Dear Editor,
As an octogenarian I so much enjoyed the poetry to which a sensitive TV Channel 28 exposed viewers on a Sunday evening. It was an education about the existence of a stream of consciousness to which too many in the society have become inured.
The poetry of the UpScalers was recited in different forms, all of which displayed the imagination and creativity of an unlikely range of young people, male and female, incidentally whose physical configuration sometimes belied not only an acute intelligence, but importantly, a profound depth of spirituality (attributes too disguised for law enforcers to recognise!).
Stimulated by the weekly presentations, one felt compelled to encourage colleagues to listen to a generation who in articulating their own sensibilities, intricated commentary on societal contradictions; bemoaned the loss of models of integrity; the prevalence of violence, and the almost conclusive resignation by so many adults to the currency of crime and corruption as a staple of living.
Other presenters would just ignore the pain produced by the surrounding turmoil, and let the spiritual purity of their poetry soar, almost nonchalantly, above the depravity so often mistaken for normalcy.
The UpScalers may have been a small but nevertheless critically important voice – one which needs to be resuscitated, as they deserve so much to be heard by more of us.
Yours faithfully
E B John
