Oops - sorry Omar!

Hi, I'm Dione. That's me on the right, adjusting the flash to point adequately at the subject, Omar Musa. Unfortunately for him, just as he obligingly peered straight into the flash to help instruct me, it went off.
And that's how we almost blinded one of the nation's finest spoken poetry artists.
Not one of our finer moments, but luckily Omar is a sport, and gave us a brilliant performance to inspire my story. His performance made my heart race and the hairs on my arms stand up. As writers, words are our passion and our livelihood. We pride ourselves on our ability to craft words and "sum up" moments, if you will.
Sometimes, however, we fail - and that's when it's time to bow out gracefully and just implore the audience to experience the thing for themselves.
I thoroughly enjoyed interviewing the eloquent Omar, and indeed, writing the article Slamming the Sceptics for In the City autumn 2011. But I am telling you - nothing compares to the real thing. Go and see him, and his contemporaries, at the Canberra Theatre Centre this season.