Roaming superstar poet aims for home
ON STAGE What: Shane Koyczan When: Tuesday, 8 p.m. Where: McPherson Playhouse Tickets: $37 More information: shanekoyczan.com
Canada’s superstar poet Shane Koyczan got his grandmother a cat to keep her company while he’s on the road.
“Touring is how I support both of us … but I always feel bad leaving,” said Koyczan, 41, who passed on the big-city life several years ago to move back to Penticton and share a house with his grandmother after his grandfather died.
“I didn’t want her to be alone. But I also have to be away a lot,” he said from Burlington, Ont.
Enter Tig, the big orange shelter cat. “Her and the cat get along. Me and the cat, not so much.”
Home is on Koyczan’s mind as he nears the end of a four-month tour, with the final show in Victoria next week.
He’s looking forward to reuniting with his band, The Short Story Long, which features local musician Glenna Garramone. The road can be a lonely place.
“I usually have someone with me,” said Koyczan. “But this time I’m on my own.”
He’s recognized most places he goes, and fans often want to talk.
“A guy in my hotel parking lot just asked for a selfie,” said Koyczan, one of the few celebrity poets around, let alone in Canada.
The slam poet and writer rose to international stardom with his powerful ode to Canada in the opening ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Olympics. A few years later, his spoken-word piece To This Day … about bullying was made into an animated video that went viral and led to a live version for TED Talks, which has been viewed more than 5.5 million times.
In it, he says: “We grew up learning to cheer on the underdog/Because we see ourselves in them/We stem from a root planted in the belief/That we are not what we are called.”
Koyczan said he’ll often start writing with the end of a piece, or the message he wants to convey, and work backward.
“I start with exactly what I want to say, with the bones, and add the muscle, the organs,” he said.
Koyczan’s work ranges from intensely personal pieces to political commentary, and he’s often collaborating with artists from different media, such as Victoria illustrator Gareth Gaudin on the graphic novel Silence Is A Song I Know All The Words To, or musicians such as Ani DiFranco, Tanya Tagaq and Dan Mangan.
His 2008 novel in verse, Stickboy, has become an important resource for teachers and mentalhealth workers in discussing bullying with youth, and was adapted into an opera.
He was also recently featured in the documentary Shut Up And Say Something about reuniting with his father in Yellowknife after being estranged from him since childhood.
For his live shows, he tries to mix humour into some of the more hard-hitting pieces.
“Humour is so important. It’s part of how you’re supposed to survive life. Humour preserves our sanity,” he said, adding he needs it, too. His shows can be very emotional and lead him and the audience to tears. But he refuses to carry tissues.
“I don’t expect to make that emotional connection, and then most of the time, I’m asking the audience for tissues,” said Koyczan, who discovered early on that “trying to hold in tears usually leads everything to your nose, which is not a good thing.”
That’s why he likes performing with his band. They share the emotional load as well as the stage — and it’s nice to have people to wind down with after, he said.
Koyczan said he’s met and worked with a lot of people over the years, but has a small, scattered circle of those he calls friends.
“A friend to me is someone who will do most of what you ask,” he said.
“There’s so much pressure on familial and romantic relationships … but with friends, you have to make a conscious sacrifice. It’s not just a given.”
He said self-care for him is “taking brain vacations and trying to be inspired by other things.” That could be a movie or a live show. “Seeing other people being creative is inspiring,” he said.
Koyczan is looking forward to taking a break over the holidays and plans to start work on a web series in January about literature and used bookstores in Penticton.
Up-Island Shows:
• Sunday in Courtenay at 7:30 p.m. at the Sid Williams Theatre. Tickets $35. Visit sidwilliamstheatre.com for more information. • Monday in Duncan at 7:30 p.m. at the Cowichan Performing Arts Centre. Tickets $35. Visit cowichanpac.ca for more information