Hellooooooooo
Blog, people reading it, I kept thinking about you, across Canada, in North Carolina, in small villages in Labrador..
Now I am in Ottawa with a morning all to myself and my computer and i am consuming large quantities of coffee and away we go!
It’s snowing here.
It was snowing a lot in Labrador, where I just was for 8 days, teaching a lot of poetry workshops to kids of all ages. I was there as a part of the Labrador Creative Arts Festival. What an amazing experience. And intense.
I tell people sometimes in my workshops that I am no teacher. I am an artist and I’m there to talk about what I do and to (hopefully) open up a room and make some space, facilitate some safety in which to create.
Workshops make me nervous, as does the stage
But workshops make me MORE nervous.
Some Labrador highlights:
flying in one of those teeny weeny planes to a small innu community up the coast
being greeted on a gravel runway by a large fluffy dog
late night snow walks no streetlights
boots on snow become beautiful percussion
flirting (ha, that will always be a highlight, FYI)
moose, arctic char, mustard pickles, innu donuts, redberries, pea soup
the most expensive slippers I have ever purchased
amazing kids opening up to the possibility of poetry
dancing at the local ‘club’
massage party in the basement of my billet’s house
sleeping the last night on a futon with 4 amazing people, peas in a pod, cuddle puddle
Before Labrador I was home for a few weeks, working away in my office and cleaning my house and before that I was in a lot of other different places
Highlights:
being recognized in North Carolina for ‘How to be Alone’ and, consequently, making a new and beautiful friend
4 days at the Banff Centre for the Arts writing poems in front of mountains and eating too much at the buffet
dancing, many places
Oh, I think there are lots of highlights but I can’t remember them all now
I need to not leave such large gaps in between blogs…
I am sidetracked – I’ve been thinking about my country’s government. And how atrocious it is.
Stephen Harper and the conservatives ‘rebranding’ our gov’t, so that on paper it is called The Harper Government instead of the Gov’t of Canada.
WHAT THE FUCK?!?!
While he tries to pass a new crime bill that will put more vulnerable people in prisons instead of giving them actual help
And, meanwhile, the momentum of the occupy movement continues to inspire me.
And I think of ways to help. What can I occupy? Lines on paper, moments on stage? How can I make this count? I also am part of the 99%
People are amazing, working hard to change in the face of such adversity, gov’ts that work hard to crush us, banks and people so greedy they can’t even see how much they’re consuming.
These days are interesting.
I tour around while people sleep in parks, in prisons.
Here on this snowy Ottawa morning I am opening, listening.
I will write poems while people protest our conditions, our conditioning.
I remain optimistic and do my best to contribute.
Our world is crying, it is beautiful, what will we do?
td
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