“You need to choose your triggers carefully.” Jolene Phillips is sitting back in a deep, soft sofa on the stoep at Temenos Retreat, reflecting. “Yes, and you need time to process all of this,” says Philippa Kabali-Kagwa with an expansive gesture. These two are among the many poets and would-be poets who have come to listen, perform and pay homage to the art at the sixth annual Poetry in McGregor Festival.

There is indeed a lot to take in. Not just the poetry, but the people, the place and all the senses they kindle. McGregor, a tiny village at the foot of the Riviersonderend Mountains, not far from Robertson, is full of small lyrical moments, like haikus in the making – hanging bird nests,