Quinoa Blessed

An improvised eruption of spoken word. In a state of intense vulnerability, amidst a devastating relationship break-up, when I really wanted to read poetry to a gentle audience at Open Studio in Melbourne, all I was capable of doing was standing on stage, naked and raw, in full honesty and presence, slashing open my delicate flesh and throwing my internal organs around the room. It was a valuable part of the grieving and the healing process from this passionate and destructive relationship. Recorded live 2017-06-20. I offer total love and forgiveness to anyone who may be implicated in this cathartic release. The pain has passed and only the art remains.

It is a messy process to emerge from the depths of an intense, passionate, loving and destructive relationship. Part of my healing process was to get on stage and speak directly to a sympathetic audience about what I was going through. I couldn't write about my pain at the time, but I could improvise, and a pinch of humour makes it all emerge so much easier. This audience was at Spoken Word at Bar Oussou, hosted by James Curtin, who offers a loving and funny commentary at the end. Recorded live 2017-04-10. I offer total love and forgiveness to anyone who may be implicated in this cathartic release. The pain has passed and only the art remains.

A response to a beautiful photo of me taken by Giles Hunt at a Rainbow Gathering in Aotearoa. In surprise and delight of what I look like, I wrote this expression, moving from my skin into my heart; what I look like moving into what I feel like. This is how it feels to be in my skin, and how I would love to tenderly connect to others, from their skin to their heart. Recorded at Premstock Fruits and Roots Festival in Daintree, Far North Queensland, Australia 2018-07-13.

In a moment of clarity and disgust I managed to breathe in the poison of the city and purge it out as poetry. A harsh but loving critique of the absurdity and impossibility of modern life. If you appreciate my work please support me financially. Just pretend I put a paywall up between you and my work. https://www.paypal.me/QuinoaChrisKirk Recorded at the delightful island of supportive self-expression in the ocean of alienation and loneliness, Spoken Word at Bar Oussou, 2018-05-21.

The spell I choose to cast right now is a return to my pagan roots of ecstasy and wilderness. Every sentence we speak is a spell we cast into the universe. I choose my words carefully. I search my cultural landscape for meaning and I make sense of the information I receive through my body. My experience is one of complexity and ultimately joy. Recorded live at spoken word at Bar Oussou, Melbourne 2018-01-15. Every second Monday, it's a great night, please join us and bring your joy and pain to share.

I will no longer participate in a cultural process that I do not agree with, that does not satisfy me, that does not support life on this planet. I revoke my consent in this virulent march to the stars. A radical spoken word performance for transformation. Recorded 2017-08-18 at the Love-In at Longdrop's Lair.

A poem I wrote nine years ago in which I complete the process of grieving my mother's death by reliving the whole grief process in 25 minutes in front of an audience and re-emerging whole at the end, ready to engage with life again. The poem has fresh relevance for me today as I grieve the loss of a loving and intimate relationship and again delve deep into the healing power of a real winter. Recorded at an intimate gathering in my home in Melbourne 2017-08-02. Written and first performed in Auckland 2008-05-20. Photo by Giles Hunt.

Live spoken word performance of my memories of the Spice Girls' eruption onto my mid-'90s adolescence mixed with my present adult sex-positive philosophical sensibility; with a bit of dry irreverence. Pop music is rarely subjected to the social and literary attention it deserves. Although the music might be simple and the commercial, the aesthetic as a whole may sometimes get away with a radical subtext. I'll tell you what I want: I want you to download, listen and enjoy my recordings and then to make a financial contribution to facilitate me continuing to offer my work for free. paypal.me/QuinoaChrisKirk Recorded 2017-07-26 at the Absinthesalon, Melbourne, Australia.

Despair and heartbreak have permeated every part of my body, my life and my world. Disappointment and hopelessness have been like a prison for my heart. But I have had enough. Here I publicly declared, at Melbourne's most inclusive, supportive, attentive and exuberant spoken word night at Bar Oussou on 2017-07-17, that I am free, I am clean, and I exorcise lingering demons of pain and love out of my body, ready for new life and new connections. Please support my artistic practice by making a financial contribution. https://www.paypal.me/QuinoaChrisKirk I have no other source of income. If you appreciate my work, I appreciate your patronage. Much love, Quinoa.

Perhaps we have different visions of a perfect world. Perhaps we have been sold an idea of Heaven On Earth that we have never seriously considered. Perhaps Civilisation protects us or suffocates us. Perhaps the wilderness calls to us or terrifies us. But our bodies know the difference. If we listen to our bodies we know what we need. A spoken word performance recorded at Open Studio in Melbourne December 2015.

We are muddled and confused creatures clawing blindly in the dark for the love we so desperately need. Performed at Slamalamadingdong, Melbourne on 2016-03-31.

When there is no hope left for denial, honesty is all we have left. When despair and heartbreak are the lens through which we view the world, it is indeed a dark vision. When we no longer fear death or imprisonment, we are ready to engage with the fullness of how it feels to be alive in this body, in this culture, in this moment. Recorded 2017-05-08 at Bar Oussou, Sydney Road, Melbourne. If you appreciate my work, follow the "Buy" link and make a donation to facilitate me continuing to produce free content of a radical and transformational nature.

In vulnerability we bloom together like colourful flowers, dangerous and spectacular, not always carefully protecting each other's innocence; but what a moment, shared, rich, painful and unforgettable. Recorded 2017-04-24 at Melbourne's most exuberant and inclusive spoken word open mic, Oussou, Sydney Road, Brunswick.

Has the time come to radically live up to our own values? Not quite yet? The sermon on the mount via the comfort of my own "living" room. My performance at Slamalamadingdong at 24 Moons in Melbourne 2016-10-26. Please feel free to make a financial contribution to support my practice. I work for you, my family, my humans, my listeners. I do the best I can with the best gifts I have to offer this world. I have no other source of income. Your patronage is much appreciated and very well-spent. www.paypal.me/QuinoaChrisKirk

Written at a very lucid moment and lifted into sexiness by producer Kaeru Dawn Kambo, spoken word maestro Quinoa Blessed destroys the non-existent extra-terrestrials that have culturally brainwashed us with their peculiar language formulations. Written in 2011, you may have heard this poem before, but not like this!

Quinoa Blessed performing at the delightful spoken word open mic at Oussou in Melbourne. The conflict of choosing to live in the city for social and creative vibrancy while completely avoiding the use of money. This was written after being kicked out of our beautiful squat after only one night living there, so it could stand empty for another two years.

Spoken word performer Quinoa Blessed in collaboration with producer Kaeru Dawn. I reclaim my sacred role in society as a faggot, a role that not only emerges from my very nature, but a role that has a long history in pre-Christian European tradition.

Recorded at the regular open mic at Oussou on Sydney Road, Melbourne on 2016-04-11. Quinoa shares his philosophical thoughts about our misunderstanding of the nature of language, and therefore our misunderstanding of the nature of everything.

Spoken word performer Quinoa Blessed in collaboration with producer Kaeru Dawn. Featuring the voices of the spectacular and unique goddesses Divine and Edith Massey from John Waters's films Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble. Electronic spoken word, the funkiest and most anarchistic new genre. Here I solve all the world's problems with one simple solution: no more humans. 2016-07-11

Quinoa performs his famous Snake poem with his snake wand on the Open Stage at Confest 2016-03-27. The audience responds with surprise and delight. Check out my website for the written text: http://www.quinoablessed.com/2015/06/snake.html (Photo by Jason Nixon.)

Deep within our psyche there are toxic cultural programmes with unforeseen and complex consequences. Performed at Bar Oussou on Sydney Road, Melbourne 2016-03-14 at the exuberant and inclusive spoken word open mic.

A vision of a revolution with the power of global capital backing its own downfall. James Curtin is a poet, performer and gardener living in Melbourne. He hosts Spoken Word at Bar Oussou every other Monday night in Brunswick. A humourous and exuberant spoken word performance recorded live at Voices in the Attic, Ferdydurke, Melbourne, 2015-05-12.