A "Human Rights Event": A poetry reading/cabaret to celebrate Human Rights Week at Artword Artbar (Hamilton, Ontario)

Poet, publisher and social activist James Deahl hosted a wonderful evening of poetry and performance at the Artword Artbar in downtown Hamilton, on Sunday, December 13th. I felt privileged to be asked to read at this 'Poets for Peace' event. Sharing the stage with featured poet/performer bill bissett and other well-known Canadian poets such as Ellen Jaffe, Stan White, Jeff Seffinga and Honey Novick was a delightful experience.

James Deahl reading from his Blackbirds: War Poems

 Deahl began the afternoon with a 'Poets for Peace' mission-statement, a movement he founded twenty-seven years ago to promote a culture of peace and non-violence. And emphasizing that living in Canada doesn't make us immune to violence committed here, particularly against women, he urged poets to act to redress injustices anywhere in the world. He read from his Blackbirds: War Poems (Unmon Northland: 1999), poetry as chronicle of the atrocities in the Yugoslav war.

May-Marie Nuyaba, social worker, feminist and community developer from HCCI (Hamilton’s Centre for Civic Inclusion) and the Sexual Assault Centre of Hamilton & Area underscored the importance of Deahl's message, adding that as a result of unequal power relations and cultural traditions women face the brunt of violence in Canada, and still continue to fall far behind men in wage equity.

May-Marie Nuyaba from the Sexual Assault Centre

The 'Poets for Peace' theme was creatively interpreted by poets and performers, each giving his/her own personal nuancing to poetry and art. Genres ranged from avant-gardist sound poetry to social justice drama told in folklorish conta storia to traditional. bill bissett and Honey Novick gave a wonderful long song poem, part choric chant, part duet, bissett's almost mystical lines & repetitions working to let spirit rather than cold-lettered verse work on us.

Honey Novick and bill bissett

A "theatre of liberation" performance by Melanie Skene, Simon De Abreu and Jeff Seffinga consisted of narrative in traditional conta storia form with the aid of a series of painted cloth storyframes held on branch supports: the message at the end being not "to let the big foot crush you". De Abreu, recalling his experiences in foreign jails and the human rights violations he saw there, talked about the need for performance-based therapy: & the saving capacity to be other than who we are through theatre.

Theatre of liberation

Poetry came also in the form of Stan White's own splendid cadences, Ellen Jaffe's lyrics, Jeff Seffinga's fun Tim Horton's limericks and Dave Haskins's skilfully juxtaposed imagery. My own interpretation of the 'Poets for Peace' theme was to express in verse the peace I derive from communing with the dead (American poet Jack Spicer) and a radically heterodox (gnostic) text.

Kudos to James Deahl for his vital poetry community-building and social activism work in Hamilton. It's rare that poet, poetry and advocacy for human rights can merge so wonderfully (as they did!) in a single afternoon, mystical, imaginative and fun.