Performance, Poetry, and Seventeen Syllables
By Colin Ward
At the Free Press Cafe on Saturday night the Thin Air Writers Festival held “Forewords,” a night of performance, poetry, literature and, above all, humour. Normally, crowd control isn’t a problem at readings. This one was filled beyond capacity.
Dylan Mowatt rapped an ode to the indigent: “Give change to the homeless man and ask him what change means.”
Next up were the soft romantic musings of Faisa. The first was a recent effort read off a cell phone. All of the other poems were performed.
Third came J-La, whose fast paced verse was as graphic as it was autobiographic.
The fourth slam team member was the master, Aaron Simm. He related a narrative of a boxer ignoring bloodthirsty fans, taking it easy on a beaten opponent. “Love is not a knockout,” he sighed. “It’s in letting the other person walk away.”
#1 slammer Steve Currie [w]rapped up the poetry performances with a prison tale, speaking of “…poor custody of dreams.”
“We prefer to stay lost, like Pluto,” he intoned, going on to reference “Jovian Jehovian might.”
After a break, “Husk” author Corey Redekop gave new meaning to the expression “toilet humour” with his story of gay zombie actor Sheldon Funk.
Capping off a fun evening was the Haiku Death Match: 4 poets telling 17-syllable jokes. One excerpt mentioned: “I wrote a telegram to Stephen Harper: Stop.” U.S. politicians escaped unscathed. (To wit, no one went with: “Hoople: defined as ‘rootless’, ‘disorganized’, ‘twit’. Thus, ‘Mitt the Hoople’.”)
Thanks to the venue workers, participants and organizers, especially Director Charlene Diehl and Master of Ceremonies Bruce Symaka, for a fun evening!