Do We Create Culture or Does Culture Create Us?

I’m standing in a crowded, noisy courtyard, outside the Bankstown Arts Centre.

Bankstown is a vibrant southern suburb of Sydney. It’s considered one of the most multicultural areas in Australia with residents from all over the world.

It’s a pre-Covid time and everywhere there are people in colorful clothes, talking with their hands and bodies and speaking unfamiliar languages. Eventually, I reach the front of the line and buy my ticket from a large bearded man with a big smile.

“Hey brother, just find a seat anywhere”

Stepping into a hall of laughter and noisy chatter, my partner and I manage to squeeze in between two young Arabic women. They smile and make room for us.

Before long a woman in a bright red hijab strides onto the stage and looks around the audience.

“Hi, I’m Sara, and welcome to the Bankstown Poetry Slam. Tonight we have fifteen slam poets eager to tell you their stories. You can click your fingers if you like a poem. There are two exits on either side of the room, in case Mark Latham turns up.” (1)

Mark Latham is a controversial local politician and everyone laughs and hoots.

“The competition is judged by you — I choose five people from the audience. The first judge is the guy in the front row wearing purple flares with pink sneakers. Give him a big round of applause, cause it takes guts to wear that.”

Sara’s got a wicked sense of humor and the audience love it.

“Our first poet of the night is Layla,”

Layla comes out of the audience up to the microphone. Her face is warm and her voice direct.

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