When Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa walked into her first open mic in Perth, she didn't know she was entering a poetry slam — one that would lead her to the Sydney Opera House where she would talk about her body hair.
She was first inspired to write spoken word poetry when she was 18 and studying political science, and a friend introduced her to the American poet Sarah Kay.
"I was looking for a way to make change and get my political message out there, but I didn't want to wait," she says.
"[Slam poetry] seemed like a good way to do it quickly."
Yet it took a year for Khalsa to gain the courage to write her first poem, which she read at that Perth open mic.
The poem explored her experience as a Sikh woman, who doesn't remove her body hair for cultural reasons, but sometimes feels judged for being unshaven.
"The poem was so niche and [directed] towards my community, I didn't know how to translate that to this very mainstream, white audience, but I did it anyway," Khalsa says.
It landed her in the nati
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