KATHMANDU, March 7: Internationally acclaimed poets Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye performed in the ‘March of the Poets’ held at International Club, Sanepa on Monday.
The duo is currently in Nepal in a two-part show. The show was hosted by Quixote’s Cove Bookshop and Word Warriors, Kathmandu-based group of young poets leading the spoken word movement in Nepal.
Sarah Kay, who is also a spoken-word educator and the co-founder of Project VOICE, an organization that uses spoken word poetry as a tool for literacy and empowerment, has performed in numerous venues internationally, including the Lincoln Center, the Tribeca Film Festival and at TED talk. Her widely popular TED talk, entitled ‘If I Should Have a Daughter,’ has been viewed over five million times online.
Phil Kaye is also the co-director of Project VOICE. Through his work, Phil has worked hands-on with students of all different ages in over a hundred schools around the world. Most recently, Phil was invited to perform alongside Dalai Lama for the celebration of his 80th birthday.
The event started with the poems of Word Warriors and musical performances by Project Sarangi and Zero Mile. Project Sarangi is a non-profit organization conserving traditional Nepali folk music a platform for youth. After several captivating Nepali and English poems performed by the Word Warriors, the shows introduced the audiences with Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye.
The American poets humored the audiences with their poem ‘An Origin Story’ about how they’ve coincidentally got similar last names and how that brought them together. Their poems talked about a range of topics including their upbringing, love, pain and womanhood.
They also crafted a special poem for their love for Nepal. The final performances they performed together were the popular poem ‘When Love Arrives’, which talked about expectations and contrasting realities of love.