Koyczan, a man of many metaphors
To put it in plain language, words are woefully inadequate to describe Shane L. Koyczan.
Reviewers have tried. The Vancouver Sun once said: “Shane Koyczan is at the heart of a Category Five creative hurricane.” That is only the tip of the iceberg, as 700-plus fans discovered at Kelowna Community Theatre on Friday night.
The 41-year-old Penticton resident is generally described as an internationally respected spoken-word poet, but at times he is also a standup comedian, a consoler, a therapist, a preacher. But you also get the sense that his performances are also a confessional since he reveals his deepest hurts, his isolation, his loneliness, his depression, the bullying from schoolmates.
As he somewhat nervously walked out on stage Friday, he said, to laughter: “Thanks for coming out on Friday. I never thought Friday would be a poetry event. I know there are a couple of dudes out there right now feeling trapped.”
He admitted he doesn’t feel comfortable in one-on-one socializing but relaxes in front of a crowd — unless he’s conducting a workshop at a school — because of his anxiety while a bullied student.
His first story was about his grandfather in conjunction with experiencing puberty. And he went into great detail about how this “very angry person” read to him in bed and helped him survive night terrors.
“He was even a funny person if you understood his sense of humour.”
When Koyczan asked about the changes in his teenage body — a deeper voice, pimples and pubic hair — his grandfather’s humorous response: “Maybe you are turning into a monster.”
The main course followed, a spokenword poem about his grandfather in such grandiose imagery that you could hear a pin drop in the theatre, dead silence, everyone paying rapt attention. Koyczan is a thinking man’s poet. You have to pay attention to every word, every nuance, every metaphor, often accompanied by hand and arm movements, whether whispered or almost shouted.
Widely known for his writing on issues like bullying, cancer, death and eating disorders, Koyczan admitted he is grateful teachers are now using his material in their classrooms. As a result, he gets feedback from “kids on a ledge” and, his voice choked, he often doesn’t learn whether they committed suicide.
In another confessional moment, he added it’s now seven years since he got off antidepressants but continues the therapy he started two years ago.
“There is nothing wrong with seeking help. I’m here because of it. A lot of times you try to hold things in, but tears work their way out your nose,” Koyczan said, wiping his nose several times.
The poem The Sum Of It Squared, currently posted at shanekoyczan.com, sums up his voyage of poetic discovery.
“To discover the thing you’re brilliant at, you first have to endure discovering all of the things you’re average at. In discovering this, you will discover something about yourself.”
His 90-minute-plus show ended with a story about his ailing grandmother’s cat, a perfect bookend for his touching performance.
Koyczan has found what makes him most happy and has become confident enough to share his unbelievable talent in multimedia, from poetry books to videos to music.
He became the first Canadian to win the Individual Championship title at the U.S. National Poetry Slam and also won the Canadian Spoken Word Olympics. In 2007, his work was the subject of an episode of the television documentary series Heart of a Poet, produced by Canadian filmmaker Maureen Judge for Bravo!
Koyczan has published numerous poetry books, Visiting Hours, Stickboy (a novel in verse), Our Deathbeds Will Be Thirsty, To This Day: For the Bullied and Beautiful, and A Bruise on Light. Visiting Hours was selected by both the Guardian and Globe and Mail newspapers for their 2005 Best Books of the Year lists.
In 2012, Shane Koyczan released a fulllength digital album, Remembrance Year, which “tackles abuse with courage and displacement with inspiration” in collaboration with the folk instrumentation of his band, The Short Story Long.
In 2013, Koyczan released an animated video of his spoken-word poem To This Day on YouTube focusing on the bullying that he and others had received during their life and its lasting effects. It has received more than 20 million views.
In 2014, he released Silence Is A Song I Know All The Words To, his first graphic novel, accompanied by a collection of songs of the poems featured in the novel, a musical collaboration with Cayne McKenzie of We Are The City and Hannah Epperson.
Of course, a variation of his poem We Are More was featured at the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics which provided an international platform and launched his career.
All of that being said, his live performances are the ultimate Shane Koyczan experience. Even after totally embracing three performances, I can hardly wait for him to return from his current tour for another Okanagan show.