Borgerhout (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Antwerp city poet Esohe Weyden has created a new city poem in collaboration with neighborhood group SAAMO Borgerbaan in Borgerhout.
The poem, “Peace Wishes to My Fellow Man,” will be read aloud at Borgerhout’s yearly Giants’ Parade.
“It’s a collaborative poem; I combined the words of the neighborhood workers into a single poem,”
says Weyden.
“Everyone has their own connection to the word ‘peace,'”
says city poet Esohe Weyden.
“I talked with the community workers at SAAMO about what peace means to them, and that’s what I started working with. I tried to use their words as much as possible.”
SAAMO Borgerbaan works with people in vulnerable positions who face exclusion.
Words like safety, freedom, love, and home recur in the city poem, terms that were frequently mentioned during the conversations.
“I’m used to translating my own view of the world into poetry,”
says Weyden.
“This time it was less of a ‘me story’ and more of a ‘them story.’ That was new to me.”
It was an excellent method of operation. The essence of being a city poet, in my opinion, is attempting to document urban life, interacting with people, and analyzing the themes and emotions that are present. This project, in my opinion, has done that quite effectively. The poem highlights global wars, such as those in Congo, Ukraine, and Gaza.
During Borgerhout’s Giantess Parade, the poem will be on exhibit at the Giantess SAAMOLINA. Representing the local group SAAMO, the giantess has been a regular presence at the Giantess Parade since 2023.
“The Giants’ Parade is a unifying event in the neighbourhood, and an ideal platform for making voices heard that would otherwise be hard to hear,”
says Daphne Tuasela of SAAMO.
“With the giantess and the poem about peace, we want to make the voice of the people at SAAMO visible in society. It gives people a sense of ownership in the neighborhood. They see their words reflected in the street, and they can be proud of that.”
Moroccan Safia is one of the community workers at SAAMO and contributed to the poem.
“I’ve been living in Belgium for two and a half years, and I experience peace here. I think it’s an important theme, and I hope everyone can experience the peace I experience here in Belgium. I want to spread that message during the procession.”
It was wonderful to be involved in this project. My family doesn’t live in Belgium, but the people at SAAMO have become my second family. It was a pleasure to create this poem with them.
The Borgerhout Giants’ Parade is a tradition that has been going on for three centuries.
“The parade celebrates the birthday of ‘The Giants,’ the children of Lange Wapper,”
says Wietse Vermeulen, coordinator of the Giants’ Parade.
“The four Giants are a fixture in the parade, but every year many other giants are also present, including the giantess SAAMOLINA.”
“During the Giants’ Parade, we try to combine tradition and history with innovation. We want to give different groups a voice during this unifying event.”
What themes or local issues does the poem address?
Esohe Weyden’s city poem in collaboration with SAAMO Borgerbaan takes on Borgerhout’s identity as a community, issues of social belonging, cultural diversity, and challenges and hopes in day to day life in the neighborhood – all in an effort to give voice to Borgerhout’s urban story.
Antwerp’s city poet, Esohe Weyden, who is also a doctoral researcher in family property law, recently worked with the neighborhood organization SAAMO Borgerbaan from Borgerhout to create a new city poem. This showcases her desire to get involved in local communities and to use poetry to bring people together and celebrate urban life in Antwerp’s diverse communities.
Weyden draws from her lived experiences of the city and writes about themes of identity, ambition, and the pace of modern living.
