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Poetry comes alive at the Nakusp Library

Poetry cannot live on the page; it lives through the intonations of speech
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Art Joyce ruminates on the concept of hope.

Most of us who have achieved a western education will recall the almost cliché statement, trumpeted by some English teacher in our past, that “Shakespeare must be heard to be appreciated” or some variation thereof. But there is always some truth in a cliché, and often, those who struggled with the confusing words on paper found clarity when text alighted into air by skilled actors and narrators.

Critics of poetry, the same who mutter statements like “there is the same number of people reading poetry as there is writing it” would do well to recall their English teacher’s lessons, and venture an attendance to some future poetry reading so as to experience the magical animation of the printed word.

Poetry cannot live on the page; it lives through the intonations of speech and the subtle gestures as the narrator slings words and turns phrases to construct moments that cannot be defined by the sum of its grammatical parts.

Such was the magic woven on the evening of July 18 when poets of all discipline and style descended upon the Nakusp Library to participate in the (anticipated) annual, Poetry Slam.

The evening’s MC, Barbara MacPherson, began with a welcome and a clarification that this event was different from the library’s other poetry appreciation night in that the selections presented “are all original works written and read by their author.

“The ensuing evening of poetry was an intimate experience for all those present, as nervous first time readers shared glimpses of themselves alongside confident and/or, published veterans.

All of the tricks of the trade were on display, as each poet tickled the imaginations of the audience with an arsenal of adjectives, juxtaposition, alliteration, rhyme, meter and so on. Youth, in the spring of their writing selves presented perspectives of life as through the lenses of a magnifying glass, extrapolating microcosms hiding in a single moment or specific feeling.

These selections were juxtaposed with the mature poets, who skillfully shared evocative interpretations of a larger world including the expropriation of families along the Columbia river, reflections on the concept of hope, journeys to the flat lands of Grand Prairie and the breadth of Saskatchewan heat, to name a few.

The span of poets presenting at the slam was an impressive spectrum from “17-70ish”, MacPherson teased, and contrary to the critics of poetry, not everyone present read a poem of their own.