Afra Atiq is a Poet on the Stage

We are sitting in front of a stage and the lights dim, we expect to see a singer, a comedian, an actor or a performer. The last thing most of us would expect to see or hear is a poet, performing. If you haven't seen a live spoken word poetry session then we highly suggest you do. It's immediate like jazz, energetic like an intense monologue, as thought provoking as a short story and as entertaining as a musical.

As the first female Emirati spoken word artist Afra Atiq brings those elements together into her performances. Her words are hitting a nerve with a lot of people. Discussing issues through her poetry that are personal, relatable and universal reminds us that in a place like Dubai, which is renowned for its diversity, we are in fact a lot alike.

Afra comes from a mixed heritage with an Emirati father and a Japanese mother. She recognises her talent and interest in the written and spoken word stems from her family.

"My earliest memories are literally of my mother reading to us,' she told City Times, "there are stories to this day that I read in my mum's voice. I think since early childhood she's been reading to us. That is where I would assume it started and we are a family of readers."

Afra was the recent recipient of the prestigious Gulf Capital - ADMAF Creativity Award for her piece, An Open Letter to Cancer. The deeply moving piece was chosen from 25 entries received from students and recent graduates of colleges and universities across the UAE (Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah and Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai).

Afra like many spoken work artists takes on a type of persona when she performs, making us laugh, think and see things in a way that we may not have seen them before. Other than reciting poetry on her social media platforms you can expect to see Afra perform on a number of stages around the city, most recently at the Emirates Festival of Literature and in the upcoming Step Music Festival.

City Times sat down with Afra and discussed poetry, identity and the importance of the collective.

When did you start reading poetry?
I wish I could be one of those people who has one of these cool stories where I can be like, I know exactly when I started, I know exactly what inspired me. I've recently discovered that it's always been there and so going through old notebooks and childhood things there are little bits and pieces of poetry there.
It's always been there. I'm not ashamed to say that almost 17 years ago I wrote a poem that I dramatically read it to my class (laughs). I cringe thinking about it now but as far as spoken word and performance goes, that was the moment. It has always been there but it's only been recently that I have been taking it seriously and realising this is what I want to do, this is what makes me happy. I want to do it.

When did you realise that spoken word was a thing?
I was with a friend of mine and we were at a conference. They had these conference activities where they have these ice breakers and she stood up and did spoken word poetry and I thought, 'wow this is amazing.' But I didn't think about it as poetry and I'm guilty of being one of those people that didn't appreciate the art of poetry until much later on.

How would you describe spoken word poetry?
A lot of people think about spoken word and its contemporary sense of being something new. In the Middle East we've been reciting poetry for hundreds of years. Restoration has always had that performance element and so as far as spoken word goes and the definition of spoken word we've been doing it for a really long time. There are people who are like, 'oh we brought spoken word here, we've done this.' You've brought spoken word in its Western sense but as far as poetry restoration and performance, it's been here for a long time.

You've said before that you don't think you'd write poetry down in a book. Can you elaborate on that?
I'm a stage poet and not a page poet, that's how I think about my craft. I think it's something worth exploring, but I love the thrill of performance. I mean aside from food (laughs) there is nothing that I love more than performing poetry. I love the experience, I love the experience that people get, I love the thrill of being on stage, I love watching people's faces as I'm performing. When you're performing, you're there, you're in the moment you can see them and you can see when they don't like something or when they do like something.

What's your process when you're working on a poem?
Poems usually come out as one stream of consciousness and so it will just be something that sparks something. It's normally in my head and I will say it out because as a performer you need to know how it sounds, so I say it out loud. Once I've done that I move on to the next stage. I'm very particular about my choice of words, so I do obsessive things, I count syllables, I have a formula that I use for picking words that I know vocally will sound good together. You need to have a rhythm, you need to have a flow especially with spoken word.

Are there any particular issues or themes you explore through your poetry?
I always have a message. I like to have a message in my poetry. The only love poem that I've ever written is about food. People laugh and they love it. As I get to the middle of the poem I start talking about my relationship with food and I talk about the kind of self destruction that comes with it and all of those thoughts and all of those feelings. I talk about body image in that frame of mind. So even that, that seemingly funny poem that people love, it has a message. When I started doing poetry I started talking about all the big things that I thought were wrong with the world.

So it's about things that are personal to you as well as being universal issues?
Yes. When I was writing these poems I was like, 'OK but where are you? Where is your voice in this?' That's why I think it's so important to have your voice. Then I thought well who wants to hear my story? And once I started talking about my story people started responding even more so then with other poems. I talk about feminism, body image, bullying; I talk about all of these different things.

Would you say that's brave?
I'm an Arab, I'm a woman, I'm a performer, I'm a poet, I check all the boxes. It was difficult and still is difficult. It's not easy to put yourself out there. That makes you really vulnerable and makes you really just out there. Someone recently asked me what is poetry and I told them, 'poetry is showing your neck to the ones wielding the sword' and I think that's absolutely what it is. In those moments where someone comes up to you after a show and says thank you for writing that poem cause I went through that or this has inspired me not to give up or I relate to this or that, it makes it all worth it. Poetry is about the collective, it's not about the individual. All the great poets understood that.