(Right: Marí Peté)
Pieter Scholtz and friends including this month’s Mondays at 6 at St Clements featured artist, poet and academic Marí Peté, invite patrons to the launch of Light Travels | Lig Reis, her most recent book of poetry. Taking place on May 8, 2023, look forward to an interactive evening blending travel memoirs, travel poems and doodles.
Peté was last at St Clements in September 2022 when she entertained with stories melding technology, poetry and her PhD research.
Peté says: “Come along if you are a dreamer who loves when art expresses longing. Bring a blank slate and your favourite stylus or brush.”
The poetry performed and discussed by the poet, asks what happens when we travel in flesh or spirit. Listen to travel poems and fleeting musings. The poet will create pauses when you can doodle your own memoirs and imaginative responses — these need not be poetry or even words — possibly remain private or grow into a shared work.
To quote from the poet’s introduction, Light Travels | Lig Reis invites you to “Step into the eye of concentric time — here, events that hold more weight, sit nearer to the centre, no matter how long ago they occurred. This collection draws on some of my travels abroad from 1998 when I was pregnant, to 2019 when my child turned 21.”
Every poem appears side by side in English and Afrikaans. She trans-writes her poems, working with the music and poetic potential of each language, and in this process, each version shapes its counterpart in dynamic interaction.
Peté’s performance of Durban Taxi at Poetry Africa 2010, was called “a delicious success” in the Mail & Guardian. At Woordfees in Stellenbosch, she shared a stage with poets like Leon de Kock and Finuala Downing. The London Book Fair, Kirkcudbright Arts Festival and Pierneef Theatre count among many other appearances. Her debut poetry collection, begin, was nominated for the Ingrid Jonker prize. The poem Warwick Junction was shortlisted for the Sol Plaatje Poetry Competition and Voorstedelike Oggendritueel (suburban morning ritual) won the Woordgilde poetry competition.
Since 1983, her poems have appeared in magazines such as Tydskrif vir Letterkunde, New Contrast, and New Coin. She was adjudicator for the Douglas Livingstone Poetry Competition. She holds a PhD in Visual and Performing Arts. From her poetic inquiry thesis, she published an article in the feminist journal Agenda in 2022. For more information on her seven poetry collections, visit maripetepoetry.com
When the donations box is passed around, a minimum of R50 pp is suggested.
Bookings limited to diners in support of St Clements restaurant and staff. (They stay open specially for the event.) Be there in time to open your tab and order before the scheduled 18h00 start time. If you wish to dine after the presentation, place your order before 18h00.
The evening is planned for outdoors. If it rains, they set up inside in which case, after the guest presentation, feel welcome to shift tables to continue with the evening. Please cancel if you book then can’t make as they often close bookings due to space constraints.
Mondays at 6 at St Clements will take place on May 8 (the first Monday was a public holiday, hence the change)
Table Bookings Essential: RSVP ST Clements 031 202 2511.
St Clements is situated at 191 Musgrave Road. Mondays @ Six run between 18h00 and 19h00. Table bookings are essential on 031 202 2511. There is no cover charge but there is a donations box to support presenters.
(NB: There will be books on sale at a special St Clements rate.)
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