Tag: Caits Meissner

art, Beauty, Caits Meissner, Poetry

Digging Deep, Facing Self LIVE in KL, Malaysia! This Sunday 22nd Nov, 10 am – 1 pm @ Cufica

Raidah Shah Idil

PrintI have wonderful news! Join my poetic coach and mentor, the talented Caits Meissner, this Sunday morning for a Digging Deep, Facing Self (DDFS) crash course ❤ Caits is flying down all the way from New York, bringing her suitcase of healing poetic balms to Malaysia for the very first time.

My sister Aisyah and I have the honour and pleasure of being amongst the DDFS alumni. Under Caits’ expert tutelage, both of us have had our poems selected for publication at the Islamic Museum of Australia! I hope that her deft touch, courageous prompts and compassion will inspire you into your own space of healing and wonder.

This Sunday night, join Caits Meissner, myself and a range of local artists for poetry performances around the theme “Deeper Consciousness”.

My deepest thanks and gratitude goes to the organisers for making this tour possible – Third Space, Poetry Cafe KL, Blubricks, Cufica, and the American Embassy – especially Jamal Raslan. Thank you for making it possible for me to meet Caits in real life!

If you love poetry, writing, healing and everything in between, please come and bring your loved ones. May this be means of adding beauty to our lives!

Print

art, Beauty, Caits Meissner, Poetry

My poem, Immigration, selected for publication at the IMA! @caitsmeissner #islamicmuseumaustralia

Raidah Shah Idil

1209718_writingI’m thrilled to announce that my poem, Immigration, will be exhibited at the Islamic Museum of Australia from Oct 10th to Jan 10th 🙂 I’m even more excited that my youngest sister’s poem will also be exhibited 🙂 Go Aisyah!

My deepest thanks and gratitude goes to the talented Caits Meissner, who so lovingly nurtured my sister and me, along with our poems. Caits, you are my poetic personal trainer.

The IMA’s opening night function will be on Friday 10th October, at 7 pm. If you’re able to, please do head down and celebrate the beauty produced by various Australian Muslim artists. In a world splintering at the edges, it helps to be reminded of the constancy and presence of the Divine, threaded through our lives and artwork. There is still so much beauty in this world, living alongside the pain.

Continue reading “My poem, Immigration, selected for publication at the IMA! @caitsmeissner #islamicmuseumaustralia” →

art, Beauty, Life, Love, Poetry

My first published poems are up!

Raidah Shah Idil

Screen-Shot-2014-03-04-at-5.34.43-PM-165x200I’m thrilled to share that my first set of published poems are up!

Please scroll down Cait Meissner’s website and download the free course anthology titled “Armed Only With Our Souls”. Thank you Caits and the lovely ladies of the April Digging Deep, Facing Self group – I am honoured to have tread that path of creative expression and healing with you.

To any woman who is on the precipice of change but feels stuck…I urge you to sign up, do the hard growth work, and marvel at the outcome.

art, Poetry

My debut spoken word performance! @caitsmeissner @markgonzales @barakablue

Raidah Shah Idil

spokenword1The universe has order.

Last night, through a series of unexpected events, I ended up performing during a gig with Baraka Blue and other local Malaysian artists.

When I first stood at the microphone, I had DRAGONS in my stomach (forget butterflies). By the time the local artists and Baraka Blue himself performed, I was alight with creative energy, and ended up closing the event with a poem I wrote only hours before hand, during my poetry workshop with Baraka Blue.

Overall, it was incredible. There is something so magical about performing in the same gig with one my writing mentors. Maktub: it is written.

I performed three of my poems (Bone Marrow, Elder and Nenek), and I’m thrilled to report that I’ve been asked – very vociferously – to join the local poetry slam scene. Last week, I didn’t even know where to look. I’m working on uploading my performances. Stay tuned!

I’d like to thank Jamal Raslan and the Crescent Collective team for making this all possible. Also, special thanks goes to the brilliant spoken word artists who continue to inspire me: Caits Meissner, Mark Gonzales, and of course, Baraka Blue!

art, Beauty, Family, Love, Poetry

My poem – Nenek (maternal grandmother)

Raidah Shah Idil

Screen-Shot-2014-03-04-at-5.34.43-PM-165x200I’m on Week Three of a 30 day writing course – Digging Deep, Facing Self – and my poetry guru, Caits Meissner, has asked each of us to share our favourite piece of work as an exercise of vulnerability and bravery. I’d love to hear your thoughts on my poem. It’s still a very early draft, so be gentle, and please do comment!

Nenek (maternal grandmother)

I was thirteen and
an ill-fitting shoe
in my new country
of vegemite and Uncle Toby’s
I, child of chicken rice and noodles

when Nenek died

Mak flew back with Aisyah
I wish I had gone too
to say goodbye before the end
but only two decades later
when I awoke to the meaning of my ancestry

I lost your blue-stoned ring,
Nenek,
forgive me.
it haunts me
how careless I was

while I grieved for you,
refugees were shipwrecked
drowning
trying to enter the country
I waltzed into (via aeroplane)

“There are no children in detention centres.”
said the national lie
as more and more babies were born
into a cage

Nenek, you fled the communists
on a leaky boat with Datuk
not a cent to your name

your catalyst: being at gunpoint
Datuk told the soldier
“Shoot her first.”

you fled on a boat
like so many around the world
dark night, full moon swallowing the sky
risking death by drowning

you were a boat person
scorned
like the others left bloated
in the water
but you survived

you carved out a new life in Singapore
birthed countless children
showed them how to survive the ache of life
served tea to Datuk even when you could barely walk

Nenek, I am comfortable now
calm, grounded, married
you would have been so proud
I have returned to country you fled from
lifetimes ago

you paid for this, in the terror of your
night-time exodus
huddled next to your husband
towards an uncertain future

you have secured mine.