A voyage into the colourful world of the unknown poet - open mic night episode one??

[This is posted on behalf of Suze!]

This may be a standard monthly event for Colin and his fellow chums but it struck fear in the hearts of the average team 85 member! It has apparently become a bit of a tradition with GX 'team players' over the past few years and so team 85 was to be no exception. Out of our comfort zones we certainly were!! Fire breathing dragons filled spectator seats - or so it felt. The professionals got us under way setting the bar for the evenings festivities - no pressure then! First to face the monstrous 3 headed beasts was our team supervisor - Go Peppy! The light gleamed in her eyes as she sized up to the terror in order to unravel her beautiful little ditty on GX Glasgow '09. Then came Sabina, a hidden talent and a magical gem - a real challenge for any future volunteer. She delighted the crowd with her loving anecdotes on each volunteer (some lines disputed!) Up next was Sarmad, ever the joker he took us by surprise with his moving thoughts on death. Alex was no exception, revealing an inner poet, masked by his usual witty banter and sarcastic humour. We did however have one poet hidden up our sleeves - Salma, our secret weapon, who dazzled us with her lovely lyrics. David of the poetry world was definitely sizing up Goliath as Debs took gallantly to the stage to read with raw emotion the powerful lines of Kiki's poem, illuminating the current situation in Pakistan. This contrasted, only mildly of course, to the sincere 'Bing Bang Bong, Listen to My Song' that was to be my opener! In this cross cultural exchange Urdu was always going to be in there somewhere and with only ke see ho? to play the UK volunteers left this in the capable hands of Najeeba, Rabi and Maria whose poetry sung like the songs of fairies. Even host home dad Simon joined the shenanigans and recited his feelings on the economic situation ravaging society with so much passion you'd never have thought him a novice. With the night ended, the dragons were disarmed and the poets stood triumphant. We could now sit back, relax, and enjoy Colin's renditions of great Scottish classic songs, my personal favourite and a definite crowd pleaser; "I'm no..."

Onwards to the next open mic night?! Who knows...