last year I led a poetry workshop I
retreat in the mountains of Spain an
intimate group of mainly women sat with
me in a circle on the floor as we
discuss the voice of the hearts of my
oftentimes we choose to ignore it I’m
not sure if it was the beauty of the
surroundings or the chance they had to
express themselves in a safe space but
throughout the workshop I noticed the
participants were constantly crying they
cried for themselves they cried with
each other and cried when listening to
the poetry that was written and it was
very beautiful
afterwards someone was describing my
workshop to one of her friends and said
you should really do sakina’s poetry
workshop it’s like the cheapest form of
therapy ever
her comment made me smile maybe it’s
because I love vulnerability in poetry
maybe it’s because I love raw emotions
in words maybe it’s because we live in a
world where we are bombarded with words
many of which lack depth and meaning so
if people can you can leave my workshop
with the confidence to speak from their
hearts then I feel like my work here on
planet earth is being fulfilled my name
is su kena I am a hip hop and spoken
word artist and sometimes I leak words
in the color of verses and with my pen
it feels like I’m painting my purpose
but still only skimming the surface
sometimes these words come to visit and
dance near my fingertips aching to be
known and waiting to live upon my
tongues tip and I don’t resist
in fact I surrendered to a power bigger
than me sometimes I hold the pen but my
poems write me love letters to help me
love better and soul speak unfettered
the first time I used the written word
as a form of release was as a teen not
so many years ago I have met the guy of
my dreams that I local carnival and I
was certain he was the one then one day
nothing he thought was turning my calls
he stopped responding to my texts I was
angry confused pissed off and I was
heartbroken so I decided to write him a
letter I allowed my words to flow and I
really used them to describe exactly how
I was feeling and I noticed in this
process
the pain was dimming it wasn’t even
about him anymore
it was about me finding a way to express
myself and release pain and this is
literally where my journey began a few
years later I set up a group with my
best friend called poetic pilgrimage
voila
and forgiver we inhabit the realms of
hip-hop and spoken word and through
these art forms I learned the power that
comes from molding words into rhymes and
breathing life into them we wrote
because it was part of our disposition
part of our genetic makeup if you will
we wrote because being without the means
to express ourselves is like being
without the means to breathe I write
because sometimes my heart overflows and
I have no choice but to share it
now well it sounds a little bit like I’m
a bit unlucky in love right all these
breakups and all these different things
but I love the time I wrote a poem after
after a very painful breakup and in this
poem I decided to do something different
I really chose not to immortalize myself
as a victim but as a victor
I used my words to narrate my way out of
pain and into empowerment and I noticed
every time I read my poem I felt
strengthened and I felt the warmth of
healing take place all over again now I
don’t think I’m showing anything
particularly profound here there is
therapeutic benefits in poetry or
releasing or writing but this year these
ideas I took for granted were challenged
in the spring I worked on a project with
the kvs Theatre in Brussels called rise
up this project was designed with the
intention of using poetry as a tool for
dialogue and healing one year after the
terror attacks that took place in the
city we wanted to bring together the
different people who call Brussels their
home so they could get to know one
another but more importantly hear one
another through poems Tara leaves a
stench on a city a cold breath and an
ache and a weight that impacts everybody
but often times we are unaware of how
different communities cope we forget
that everyone is trying to heal in the
aftermath of an attack as a Muslim woman
I have no words to convey how I feel
when a terror attack takes place in my
city the anxiety then rushes through my
body the fear that shadows me the
strength I required just to leave my
house the backlash I expect not only am
i omona I am also treated like a suspect
because people assume I am connected to
those who wage terror this reality made
it even more important for me to do a
project to bring people together now
this was the first time I worked on a
project where the word healing was in
the branding a Brussels news report
covered one of my workshops and said
Sakina thinks that people can be healed
through her poetry workshop the hint of
sarcasm made me kind of mindful of
something I always took for granted that
poetry can happen poetry can heal right
all right everyone believes that but for
some reason I was suddenly I lacked
confidence in a way I was like can my
workshops really hell how do I measure
healing how do I know what am I even
trying to heal people from it was really
confusing anyway
I continue to do workshops with Moroccan
women over pancakes and Mincey I did
workshops with teenage refugees from
Afghanistan Albania and Syria I worked
with high school kids and also with
young kids from a local youth club he
was super talented but the workshop that
really changed my life is a workshop I
did with asylum seekers people without
papers or some papier as they are called
in Brussels that workshop is a reason
why this talk is not a statement about
the healing power of poetry but a
question does poetry have the power to
heal but I want to tell you a bit about
that experience for you to understand
really why I’m posing it as a question
and not making a statement so I did a
workshop of around 20 people mostly from
North and West Africa most had no legal
documentation which meant they had no
status in this country most hadn’t seen
their family and even their children for
many years they felt invisible
insignificant and irrelevant in society
there was one man at my workshop he was
particularly agitated he kept
interrupting me not in a disrespectful
way but because he had a lot to say I
could see the emotion of frustration in
his eyes and he would constantly
constantly say to me madam madam can I
read you a poem I asked the group to do
simple writing exercise to write for
five minutes whatever games in mind but
after a few moments this gentleman
walked out of the room through his pen
and paper on the table and said this is
too emotional this is too painful I was
worried because the workshop hadn’t even
started yet
I hadn’t even begun to take them on a
journey to find that voice with him he
came back a few moments later and said
to me how is it possible for anyone to
feel what I’m going through how can
anyone possibly feel my painful poetry
well I said I personally think it is
possible to feel another person’s pain
through poetry even though our lives may
differ as human beings we all experience
the same basic emotions anger fear
happiness sadness love we’ve all
experienced rejection and we all want to
be loved so even though I’m not in your
shoes I can something of what you may be
going through
he seems satisfied with my answer but it
was less about my answer and more about
the Oscar it was more about him why did
he even ask me that question in the
first place what must he be going
through how must it feel to feel as
though no one fills you I can’t imagine
I think about my own life
I literally can’t sleep if I have
something on my chest it literally feels
like I’m being suffocated if I can’t
express myself and I’ve been known on
more than one occasion to wake my
husband up in the middle of the night
and be like babe are you awake
knowing that he’s totally not awake but
knowing these awake now totally uncool I
know about now it made me think about
what it means to be able to stand on a
stage like this and know that people
will listen to you to be able to speak
to a loved one and know that you’re
being heard it made me think about the
privilege of being a poet that you
literally spend your life just listening
to your heart to extract ayats and
knowing that you have an audience so
many people have no audience then he
asked me another question he said what
are we supposed to do now that you’ve
come and opened us up his question
literally hit me like a lightning bolt
in my chest I had no idea what to even
think or say it really made me question
do poetry workshops heal or am I just
here opening old wounds but no I
definitely do believe there was healing
power in poetry so this is why I said to
him I didn’t say it’s eloquently as this
by the way but it’s gonna sound eloquent
right now so I said the first stage is
identifying and acknowledging the pain
knowing there’s something wrong and
choosing not to ignore it is a first
stage of healing the second stage is
finding words to articulate your
emotions trying to use words like colors
to paint a picture is the next stage of
your of your healing process the third
stage is actually creating a poem from
your experience poetry is art it
contains Beauty River metaphor imagery
flow poetry to me is a beautiful outcome
from a painful situation I actually see
poetry like alchemy converting lead into
gold or water into wine sorrow insa
stanzas pain lots of pages to me that’s
what poetry can do the next stage is
sharing your poetry I believe that there
is healing and breathing life into your
words and allowing them to fly when your
words stand in the light you realize
they don’t belong to you they come
through you but they belong to whoever
is listening writing your poem is the
inhale sharing your poem is the exhale
and there is healing in
exhale final stage is witnessing others
relates your words the healing in the
stage comes them from the fact that
sometimes we think we’re alone but when
you when you release your poems and you
share them you realize that there are
other people who go for exactly the same
thing you being strong enough and
confident enough to share your story
gives other people the opportunity to
share their own now the workshop ended
with some beautiful and powerful poems
and I have loads out that there was
benefit in this workshop and all of the
other workshops to follow but I couldn’t
help feeling like I hadn’t done enough
his words kept ringing in my head what
do we do now that you’ve come and opened
us up in answer to my own question I
definitely believe there is healing in
the power and the process of writing
poems but for different groups it just
requires different approaches it’s not
as simple as me walking in for a
two-hour workshop and expecting
everybody to expose everything for the
sake of arts for some it takes time for
most it takes trust we are all a
collection of the stories we tell and
what brings us together is the stories
we tell to each other and the spaces in
which we share them and the trust we
develop of those who will hold our
stories in their hearts forever I write
poems to make myself weep to rip my
heart open so they can receive lessons
from heaven and breathe truth and in
truth I’m just trying to have
conversations with God in these poems
sometimes it feels like all I’ve got is
these problems so if nothing save a few
tender words upon a page I introduce my
hearts a world and staged poetry in my
breath I guess that’s just the way I
made poetry in my hearts I guess that’s
just the way I’m made thank you very
much
[Music]
[Applause]
retreat in the mountains of Spain an
intimate group of mainly women sat with
me in a circle on the floor as we
discuss the voice of the hearts of my
oftentimes we choose to ignore it I’m
not sure if it was the beauty of the
surroundings or the chance they had to
express themselves in a safe space but
throughout the workshop I noticed the
participants were constantly crying they
cried for themselves they cried with
each other and cried when listening to
the poetry that was written and it was
very beautiful
afterwards someone was describing my
workshop to one of her friends and said
you should really do sakina’s poetry
workshop it’s like the cheapest form of
therapy ever
her comment made me smile maybe it’s
because I love vulnerability in poetry
maybe it’s because I love raw emotions
in words maybe it’s because we live in a
world where we are bombarded with words
many of which lack depth and meaning so
if people can you can leave my workshop
with the confidence to speak from their
hearts then I feel like my work here on
planet earth is being fulfilled my name
is su kena I am a hip hop and spoken
word artist and sometimes I leak words
in the color of verses and with my pen
it feels like I’m painting my purpose
but still only skimming the surface
sometimes these words come to visit and
dance near my fingertips aching to be
known and waiting to live upon my
tongues tip and I don’t resist
in fact I surrendered to a power bigger
than me sometimes I hold the pen but my
poems write me love letters to help me
love better and soul speak unfettered
the first time I used the written word
as a form of release was as a teen not
so many years ago I have met the guy of
my dreams that I local carnival and I
was certain he was the one then one day
nothing he thought was turning my calls
he stopped responding to my texts I was
angry confused pissed off and I was
heartbroken so I decided to write him a
letter I allowed my words to flow and I
really used them to describe exactly how
I was feeling and I noticed in this
process
the pain was dimming it wasn’t even
about him anymore
it was about me finding a way to express
myself and release pain and this is
literally where my journey began a few
years later I set up a group with my
best friend called poetic pilgrimage
voila
and forgiver we inhabit the realms of
hip-hop and spoken word and through
these art forms I learned the power that
comes from molding words into rhymes and
breathing life into them we wrote
because it was part of our disposition
part of our genetic makeup if you will
we wrote because being without the means
to express ourselves is like being
without the means to breathe I write
because sometimes my heart overflows and
I have no choice but to share it
now well it sounds a little bit like I’m
a bit unlucky in love right all these
breakups and all these different things
but I love the time I wrote a poem after
after a very painful breakup and in this
poem I decided to do something different
I really chose not to immortalize myself
as a victim but as a victor
I used my words to narrate my way out of
pain and into empowerment and I noticed
every time I read my poem I felt
strengthened and I felt the warmth of
healing take place all over again now I
don’t think I’m showing anything
particularly profound here there is
therapeutic benefits in poetry or
releasing or writing but this year these
ideas I took for granted were challenged
in the spring I worked on a project with
the kvs Theatre in Brussels called rise
up this project was designed with the
intention of using poetry as a tool for
dialogue and healing one year after the
terror attacks that took place in the
city we wanted to bring together the
different people who call Brussels their
home so they could get to know one
another but more importantly hear one
another through poems Tara leaves a
stench on a city a cold breath and an
ache and a weight that impacts everybody
but often times we are unaware of how
different communities cope we forget
that everyone is trying to heal in the
aftermath of an attack as a Muslim woman
I have no words to convey how I feel
when a terror attack takes place in my
city the anxiety then rushes through my
body the fear that shadows me the
strength I required just to leave my
house the backlash I expect not only am
i omona I am also treated like a suspect
because people assume I am connected to
those who wage terror this reality made
it even more important for me to do a
project to bring people together now
this was the first time I worked on a
project where the word healing was in
the branding a Brussels news report
covered one of my workshops and said
Sakina thinks that people can be healed
through her poetry workshop the hint of
sarcasm made me kind of mindful of
something I always took for granted that
poetry can happen poetry can heal right
all right everyone believes that but for
some reason I was suddenly I lacked
confidence in a way I was like can my
workshops really hell how do I measure
healing how do I know what am I even
trying to heal people from it was really
confusing anyway
I continue to do workshops with Moroccan
women over pancakes and Mincey I did
workshops with teenage refugees from
Afghanistan Albania and Syria I worked
with high school kids and also with
young kids from a local youth club he
was super talented but the workshop that
really changed my life is a workshop I
did with asylum seekers people without
papers or some papier as they are called
in Brussels that workshop is a reason
why this talk is not a statement about
the healing power of poetry but a
question does poetry have the power to
heal but I want to tell you a bit about
that experience for you to understand
really why I’m posing it as a question
and not making a statement so I did a
workshop of around 20 people mostly from
North and West Africa most had no legal
documentation which meant they had no
status in this country most hadn’t seen
their family and even their children for
many years they felt invisible
insignificant and irrelevant in society
there was one man at my workshop he was
particularly agitated he kept
interrupting me not in a disrespectful
way but because he had a lot to say I
could see the emotion of frustration in
his eyes and he would constantly
constantly say to me madam madam can I
read you a poem I asked the group to do
simple writing exercise to write for
five minutes whatever games in mind but
after a few moments this gentleman
walked out of the room through his pen
and paper on the table and said this is
too emotional this is too painful I was
worried because the workshop hadn’t even
started yet
I hadn’t even begun to take them on a
journey to find that voice with him he
came back a few moments later and said
to me how is it possible for anyone to
feel what I’m going through how can
anyone possibly feel my painful poetry
well I said I personally think it is
possible to feel another person’s pain
through poetry even though our lives may
differ as human beings we all experience
the same basic emotions anger fear
happiness sadness love we’ve all
experienced rejection and we all want to
be loved so even though I’m not in your
shoes I can something of what you may be
going through
he seems satisfied with my answer but it
was less about my answer and more about
the Oscar it was more about him why did
he even ask me that question in the
first place what must he be going
through how must it feel to feel as
though no one fills you I can’t imagine
I think about my own life
I literally can’t sleep if I have
something on my chest it literally feels
like I’m being suffocated if I can’t
express myself and I’ve been known on
more than one occasion to wake my
husband up in the middle of the night
and be like babe are you awake
knowing that he’s totally not awake but
knowing these awake now totally uncool I
know about now it made me think about
what it means to be able to stand on a
stage like this and know that people
will listen to you to be able to speak
to a loved one and know that you’re
being heard it made me think about the
privilege of being a poet that you
literally spend your life just listening
to your heart to extract ayats and
knowing that you have an audience so
many people have no audience then he
asked me another question he said what
are we supposed to do now that you’ve
come and opened us up his question
literally hit me like a lightning bolt
in my chest I had no idea what to even
think or say it really made me question
do poetry workshops heal or am I just
here opening old wounds but no I
definitely do believe there was healing
power in poetry so this is why I said to
him I didn’t say it’s eloquently as this
by the way but it’s gonna sound eloquent
right now so I said the first stage is
identifying and acknowledging the pain
knowing there’s something wrong and
choosing not to ignore it is a first
stage of healing the second stage is
finding words to articulate your
emotions trying to use words like colors
to paint a picture is the next stage of
your of your healing process the third
stage is actually creating a poem from
your experience poetry is art it
contains Beauty River metaphor imagery
flow poetry to me is a beautiful outcome
from a painful situation I actually see
poetry like alchemy converting lead into
gold or water into wine sorrow insa
stanzas pain lots of pages to me that’s
what poetry can do the next stage is
sharing your poetry I believe that there
is healing and breathing life into your
words and allowing them to fly when your
words stand in the light you realize
they don’t belong to you they come
through you but they belong to whoever
is listening writing your poem is the
inhale sharing your poem is the exhale
and there is healing in
exhale final stage is witnessing others
relates your words the healing in the
stage comes them from the fact that
sometimes we think we’re alone but when
you when you release your poems and you
share them you realize that there are
other people who go for exactly the same
thing you being strong enough and
confident enough to share your story
gives other people the opportunity to
share their own now the workshop ended
with some beautiful and powerful poems
and I have loads out that there was
benefit in this workshop and all of the
other workshops to follow but I couldn’t
help feeling like I hadn’t done enough
his words kept ringing in my head what
do we do now that you’ve come and opened
us up in answer to my own question I
definitely believe there is healing in
the power and the process of writing
poems but for different groups it just
requires different approaches it’s not
as simple as me walking in for a
two-hour workshop and expecting
everybody to expose everything for the
sake of arts for some it takes time for
most it takes trust we are all a
collection of the stories we tell and
what brings us together is the stories
we tell to each other and the spaces in
which we share them and the trust we
develop of those who will hold our
stories in their hearts forever I write
poems to make myself weep to rip my
heart open so they can receive lessons
from heaven and breathe truth and in
truth I’m just trying to have
conversations with God in these poems
sometimes it feels like all I’ve got is
these problems so if nothing save a few
tender words upon a page I introduce my
hearts a world and staged poetry in my
breath I guess that’s just the way I
made poetry in my hearts I guess that’s
just the way I’m made thank you very
much
[Music]
[Applause]
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