Poetry on record - Edmonton Poetry Festival 2007

Festival week was crammed with activity. Here, we put a few of the events on record.

Media Launch
Poetry Central
Cortex
Hip Hip Show
Open Your Eyes to the Word
The Roar
DBA Poetry Contest
Street Poets

Media Launch (Monday, September 17, Edmonton City Hall)

Mayor Stephen Mandel officially declared Edmonton Poetry Festival Week on September 17, with a ‘river of words’ down the steps of City Hall’s main staircase and highlights of the upcoming week’s events.

Photos by Marc Chalifoux

Poetry Central (Sept 17 - 23 - Stanley A. Milner Library)

Poetry Central created a friendly, accessible heart for the festival, where the public could obtain information about the events scattered around the downtown core and interact with poetry in a personal way. The main lobby of the Stanley A. Milner library became a performance space for impromptu readings, a writing corner, a place for composing magnetic poetry, an information desk and voting station for Edmonton’s favourite poem.

Gary Garrison, Poetry Cental Coordinator

Poetry Central Video Collage
Excerpts from Videos by Danielle Zyp
Run Time: 1:30

Patrons playing with the "Make-a-Poem" magnetic board

Cortex (Tuesday, September 18, Latitude 53)

Four musicians, eight visual artists, 3 dancers (Heidi Bunting, Gerry Morita, and Theresa Dextrase), and 10 poets spent several months working on their own and together to create new work for this event. Poets worked with dancers and musicians, visual artists with media artists and poets. At the opening celebration, poetry was performed along with dance interpretation, music, video, and slides of the visual art that that had inspired it or arisen from it.

The Number Six
Jadon Rempel (clarinet by Don Ross)
Run Time: 1:29

Photos by Tracy Kolenchuk

HipHop Show (Wednesday, September 19, Grant MacEwan College)

Ten local performers (individuals and groups) mixed spoken-word poets with hip-hop artists and a break-dance group. It was described as a ‘historic’ event – the first time so many of these local favourites had performed on the same stage. And it was the first time this segment of Edmonton’s poetry community had seen spoken-word star Christian Bök create one of his amazing performances of Dada poetry.

	System of a Law JellyBean Run Time: 2:46
		Navigating My Way Kreisha Oro Run Time: 5:42
	Aria of the 3-Horned Enemy Dada Sound Poetry 4 Christian Bök Run Time: 2:13
		Excerpt from The Cyborg Opera: Synth Loops Dada Sound Poetry 6 (BeatBox) Christian Bök Run time: 1:53
	All the Popular Girls Have One (Twisted She Poem #6) T.L. Cowan Run Time: 8:44
	Ya Basta People’s Poets Run Time: 5:17
		Strength and Calm MC Mother Peace Run Time: 2:12
	Ghosts of Absent Fathers Minister Faust Run Time: 3:41
	Push and Pull Soular Warrior (with Karan & Louis from Eshod Ibn Wyza) Run Time: 5:09

Open Your Eyes to the Word (Thursday, September 20, Metro Cinema)

What’s a video poem? Think ‘music video’ – but better lyrics. This evening event was designed to screen video poems from local artists and special guests, including the videos from the Rhythm of the Heart project.

The New Bachelor
Mark Kozub
Run Time: 3:09

The Roar (Friday, September 21, Around downtown)

Edmonton’s Raving Poets Society organized a poetry pub-crawl evening on the Friday night of Festival Week. More than 50 artists performed in 10 events at different cafés in the downtown. Early-evening events were primarily readings by local poets, but the jam-packed wrap-up event at Axis Café included readings by symposium and festival special guests.

Photos by Randall Edwards

Downtown Business Association’s Poetry Contest (Presentation made during media launch September 17)

Edmonton’s Downtown Business Association entered into the festival spirit by sponsoring a poetry competition. The winner was Chrystal Seutter, who read her poem Couriers and I at the festival launch.

couriers and i

i walked the sidewalk to the bus stop tonight
and it was still daylight;
i saw a tread from a bike
in the new snow
in the soft new snow on the worn-out sidewalk,
and it made me think of you.
plural. all my handsome courier-acquaintances
who i am delighted to know,
and who i listen for,
down the long and echoing halls of a building
that can be a bit of a prison to bear.
but then i hear the scratchy overly-loud voice
on the other end of your radio,
and perk up, eagerly anticipating
who will next demand my autograph and
bring welcome or unwelcome paper works.

i wanted to follow that tread
to see where it lead
to see if it would lead me to you;
and wouldn’t you be just-so-surprised to see me,
especially if i planted a soft kiss on
your pink cheek,
bid you come to tea,
and tell me more
of your crazy adventures
that daily careen up and away from you
on the oily and frantic streets of downtown,
to and from the buildings
where sweet chicks await your deliveries
and hope to catch a glimpse
of your sparkling smiles
and mud-splattered faces.

-chrystal seutter

Stand-Up Poets (Thursday-Friday, September 20-21, street corners downtown)

Six street performers took to street corners downtown over lunch hour on September 20 and 21. With sandwich boards, portable sound systems and the Festival’s signature red berets, they engaged the public with poems -- from popular classics to work by contemporary Canadian poets.

Photos by Marc Chalifoux