More than just a little poetry
VERSES FESTIVAL: Spoken-word exhibition promises to entertain in diverse ways
Vancouver’s Poet Laureate, Rachel Rose, is still pretty new at “the job.”
The three-year-long posting most recently held by Evelyn Lau gives the award-winning author a wealth of opportunities to expand the role of the job showcased at vancouver verse.ca.
“It’s a great gig, and I’m assembling a team now because I have big plans,” Rose says. “There is the book about the collaborations between poets and writers and people in the food industry, which is going to be Canada’s project nationwide for poetry month.
“What’s exciting for me is taking it beyond the poetry world and into the community to all of these other areas where there are activists who are committed and creative for me to learn from and work with.”
Some of these folks may be appearing at the Verses Festival of Words (versesfestival.ca). The fifth annual event takes place at various venues around town, with events such as the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Final on Saturday night at the Rio Theatre, where Rose will give a feature presentation.
The highest-scoring poet in the final round becomes the 2015 Canadian Poetry Slam Champion and typically embarks on a literary competitive journey to North American and World slams. The process begins with a dozen poets, so by evening’s end the audience is fully versed.
“I’m just thrilled to be involved and to attend because what’s wonderful about Verses is that it has stuff for all ages, all skill levels and really gets the whole community involved,” says Rose. “What is so cool about a big festival like it is how much is valued connecting with an audience and encouraging people to express their truth and their own life experiences in front of others.”
Rose notes that performance poetry has its roots in such places as hip-hop and movements for social justice and equality, giving people a really potent voice to speak up.
In the past decade-plus, the whole “spoken-word” movement has gone quite mainstream with such memorable moments as poet Shane Koyczan’s appearance at the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games launch.
While poetry on the printed page may remain marginalized in contemporary society, its performance variant is anything but. Rose loves the dynamism of the genre.
“I really love the collaborative aspects and work with musicians in songwriting for inspiring performance art,” she says. “This is the most fun that I’ve had, doing the food project, and there are poets out there who come at it with the same idea as musicians like my brother, to get people up and dancing.”
The Verses Festival includes everything from That One Thing You Said: An Exhibit of Visual Poetry (Havana Gallery, to April 28) and the massive Jangle & Shout: The Hulla-Verses Remixer literary walk on the wild side at the York Theatre on Sunday at 7:30 p.m.
It’s sure to inspire even those who would prefer to spend their lives well outside the spotlight to get involved.
For her part, Rose says she’ll be speaking to that very issue of shyness and introversion. It’s part of who she is, too.