Inspired Words....

To steal a (mis)quote from Forrest Gump: 'Poetry readings are like a box of chocolates... you never know what you are going to get'. 

The Inspired Word Cafe - which gigs around Kelowna at a variety of locations and venues - aptly illustrates this. At the recent downtown Bean Scene gathering, poetry, beat-boxing, a capella vocals, break dancing, storytelling and even debate on topics like 'authenticity' and whether or not 'ignorance is bliss' made for a lively and provocative evening.

Led by Rawle James, an ex-Torontonian financial trader turned Kelowna poet, speaker, spiritual mentor and life coach, the evening was a wonderful melting pot of artistic and intellectual ideas and ideals. Inspired Word Cafe is a chilled, cabaret -styled evening of spoken word and other artistic endeavors (see list above) that brings people together in a great melting pot of artistic creativity.

Good, bad or ugly, I have the ultimate respect for anyone who gets up and shares their innermost thoughts with strangers, and I have yet to go to a poetry evening where at least one poem didn't utterly make my soul sing. Indeed, I have been to some wonderful readings, and some of the nights I have spent at the Urbana Poetry Slam at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York have been the most exhilarating and inspiring ever, so I have been hoping to find some good spoken word here in Kelowna. Inspired Word Cafe could definitely fit that bill, and is certainly getting added onto my social calendar. 

To steal a(nother) quote off one the evening's performer's trucker's cap - the evening was 'dope'.
~
Remaining 'Inspired Word Cafe' shows of the 2013/14 season:

Sunday May 4th, 3-4pm: Starbucks Willow Park Plaza

Wednesday May 14th, 5-7pm: Rotary Centre for the Arts

Tuesday May 27th 6-8pm: Winfield Curling Club

Thursday May 22nd 6-8pm: Kelowna Art Gallery 

Friday May 30th 7-9pm: Bean Scene downtown

Check out their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Inspired-Word-Cafe/141033639291820

Poetic Popups

Scene: finishing work and heading to the parking lot past the Bean Scene Coffee Shop on Dickson Ave. Out of the corner of my eye I catch sight of a piece of paper fluttering in the breeze.  Closer examination shows said piece of paper clipped onto the waving decorative grasses planted alongside the sidewalk.  Even closer examination reveals... a poem. A good poem.

...

It turns out this is a poem by Lesley-Anne Evans, a Kelowna resident, poet and poetry busker and blogger who is behind popuppoetry.ca.

I love a good idea.  And when it is a creative, inventive, innovative idea, so much the better. Pop-up poetry is all of these. There is something just so... poetic... about stumbling upon poetry in unexpected places, and the words on that page, in that place, setting the tone for your day.

According to her website, Lesley-Anne was born in Belfast, raised in Toronto, but has been in the Okanagan with her husband and children since 1993. As a poet, Lesley-Anne has written that one of her her driving forces is 'to connect with people, not just deliver words', and she has set out to find interesting and inventive ways to do just that.

In addition to her stealth poetry forays with popup poetry, this summer Lesley-Anne was Kelowna's first 'licensed' poetry busker with Festival's Kelowna, and more recently created an interactive poem in collaboration with the audience at Pulp Fiction Coffee House, which you can read about at http://laevans.ca/anfanger-schrumplig-du-bist-schon/ .

Knowing Lesley-Anne is out there, setting the streets on fire with her well-crafted words, just makes me... happy, and I hope to run into more of them - and maybe even the poet herself - soon.

U is for UBCO...

Considering that my last literary posting ('B is for Book Launch') focused mainly on talent from Okanagan College, Kelowna, it seems only fair to give equal time to UBCO (University of British Columbia, Okanagan), who also have an active creative writing department.  Luckily an oppportunity presented itself to do this very thing last Friday night, with a poetry reading put on by the University in conjunction with its launch of the latest, eighth, and sadly final issue of their creative writing publication 'Lake'.

Reading at this well attended event at the Rotary Centre for the Arts (held in the ultra-cool 'Alterantor Gallery) was award winning poet Tim Linburn, whose work has been described thusly by Sonnet L'Abbe for The Globe and Mail: 'Lilburn's erudition continues to astonish. At the microlevel, his turns of phrase can be breathtaking'.  

The reading previewed Linburn's latest book, 'Assiniboia', which is described by publishers McLelland & Stewart as 'a richly textured imagining of a Western Canada that could have been. Theatrical, operatic... Tim Lilburn's eighth collection gives us a new land peopled by figures from the visionary governments of Louis Riel and from the western mysticism, as well as land forms with the power of speech, all acting together as a kind of ghostly army bent on overturning more than a century of colonial practice'. Linburn read selections for the book and also one of his two poems appearing in Lake 8. 

This multi-media evening also included static presentations by second year UBCO creative writing students of final work from 'The Plant Intelligence Project' which, according to UBCO's website, has students 'blending plant metaphors with plant science to discover their emerging literary voice'. My personal favourite was a series of Haiku's written about specific plants and then written out and photographed against a natural setting - clever, interesting and thoughtful work.

As for Lake's swansong publication, it is a real shame that the Okanagan is losing this creative showcase.  'Sadly, we just couldn't get sustainable funding,' explains co-editor Nancy Holmes.  However, the Lake team will continue to work through the Lake Publishing Society, and are looking to publish some limited editions encompassing art and the environment, and continue with an online presence.  To keep up to date with what is happening, check out their website at www.lakejournal.ca.