Get Your Vote Out! (and photos from our party at The CAMP)

Last night we celebrated “The Future We Choose” in style at The City and Arts Music Project, a great bar and club close to Old Street Station.

The Future I Choose featured live music from the critically acclaimed Delirium Tremens, Poetry from the Think Act Vote competition, Tunes from Semtek and the now infamous photobooth and ballot box.

Delirium Tremens - Photography by Marcia Chandra

Semtek Photography by Marcia Chandra

Congratulations to Olivia Sprinkel who won the Think Act Vote Poetry Competition, and Richard Watkins who was the runner up. We will be sharing the whole shortlist with you shortly.

John Bedwell Reciting The Winning Poem - Photography by Marcia Chandra

The Happiness Project by Olivia Spinkles

I seize upon the pink stickie,
On the community workshop wall.
‘Happiness Project’. Let’s create it.
Let’s do, do, do, let’s plan a project,
Let’s make it happen, let’s take those
Five or seven steps to happiness.

This is my happiness project.
This cardboard cup of soup,
Celeriac and pear, paler than
The winter sun. The warmth
Of the pot soft as a lover’s hand.
I dip my spoon. It sails out to sea.

The sweetness of a radiant autumn
Afternoon, pressing chunks of
Red apple and green pear plucked
From a blue sky, dripping juice.

The earthiness of a kitchen evening,
A heavy pan of celeriac gratin,
Bubbling browned from the oven,
Melt of cream and molten laughter.

This is my happiness project,
Contained here in this cup of soup.
I look out, pull my scarf tighter, watch
A pink booted pigeon parade
On the glass palisade, whilst the river
Washes scudding clouds away.

: Think Act Vote Ballot Box – Photography by Marcia Chandra

The future i choose by Richard Watkins

It’s not universally acceptable to say how much you enjoy things,
Much more popular to point at problems –
Proclaim preciecely when and where we got down trodden.

But friends can be frank so let us speak candid:
We all have more cause to thank than cause to panic.
And our calamaties, although inconvenient, are rarely titanic.

So – what shall we do with this habitual imbalance in our speech?
Well, it hardly requires a grand intelectual leap.
Maybe we just need to give nice things more attention,
A mention at least.

: Think Act Vote Founder Amisha Ghadiali – Photography by Marcia Chandra

Thanks to all of you for coming down, having your photos taken for our book and sharing your positive visions of the future. Watch this space for the photos and futures.