Organizers of the first annual West Coast Poetry Festival raised more than a few eyebrows last weekend and provided yet another example of Vancouver’s flourishing literary scene. Organized primarily by recent English undergraduate students from Simon Fraser University, the festival arguably provided the first large-scale forum for world-class West Coast poets and spoken word artists to showcase their talents together in a very accessible community event. Shattering false notions that there is an inevitable divide between academic and activist poetry, many performers at this year’s festival displayed both the political sophistication and the raw emotive artistry that characterizes their craft. With some big-name talent, free admission and a stated mandate to oppose poverty in light of the impending 2010 Olympics through the donation of proceeds to a local charity, the organizers definitely covered their bases and provided a unified forum for local writers to express their progressive poetic visions.

The event began with a cordial, yet continuous exclamation mark on the Friday night at Harbour Centre as festival-goers seemed pleasantly surprised that they were sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with some of their favorite poets. Highlights included Calgary-based action poet Sheri-D Wilson, who is also the Artistic Director of the upcoming Calgary International Spoken Word Festival. Her mastery of spoken word performance was virtually unparalleled by anyone, due to her deep jazzy tones and dynamic movements. In her piece, “Spinsters Hanging in Trees,” which was written to accompany her place on her family tree, she sardonically derided the negative social images that often encircle single, middle-aged women: “Lonely, barren, infertilians / Pre-relic shrews ….” Wilson reminds her fellow “spinsters” that if they have “made their bed,” they should “fly in it.”

SFU M.A. grad and accomplished poet Wayde Compton performed his recorded work with an intricately prepared hip-hop accompaniment complete with turntable beats, samples and record scratching. Compton kept heads bouncing and provided some biting reflections on the importance of history, combating racism and the current state of hip-hop culture. “You don’t know your past / You don’t know your future,” he admonished. “The age demands bling-bling not Mau-Mau / Hip-hop is black Canada’s CNN.”

Spoken word artist Jen Lam presented an extremely well researched piece about the Chinese leper colony that existed on D’Arcy Island off the tip of Vancouver Island in the late 19th century. Inspired by a recent kayaking trip to the site, Lam articulately conveyed the injustice of this revealing episode in B.C. history: “When this land stank of hate they collected Chinese lepers on this island like stamps / This is where hope was marooned.”

The best of Friday evening was definitely “Girls Night In,” which featured top-notch readings by some of the West Coasts most provocative female poets. Rita Wong’s performance stood out as she combined her experiential knowledge accrued through her hard work in anti-racist, social justice movements with her literary background to present some devastatingly good poetry. “Damaged” was inspired by her involvement in the FTAA demonstrations in Quebec City in 2001, where dozens of people were arrested by an aggressively reactionary police force. In “Canola Oil” – Wong’s dedication to Saskatchewan farmer Percy Schmeiser’s efforts on taking on agri-giant Monsanto and the dangerous genetically modified food industry – she spoke of “vulture capital” hovering “over our dinner tables.”

Saturday’s proceedings took place at SFU’s Burnaby Mountain Campus and got off to an excellent start with a panel jokingly entitled “The Profs.” Well-published poets and popular SFU professors Stephen Collis, Jeff Derksen, Roy Miki and Daphne Marlatt drew a crowd of close to one hundred people, an impressive number for an early morning poetry reading. Their poems, ranging from meditative prose to incisive political commentary, not only demonstrated their creative abilities, but also reiterated to audiences the role of poets in their communities. Thanks were also given to Miki by organizer Sean McGarragle for supporting the West Coast Poetry Festival Society’s vision.

Through the festival, organizers united traditional and performance poetry communities. The West Coast Poetry Festival Society also helped to demonstrate that the art of poetry can occupy a seamless space between the academic and activist worlds and, at the same time, remain accessible and provide the basis for building social movements in the community at large. As Rita Wong stated before her performance, part of poetry’s purpose is to “ask questions about what’s going on in the world” – an obvious imperative maybe, but one that resonates with the stated goals of this year’s festival. Hopefully there will be many more to follow.

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