Thoughts on Shane Koyczan, Poetry and the Opening Ceremonies
Before I declined to participate in the Olympics the most common question I was asked was “what does a Poet Laureate do?” I don’t get asked that question anymore. The question I am now being asked over and over again is what I thought of the Opening Ceremonies and in particular Shane Koyczan’s performance.
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.
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16 Responses to “Thoughts on Shane Koyczan, Poetry and the Opening Ceremonies”
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Nicely done, Brad!
Mary
I appreciate Mr Cran’s polite gentility in keeping face and decorum in his public role. Moreover, I admired tremendously the position he took.
I’m not obliged, however, to supplicate myself to the Terminal City niceties that, too often, keep people from saying the obvious.
Mr Koyczan’s peculiar voicings (a little Snoop Dog in there) on the glories of Canadian patriotism were a commissioned project by the local tourist authorities. There is of course a very long tradition of subsidized odes, in which poet proclaims the glories of the king (or the state, or the flag, or the battle.) No badness allowed: only the usual puffery of a glorious nation.
But how Mr Koyczan could claim, to millions of people, that BC’s forestry practices–”We reforest what we clear”–is a matter for his own conscience.
He’s a consummate showman, of course. Unfortunately, that usually means throwing out euphoric slogans for a national audience who has self-esteem issues.
Whether you like spoken word or not is a much different question than whether reading a poem at the Olympics is selling out. I wanted to be clear on that. We don’t have to agree on Poetics to understand that the literary community is better off with broad support from writers of all camps. In the first week of March the BC Libs will release their first post-Olympics budget and we should be ready for that.
I had the privilege of sharing a creative writing class with Shayne back in the day at (what was then) OUC. I respected him for the nature of his commitment and artistic ability then and have no reason to doubt his motives now.
I may not share Shayne’s support of the Vancouver games, I may not even adore slam poetry, but that doesn’t diminish my support for his work or, more importantly, his right to create and flourish. Diversity is what keeps literature fresh and evolving.
The arts in BC are under attack and letting politics divide us seems self-defeating. Brad, thanks for taking the high road.
I think that whether or not you like Shane’s poem or performance, it is really hard to deny that it will definitely help the poetry community locally and nationally, by forever linking poetry positively to Vancouver and Canada.
Close to 3 billion people now see poetry on the same level as music and sport. Most of those people have probably never even considered poetry as art, let alone as something to be taken seriously. A percentage of that huge demographic will now go seek out poetry – our poetry (some will even BUY poetry! Even a small percentage could translate into huge economic benefits. Lord knows, poets could use the exposure and the money.
And by the way, I’m assuming that standing up in front of 60,000 people is pretty nerve-wracking and pretty brave. Most poets i know have a hard time reading in front of 20 or 30 people without crumpling into the fetal position from stage fright.
Sadly, most of the negative commentors I’ve heard fall into that category and write work with very limited public appeal(hence why there are only 20 or 30 people at their readings).
Shane’s performance has opened the door for us poets to build on his success.
It has been my great pleasure and privilege to publish Shane Koyczan and to support his journey into the hearts of millions of Canadians.
Just today he told me about your post Brad. Your support (and your work) means a very great deal to him, as it does to me. Thank you.
Being out in public with Shane is a revelation. Canadians of all walks of life–goth kids to the blue-rinse set–break into applause. They approach him and thank him for his poem. Soldiers come up, and people with their little kids, wanting their picture taken with “that guy.” Crowds break into spontaneous applause, and many, many have tears in their eyes.
Those of us on the front lines of arts advocacy just got the clearest and most potent demonstration of the power of art and poetry we could have ever asked for.
Shane is, and always will be an unapologetic supporter of and advocate for all artists. His impact and his influence has just expanded to an incalculable degree. I would think this is a welcome, if unexpected turn of events.
Oh, and ps:
To be a complete contrarian here, props to whoever in VANOC and the Opening Ceremonies committee had the boulders to program an unknown POET in the finale of the Canadian culture segment of the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympic Games.
Just consider for one moment what a risk that was.
None of the poets I know “crumple into the fetal position from stage fright.” And surely a reach of only 20 to 30 people is hyperbole. Can we please get away from this trope of the invisible victim-poet?
“Bread and circuses”: the modern Olympics, and maybe the ancient?
But wasn’t it a wonderful surprise to see and hear a ‘poet’ in the Opening Ceremonies! Super performance also! Go Shane go!
Re. “We re-forest what we clear.”
I just ‘weeded’ a foot-high Hemlock out of my native shrub bed today. Trees are pretty determined in this province. And the re-forested areas near Port Renfrew and Port Alberni look a lot healthier than funding to the Arts.
In any case it was wonderful to suddenly see Shane up, up high there on the 12th.
I thought the Opening Ceremonies were sensational. To hear W.O Mitchell quoted was fantastic. I thought the ceremonies hit all the right notes as far as I was concerned. Inclusive? You bet. Gay, lesbian, east, central, west, first nations and artists, artists, artists. For a sporting event, the arts were front and centre at the Opening Ceremonies. When Shane came on, it was a crowning moment for me. Brad Cran had his own reasons for not participating; it is admirable, but certainly was a missed opportunity to get spoken word up where it belongs. As Shane’s grandmother says: “you often don’t get another chance if you let an opportunity go by”.
Thanks Brad,
for creating this space for a discussion around poetry, and the Olympics. (I have not seen the opening ceremonies yet, since i do not have a TV, but am looking forward to watching them taped.) And I am thrilled that Shane was up there. And quite proud.
Poetry on the stage is a fine balance, hopefully a performance filled with food for thought. It has to be delicious, delightful, gripping, addictive, contagious.
I also think that the better we inhabit our work as poets, the better we are at performing it. So it is a process on a continuum.
Thanks for all the comments.
PS Oops. I forgot to ask: So what does a poet laureate do?:-)
[...] you there’s a lot of interesting stuff to read on Cran’s Poet Laureate site, including his take on Shane Koyczan, the slam poet featured in Vancouver’s Opening Ceremonies. Here’s [...]
Hi, I am wondering what kind of issues this poem questions? what do you think this poem represents? from a Canadian point of view.
Amidst all the generous comments you are sending Shane’s way, it still sounds like you are quite envious. Shane’s performance was incredible. I am familiar with his work, but when I watched the Opening Ceremonies with my family we were all blown away by this guy. So much emotion, he made the little hairs stand up on our arms. Props to VANOC.
Curious to know though how a poet laureate would have performed at the opening ceremonies in comparison to Shane?
FYI, you sound like a whiner.
To Evergreen comment, “how Mr Koyczan could claim, to millions of people, that BC’s forestry practices–”We reforest what we clear”–is a matter for his own conscience.”
I assume that you have some sort of poetic talent seeing as you have found this page… ever heard of a metaphor? Isn’t that what makes poetry so amazing, the fact that one statement can be interpreted in so many ways? Sad that you would assume he is talking only specifically about BC’s forestry industry.