The August edition will be hosted by Lizzie Violet, and will feature moi, Adam Abbas and Andrea Matchett. It is on Thursday August 8th, starts at 7pm and will be at Q Space, 382 College St in Toronto.
Went to a fabulous poetry salon last night at Lou Lou's townhouse, 4-level, sunken living room, sunken garden. It was packed and the poetry and music performances were wonderful. I read 'Light Catches Diamonds,' from my chapbook, the luminist poems, and an older poem, 'Drumbeat,' from my CD Starfire. Unlike some of the poetry series where I do open mic, I always feel my work is welcome and my readings, be what they are, are enjoyed by the audience. These gatherings, and we have upwards of half a dozen or more poetry salons a year hosted by different people in the group, are always affirming. A good group of talented friends brought together by Nik Beat, who really is a centre of a small literary and music hub in Toronto.
On other notes, I got an article on the Victor&Rolf Dolls show in Toronto at the Royal Ontario Museum during the Luminata Festival in June published in an on-line newspaper, Dictated News. They changed one word in the article and added a few more paragraph breaks. And I will get paid for the article. I am chuffed, to say the least. But I should put up a separate post on the article.
Eventually I will write one long blog post on it, but for now, if you'd like to catch up on the mess and the danger and the progress of the sinkholes that have appeared all along the side of the apartment building I live in, check out the Facebook posts: https://www.facebook.com/brenda.clews
Last Tuesday morning, July 9th, I did post a video, there was one from the previous day too. It's worse now, though.
Here are two poems from Linda Stitt's, 'Acting My Age,' and read by her at her poetry book launch at Portobello on April 13, 2013. At 81 years of age, she remains a beautiful woman and poet who I am honoured to know through her ongoing series, Portobello Saturdays, in Toronto.
In the first scene, Ann-Marie Boudreau plays an Oscar drum while Linda reads. Ann-Marie's music and voice is something I could rave about too.
I'm a guest poet this afternoon at the lovely Portobello Saturdays that are hosted by Linda Stitt and Peter Solmes. Poetry, jazz, a lovely restaurant with good food, it's always such a pleasure to go to this event.
995 Bay St., north of Wellesley on the East side, from 1:30pm - 4:30pm.
Because of my feature this afternoon, I went searching through my video footage and thankfully found some I'd taken of Linda's launch last April. A little video I put together - it's just over 2 minutes.
Happy to say I think I have finally found music for a videopoem that I have been working on for nearly 2 years. Wow, what a gift on Canada Day is all I can say. My own private fireworks, I tell ya. And I started on an article I had hoped to write, too. Let's say it's been a productive evening. All day I felt an atmospheric pressure that was overwhelming, I can't explain it. I kept slipping past here and finding everything opening up, way beyond the roads and houses where I live. The universe was bearing down today. Do you have days like that too? But then this evening, finally, music that seems to grasp the imagery of the video without trivializing or dominating, and while I still have to work on the writing, I am close to bringing this project to fruition. When things on your list get done, it's like, halleluja.
Ink Sketch while reading Neil Gaiman's 'Ocean at the End of the Lane,' Brenda Clews, 2013, 8" x 10", India ink, in a Premium C.D. Japanese Notebook (the paper is like silk).
There is a rough draft of a poem on the other page but I blurred it out.
