Poetryish stuff to do: Haimona by Mike Eager at the Wellington Fringe Festival

I've seen Mike Eager perform some of this poetry before, and it's well worth seeing.

Here's all the info:

Rush Hour Productions Presents
Haimona
Featuring the poetry of Simon Williamson
Arranged and performed by Mike Eager
3-7 March, 8.00pm
Katipo Café, 76 Willis St, Wellington
Bookings: 021 064 5893 (text or call) Cost: $15/12/11
www.fringe.org.nz

"Every poet is a bit like Maui; part myth, part reality"

So begins Haimona, a fringe festival show of rich language and imagery performed by Mike Eager telling the story of his friend Simon Williamson using Simon's own poetry.

Simon died in 1999 at the age of thirty-one. He was well known in the New Zealand underground poetry scene and was regularly published in publications such as Takahe and Jaam, but greater recognition has come posthumously with two published books displaying the range of his poetic vision (Storyteller and Twenty-five Cars).

Mike has arranged and linked a sequence of Simon’s moving poems to form a narrative - taking the audience on a journey from Simon's childhood in the Waikato into the tumultuous experience of mental illness, which included a short stay in Purehurehu, a locked ward at Porirua Hospital. From there a road trip to the serenity of the Hokianga and a return to Wellington's Lyall Bay resulting in a recovery of self and belief in his artistic mission.

A copy of Simon Williamson's book Twenty-five Cars - which includes the poetic sequence Haimona as well as Miss you, bro, a powerful sequence against suicide - will be a bonus with each ticket that is purchased.