be available for people to write their poetry on.  I already have around 150 lanterns from Wellington poets and theatre-goers which I’ll put up as ‘seed’ lanterns, along with new lanterns with poems from my Auckland colleagues.  I invite you to join me with some verse.

Metonymy is on until May 23rd at the Aotea gallery, 4th floor Aotea Centre, THE EDGE.  Performance evening (free, koha requested) starting from 8 pm on Friday 22nd May, 5th floor Aotea Centre.

Lantern is on at The Basement June 8 -13, 8:00 pm as part of STAMP at THE EDGE, Book at buytickets.co.nz, (09) 357 3355