Stuart Ross said it best in his SubTERRAIN article “I Hate Poetry;” he spends more hours reading poems that he hates than ones he loves so it is perhaps more fitting to say that he hates poetry as opposed to some people at the League of Canadian Poets who exclaim that they love poetry. So why do we pick up books that we are pretty sure we are going to dislike? For the hope that one day we’ll open one up and there it will be: a diligently crafted and unpretentious book filled with insight and great poem after great poem. I had this experience yesterday when I picked up Di Nardo’s Alien, Correspondent (I’m ordering Soul on Standby right away.)

Di Nardo is a superb poet. Alien, Correspondent is a great book. So great that I’m happy today, not just because I’ve had the pleasure of reading his work but because I’m feeling less cynical about poetry and I’m imagining all these other great poets who must be scattered across the country keeping a low profile in places such as Oshawa, crafting some of our best poems (even if we haven’t read them yet.) It’s all so very encouraging. Sometimes I absolutely love poetry.

In this third collection of poetry, Renee Norman inhabits Martha Quest, Doris Lessing’s autobiographical protagonist from her Martha Quest series of novels, like a spirit, and rewrites her through poems that bring her into being. Theses poems are about love and loss, birth and motherhood, longing and abandonment, and the compassion and understanding women can bring to one another.

If I had a billion dollars I’d buy you a sound canon.

I asked that question a little over a week ago and here is a preliminary list. I know some of these books are still in print or have recently been brought back into print but I included them anyway since they have been suggested by a number of people. Feel free to add to the least or champion one of these books by leaving a comment.

1. The Ecstasy of Rita Joe by George Ryga
2. Opening Doors by Daphne Marlatt and Carole Itter
3. Who Killed Janet Smith by Ed Starkins
4. Class Warfare by D.M. Fraser
5. Crossings  by Betty Lambert
6. False Creek: history, images and research sources by Robert Burkinshaw,
7. Saltwater City, Paul Yee,
8. Mayor Gerry, bio of Gerry McGeer, by David Ricardo Williams
9. Along the No. 20 Line by Rolf Knight
10. Innocent Traveller by Ethel Wilson, 1949. I think Macmillan had a 1960 edition.
11. George, Vancouver by George Bowering
12. Guy’s Guide to the Flipside by Guy Bennett
13. Vancouver Poems by Daphne Marlatt
14. Waste Heritage by Irene Baird
15. The Watery Part of the World by Gladys Hindmarch
16. A Credit to Your Race by Truman Green
17. Grounds by Gerry Gilbert
18. Moby Jane by Gerry Gilbert
19. Mirror on the Floor by George Bowering
20. Practicing up to be Human by Lionel Kearns
21. Exploring Vancouver: The Essential Architectural Guide by Harold Kalman
22. West Coast Lokas by Al Neil
23. Changes by Al Neil

Shane is a world class performer. He performed with the strength and conviction that has made him a star before he even set foot on the Olympic stage. No one has done more for the spoken word community in Canada than Shane Koyczan. I sincerely congratulate Shane for a strong performance.

Does this mean that I have changed my opinion about the inclusion of poets on the celebration stages? Did VANOC stick it to me because they secretly had the intention of putting a spoken word poet in the opening ceremonies? To both of those questions the answer is no.

Shane’s inclusion reaffirms my opinion that VANOC and the organizers of the celebration stages missed a great opportunity to showcase a wide range of talented members of our literary community. Shane was ready to step up to represent the spoken word community and our other poets were ready to do the same. Unfortunately that was not to be.

Above all I would like to stress that Shane’s integrity should not be questioned.  A rift between artists would be the worst possible legacy that the Olympics could leave our literary community. Shane made his decision and I made mine. We should also not forget that I contacted Olympic organizers and negotiated with them to be included in the celebrations. If Shane had declined the invitation then that would have been the end of it for him, whereas I have the benefit of a platform that comes from being the Poet Laureate of the City of Vancouver.

If there is one thing I’m proud of then it is this: between Shane’s performance and my stance towards the Olympics, Vancouver now takes its poets more seriously.  That is worth celebrating and fighting for. In our own separate ways I hope that is what Shane and I both did.

Are you bring­ing any fruits or veg­eta­bles into Canada?

Have you vis­ited a farm in the last 30 days?

Are you now or have you ever been a mem­ber of a group that dis­agreed with government?

Do you intend to ride the zip line?

Do you approve of prod­uct place­ment in movies?

Do you like my uniform?

Are you bring­ing into Canada any cur­rency and/or mon­e­tary instru­ments of a value totalling CAN$10,000 or more per person?

Have you ever assaulted a police offi­cer with a stapler?

In describ­ing my uni­form, would you say that it a) inspires respect or b) breeds contempt?

Have you ever dreamed of shoot­ing a fas­cist dic­ta­tor off a Spanish balcony?

Do you approve of John Furlong?

Can you give me an exam­ple of the words in your head and how they might be used while in Canada?

Do you vote?

Are you now or have you ever been a per­son who car­ries MasterCard?

Were you aware of the Oka upris­ing, and if so, whose side were you on?

Remind me again about the zip line.

Do you read poetry?

Do you believe in home­less­ness as a right of the people?

If you were Canadian, and if it were pos­si­ble to do so, would you vote for John Furlong?

Does the colour of your socks match the colour of your pants?

Do your chil­dren own an effigy, stuffed or oth­er­wise, of the Olympic mascot?

Our pre­mier rode the zip line. Did you see that? It looks awesome.

Please arrange the fol­low­ing terms in order of pref­er­ence, start­ing with the least impor­tant: Health Care, Education, the Environment, Homelessness, Logo Placement at Sporting Events.

Do you now or have you ever owned a copy of Raffi’s Baby Beluga?

Do you own a cell phone?

Are you car­ry­ing any printed mat­ter that illus­trates same-sex love?

Are you bring­ing into Canada any firearms or other weapons?

Did you know that each year, more Canadians trust RBC Royal Bank® for their mort­gage solu­tions than any other provider?

What is the total mon­e­tary value of the goods you will be leav­ing in Canada?

Let’s go back to my uni­form for a minute, you gotta admit it’s pretty fuck­ing awesome.

Do you or have you ever lis­tened to Democracy Now?

Can you fin­ish the fol­low­ing sen­tence? Baby bel­uga in the deep blue ______________.

What colour is your heart?

Do you believe in global warming?

Have you ever pur­chased No Name brand prod­ucts? You know, the ugly yel­low ones?

If while in Canada you were tasered, would you be upset or go into car­diac arrest?

Do you sup­port an inter­na­tional unelected and roam­ing fourth tier of gov­ern­ment as set out by a non-existent char­ter of the
IOC?

If your gov­ern­ment acted against the prin­ci­ples of democ­racy, would you be com­pelled to action or would you just tell your
friends you are miffed?

Do you ever expe­ri­ence emo­tions stronger than miffment?

If some­one you knew spoke up against your gov­ern­ment, would you a) lis­ten or b) think that was a lit­tle weird?

Which of the fol­low­ing does not fit? Osama bin Laden, Louis Riel, Chris Shaw, Gordon Campbell.

When asked, will you keep the flow of traf­fic mov­ing smoothly?

How long will you be staying?

In the early 1950s when George Woodcock moved to Vancouver there were few fellow writers and virtually no publishers in the city. By 1994, the year in which Woodcock was awarded the Freedom of the City (Vancouver’s highest civic honour) our writing community had matured and our growing number of publishing houses rivalled the older literary presses in Eastern Canada. Woodcock was an anarchist so he did not have a love of government but he enthusiastically agreed to accept the award because he believed that the city was a bastion of intellectual freedom and that his association to Vancouver through this honour would help ensure that our tradition of mental and physical freedom would not be lost.

As a city, we should not forget George Woodcock and we should not forget the stories that have been recorded by our writers over these years since he first came to this “terminal city” that was dubbed rather unambitiously, the Liverpool of the West. If we are told in 2010 that Vancouver is a world class city then it is our literature that tells us how we got here. Perhaps the question at hand is whether we are indeed a world class city and I would argue that we are but for different reasons than the world will see during the Olympics.

While the Cultural Olympiad is surely impressive: of the 193 events listed on the VANOC website only 6 of them are labelled literary events and only two of them actually are literary events that include local writers: The Vancouver International Writers Festival’s Spoken World and Candahar, a recreation of a Belfast pub that will host readings and performances as curated by Michael Turner, and may turn out to be one of the most inspired creations of the Olympiad.

There are Canadian writers involved in a few of the other 193 listed events but when it comes to the celebration stages our writers are not just neglected, they are totally ignored. As Poet Laureate I was offered time on one of the celebration stages where I would be allowed to read poems that corresponded to themes as provided to me by an Olympic bureaucrat. One of the themes was “equality” but since VANOC had blown the chance of making these Olympics the first gender inclusive Olympics in history by including a female ski jumping event I didn’t think they would appreciate a reading of the one Olympic poem I had written on equality: “In Praise of Female Athletes Who Were Told No: For the 14 female ski jumpers petitioning to be included in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.”

In fact a reading of this poem would violate a clause in the contracts that Vancouver artists signed in order to participate in the Cultural Olympiad:

“The artist shall at all times refrain from making any negative or derogatory remarks respecting VANOC, the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Olympic movement generally, Bell and/or other sponsors associated with VANOC.”

I do find this to be an unjust attack on free speech but more importantly it shows that VANOC is misrepresenting Vancouver. Vancouver is the most politically progressive city in North America with a strong history of political activism which most Vancouverites are proud of. Rather than finding a way to celebrate these important attributes VANOC has gone the other way and tried to suppress them. As George Woodcock teaches us: our freedom as a city is a tradition that should be protected and we should not underestimate an attack on that freedom whether symbolic or otherwise.

The muzzle clause, which VANOC says is standard procedure despite the fact nothing like it was included in the Torino or Salt Lake City games, came at a time when our provincial government announced its plans to cut arts funding by as much as 90%. This has put many cultural organizations in jeopardy and created tension in the arts community between those who are now prevented from speaking their mind because of their contracts and those who feel it is the right time to speak up.

In a bold act of ignorance the Federal government has announced their intentions to cut funding to cultural magazines with a circulation of fewer than 5000 copies. This issue needs to be highlighted as it illustrates a lack of understanding of the literary community and the purpose of these magazines. Our small press literary magazines should not be judged by the numbers of their readership but in their important role of cultivating Canadian writers. The combined effect of arts cuts at all levels but the civic level means that many important literary publications are in jeopardy. To add it all up from the point of view of the writing community: 2010 is not the year for writers to put on their red mittens and smile.

Vancouverites should also be concerned about the grilling that independent journalist Amy Goodman received while trying to come to Canada while on a book tour. Goodman had no plans of speaking about the Olympics while in Canada and told this to Canadian border guards but they interrogated her on the subject anyway, insisted on reading her notes and then examined her computer in an attempt to find out if she would say anything against VANOC or the Olympics. In the end they allowed her into Canada but served her with a document that demanded she leave the country within 48 hours.

Goodman is a world class journalist whose politics are more closely aligned to that of Vancouverites than those of either our Federal or Provincial governments. Even still you don’t need to share Goodman’s politics to be concerned by the fact that she was restricted from staying in Canada because she has the power and tendency to discuss and report on important political subjects.

If the muzzle clause, the harassment of journalists and the decimation of our cultural funding structures on the eve of the Cultural Olympiad were not enough to upset the ghost of George Woodcock then I’m sure this internal Library memo sent out to Vancouver Public Library staff should do the trick:

“Do not have Pepsi or Dairy Queen sponsor your event. Coke and McDonald’s are the Olympic sponsors. If you are planning a kids’ event and approaching sponsors, approach McDonald’s and not another well-known fast-food outlet. “

“If you have a speaker/guest who happens to work for Telus, ensure he/she is not wearing their Telus jacket as Bell is the official sponsor.”

“ If you have rented sound equipment and it is not Panasonic or you can’t get Panasonic, cover the brand name with tape or a cloth.”

“If you are approaching businesses in your area for support and there is a Rona and Home Depot, go to Rona. If there’s only a Home Depot don’t approach them as Rona is the official sponsor.”

If this is coming from our libraries, the custodians of the written word, where do we find the civic freedom that George Woodcock cherished and represented? Where do we find the essence of our highest civic honour, The Freedom of the City?

As darkly comic as much of this is, I am still not anti-Olympics. For this reason I made two suggestions to an Olympic organizer. The first was that a Canadian poet read one poem each night on one of the celebration stages.  The second suggestion was that they somehow incorporate Al Purdy’s great Canadian poem “Say the Names” into the celebrations. Both of these suggestions were rejected and I in turn declined their offer to publically appear during the Olympic celebrations.

I believe in our literature and I believe it is a better representation of who we are (and from where we have come) than the vision being presented about us by VANOC. I remain excited about events in the Cultural Olympiad but in regard to the Olympic celebrations, without a significant involvement from our writing community, and with restrictions on our freedom, the Olympics are a world class celebration happening in Vancouver rather than a world class celebration of Vancouver.

The great irony is that when we look to celebrate ourselves in 2010 we have simultaneously, if only temporarily, allowed Olympic bureaucrats to ignore and distort the basic principles that make Vancouver a city to be envied. There was something important that Woodcock saw in Vancouver: the freedom to be a great citizen as judged by a civic criteria that was so respectful of freedom that it could even include an anarchist like him as one of its most decorated citizens. Through our artists and through Woodcock and the writers who came after him, we have become a home to great thinking and artistic expression. That needs to be celebrated not muzzled or ignored.

From “SAY THE NAMES”
by Al Purdy

–say the names say the names
and listen to yourself
an echo in the mountains
Tulameen Tulameen
say them like your soul
was listening and overhearing
and you dreamed you dreamed
you were a river
and you were a river
Tulameen Tulameen

excerpt published with permission of Harbour Publishing

Goh Poh Seng (Part 2/2) from Site Media inc on Vimeo.