Uninked Poetry is a community for spoken word poetry enthusiasts in Thiruvananthapuram

Uninked Poetry is a community of spoken word poetry enthusiasts in Thiruvananthapuram founded by Arwa Ali Asgar

When Arwa Ali Asgar moved to Thiruvananthapuram from Mumbai six years ago after her marriage, one of the things she looked forward to was a venue to perform spoken word poetry. She not only got stages to perform but also brought together a group of like-minded spoken word poetry lovers and launched Uninked Poetry last year.

“I have been writing poems ever since I could remember. I got introduced to spoken word poetry via internet when I was in college. It is poetry that you write to perform. The process of writing a poem that someone else is going to read is slightly different from writing one that you are going to perform,” says Arwa.

She adds, “People often say that they don’t understand poetry. Here you get access to poetry as a performance. People think poetry is a high-brow thing. There is nothing like that. Spoken word is to poetry what movies are to novel.”

Within one month of coming to Thiruvananthapuram, Arwa, 31, got the opportunity to perform at an open mic session conducted by The Reading Room. “After that I presented spoken word poetry at all the venues I could get and got good responses as well. I wondered why more people were not coming forward. I have been in literary circles where I saw people who could write well but were not willing to come on to the stage. Eventually I caught up with a few and we decided to do a spoken word show. The first show of Uninked was at Keraleeyam in November last year,” she says.

Besides Arwa, the one-hour show featured Shruthi V, a school student, and Geetha S Nair, a writer. “Shruthi is 16 and Geetha, 65. So, spoken word is for people of all ages,” Arwa adds. They also did gigs at events such as Locally Made and Harfest, besides one at The Reading Room that had 13 participants.

In addition to shows, Uninked also conducts meet-ups and workshops. “While the show demonstrates the power of spoken word poetry, meet-ups are for those who are not sure about going on stage. After every meet-up we add more performers to our shows. Vocabulary or language does not matter at Uninked,” she says.

Married to Ali Asgar, a businessman and BCCI umpire, Arwa has two kids. She is also a professional educational games designer, which she does for clients in Mumbai, and runs Thinkistry, a brand in Thiruvananthapuram that conducts workshops and sessions on thinking skills.