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The Poetry Live Christchurch Benefit Gig brought together guest musicians and poets on March 1 and raised $641.

The Poetry Live Christchurch Benefit Gig brought together guest musicians and poets on March 1 and raised $641.

The Poetry Live team quickly decided to turn the weekly Tuesday event at Thirsty Dog on K'Rd, Auckland, into a benefit gig "because we were desperate to help in some way and thought one thing we could all do was share our creativity – music, spoken word, poems," said one of the poets Sabrina Muck.

Guest musicians were Anna Kaye, John McNabb, and Kara Gordon, and our guest poets were Sabrina Muck, Zanni Yeah,  Jai McDonald, Raewyn Alexander, Elizabeth Wilson, Gus Simonovic, Michael Onslow-Osbourne, Michael Rudd, and Simone Kaho.

Everyone who performed did so for free so that all koha could be donated. Anna Kaye also donated all proceeds from her CDs and books which she sold on the night.

They got a good crowd along and raised a total of $641, which has been donated to the Red Cross. This is staggering for a Poetry Live koha collection, and is purely due to the generosity of everyone who attended.

"Our audience really dug deep to help those affected by the quake. Truly an amazing evening to be a part of. It is something very special to witness such generosity of spirit!"