Helsinki Writers Group is a creative community made up of writers from different backgrounds and cultures. They all work in different styles and genres, but they regularly create collections surrounding a common theme that can be taken in many directions.
In their collaboration with Helsinki Open Waves, four members of Helsinki Writers Group have come together. In this collection, Csilla Csépke, Gerry Stewart, Leah Martin and Saara Kahra explore what’s under the surface. Their poems crawl into the spaces where worms burrow and nest on the tip of the tongue.
The poems:
If you’d ever eaten dirt, you’d know – Leah Martin
What Grows in the Dark – Gerry Stewart
The back of beyond – Saara Kahra
Lost in you – Csilla Csépke
Fist full of mud – Saara Kahra
Our Diminishing Passage – Gerry Stewart
Unexpected encounter at Tähtitorninkatu – Csilla Csépke
Sea monster – Saara Kahra
if you can remember a night at the arches you were never there – Gerry Stewart
I like to think there’s a future for the ant that my dog snorted up his nose – Leah Martin
Csilla Csépke is a published Hungarian writer. She writes mostly short stories and occasionally poetry. She recently performed at the Kotka International Film Festival with Sivuvalo.
Gerry Stewart is an editor, teacher and widely published poet who writes in English and uses Finnish for inspiration.
Leah Martin is a performance poet and improviser who moved to Finland from the United States in 2019.
Saara Kahra is a Finnish poet, who likes to bend words and watch pines. She writes in English and Finnish.
Credits
Producer: Helsinki Writers Group
Poets: Csilla Csépke, Gerry Stewart, Leah Martin, Saara Kahra
Sound recording, editing & mixing: Bailey Polkinghorne
*The audio piece was recorded at the Helsinki Open Waves performance & recording room located at Caisa.
**The views expressed in this audio piece and texts are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the view of Helsinki Open Waves.
***If you have any feedback regarding the content of the podcast, please contact us via helsinkiopenwaves@gmail.com.