Loki, Rana Marathon & Victoria McNulty – what a line up at Saint Luke’s on the 23rd! The Scottish poetic voice is alive and well.
I’d never heard Rana Marathon before. She’s a kick-boxer of a poet, a wordsmith with a sharp smile. She’s rhythmic and funny and straight to the point. Everything she spoke and rapped was worth listening too, and was delivered in a way that tells you she works hard to get the words right.
Victoria McNulty is an important voice in Scottish culture. She makes the links that need making: history, social policy, real lives. Lesley Traynor says Victoria McNulty is fearless – she was certainly fearless in Saint Luke’s and everybody loved it. Her work references politics and poetry and the lives of people in a catchy, energetic way.
Loki hits the stage like a train. There’s really very little to say. Genuine, he is. I always feel challenged and inspired by what he says, even if I’m not sure I agree completely. This is artistic integrity. At one point Darren McGarvey, author of the powerful Poverty Safari, turned away from the audience and revealed the depth of both his pain and his poetry – beautiful that a man has the courage to be so honest.
And when someone uses cunt and metatextual in the same sentence you know you’re in the presence of greatness.