Poetry

For the fifth time, a poetry weekend, “Festival O+O”, (= Au plus haut de Paris) was organised at Butte aux Cailles.

I have already posted about this little area of Paris, e.g. here, here and here, but maybe I should just remind you that we are on a modest hill-top, with a partly preserved feeling of a little village, which it once was - outside Paris until 1860. Close to the now covered, extinct, brook called Bièvre, it used to be a place where tannery and fabric industries were present. It’s also linked to social struggles, the Commune… It should be remembered that it was on its central square, Place Verlaine, that the first human flight landed and that’s also where you find one of the three spring water wells remaining in Paris (see here, here and here). Today, Butte aux Cailles is also a place for street art and a number of nice, simple, restaurants and bars. Few tourists take this direction, but many – young – Parisians do, especially during the evening hours.  

Last weekend you could meet some surprising “tents” walking around the streets. They “hid” a number of poets, who had chosen this way to present some of their poems, welcoming guests to visit their “tents”. The action was called "poetical shower".

There were many other ways to present poetry - on the streets, in the gardens, in shops, on walls…

On the main street, Rue de la Butte aux Cailles, there is a kind of library, which actually is a place for different social activities, “Les Amis de la Bienvenue”. Of course they offered poetry readings … and books.

At the Place de la Commune with its Wallace Fountain (see here), there were other activities ongoing, including help to write some poetry postcards to your friends, some Indian dancing...  

Much more happened, but you can’t be everywhere. I also wished to walk around, feel the atmosphere…

… check if there was any new street art.

In the evening some theatre performances by poets, stand-up artists… were offered.

On the way home, I could enjoy the special atmosphere of this little area…

… and get it confirmed that it’s a quite popular place among the younger population.