by VINCENT TINGUELY

At times, Montreal felt like Grand Central Spoken Word Station, as a parade of stars dropped by to visit. This year saw performances by Reg E. Gaines, Saul Williams and the U.K.-based Zenzile, featuring Jamika.

A whole string of great literary performers dropped in via the Perpetual Motion Roadshow tour circuit, including Jim Munroe, Liisa Ladouceur and Joe Meno. February saw the second incarnation of the Voix d'Ameriques, with packed houses turning out to see Beat icon Anne Waldman, Toronto's Dub Poets, d'bi young and Philly-based supa sista Ursula Rucker. Nah-ee-lah, Amiri Baraka and Byron Coley appeared at the life-affirming Suoni Per Il Popolo festival in June, Zoe Whittall was in town twice, once to promote the Geeks, Misfits and Outlaws anthology and once with her performance poetry troupe Trash and Ready, and Coco Café and Black Theatre Workshop brought in Toronto poets Motion in Poetry and Dwayne Morgan. Words and Music organizer Ian Ferrier was struck by the exponentially exploding cross-country spoken word talent at this October's Poetry Olympics in Ottawa. "There's a lot of good work coming out of Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Halifax too," Ferrier says. "The quality of the stuff surprised me."

In Montreal, spoken word continues to grow, with the CBC broadcasting panels and performances from this year's Voix d'Amériques and other events, as well as sponsoring Coco Café. The Kalmunity Collective has blown up large, carrying on weekly improv poetry jams at Café Sablo and producing larger shows on a regular basis. Kalmunity MC Josephine Watson waxes enthusiastic about local performers. "I've gone to see Kaie Kellough's book launch," says Watson. "His material was just beautiful, he has a very distinct style." She's especially excited about the female talent. "Catherine Kidd is a huge inspiration, she brings a beautiful theatrical element to what she does," says Watson. "At the Moondata shows at Bily Kun I've seen the way Alexis O'Hara uses her voice as an instrument. I got to perform at Catcall at Esperanza, too - Luna Allison was very good. I think it's important for women poets to see each other, inspire each other and develop concepts for us to work together."

In the print world, Conundrum publisher and Expozine co-conspirator Andy Brown is stoked about the current zine scene. "There was a quote on somebody's Web site saying that when you go to Toronto you get a lot of teens stapling zines, but in Montreal it's all about the art zine, the creativity of it," says Brown. From solid "literary" publications like Matrix, Maisonneuve and Vallum, to the rock and roll aesthetic of Fishpiss, Streeteaters and Lickety Split, the word is busting out all over this town.