As a way of concluding the month of love, Open mic Uganda held a show, Cupids letters-Heart to Heart Edition.
The show, which started at 7:00 pm at Bushpig Backpackers Hostel on February 26 2022 was gracefully attended by various poetry lovers, who kept their smiles on, till the end.
The legendary Chris Bahizi, a Rwandan Congolese living in Uganda opened the show with a French Ballad and accompanied it with a Swahili song, “Maneno.”
Energetic Poets hit the flow with mesmerizing and soothing poems, to entertain their guests.
Reciting the “My Intentions” poem from one of his collections, Danny Niwamanya led the team. Niwamanya would later exhibit his book towards the end of the show.
Peter Grace Kikomeko, who was comfortable introducing himself as Smith, came in with his poem, “The Pain Killer.”
The show’s MCs, Alyce Namale and Mitch Isabirye would maintain the vibe among the audience, with their endless jokes.
Meanwhile, Destiny Gladys Chaiga, came in with one of her poems, ‘Take me.’
“Often, some people like to say that women only enjoy the good part of the relationship. When it’s hustle time, they leave you wondering. So, take me, I hope you’ll like it,” she said.
Some of the lines in her poem read, “So take me, to the Genesis of your love life, To those dark moments when your heart was taken for granted and your intentions seemed not to beat my expectations…”
Tara, another poet told the audience, “If you do read cupid and psychic, you realize that love is not a smooth ride it’s not easy, it’s complicated. And, it’s filled with bitter turns. It’s beautiful, not just because it makes you smile, but because it hurts as well. and with that, there is envy; envy of the love you have, the envy of the love you don’t have and that’s the poem I want to recite.“
Tara, who also described himself as an “open mic”, recited one of his favorite poems by William Blake, which was about anger and envy.
Legendary The Black Poet, who performed with Bahizi also went with the night’s theme, with his entering poem called “Forgetting.”
“It’s about the girl that I thought I had loved,” he began, as the audience kept entertained, and he started with a love ballad.”
Luis the poet (stage name), Martin Kwizera, and Benjie, also entertained the guests.
The Book Launch
As part of the event, there was a book launch.
Talking about his book, ‘Heart To Heart,’ Danny Niwamnya said that he was inspired by his mother, Mrs. Kate Niwamanya. He narrated,
“Heart to heart is a book I’ve been writing for like two years. I started writing it in my last year of high school. I wrote like 20 poems and when I got into the lockdown, I wrote the other 30.“
Heart to heart is something I wrote for people who love poetry but seem to feel kike that’s not their world.
When you read heart to heart, you’re going to feel like I’m writing to you, because it’s a heart to heart and I want you to understand what I’m saying.
Achievements.
The experience of writing this book is just like having that feeling of accomplishment. I was a public author by 19 which was really cool, it was something to talk about and I was so happy for everyone who pushed me to do it.
Acknowledgment
I was so happy for Mr. Dennis Ssesanga who helped me through it and the rest of the Open mic team and my mum who funded my book.
She was always pushing me and asked how far.”
In honor of her mothers’ efforts, Danny’s first poem in the book, Mother’s Love is dedicated to her.
Those who bought a copy had it autographed by the author. Niwamanya’s books are available on all online platforms including Amazon, Apple, and other online eBook platforms.
