by VINCENT TINGUELY

Despite (or maybe because of) the continued persistence of self-styled “canonical” poets, many who fall well beyond the pale of official literature keep kicking up the creative dust. One such champion of the local scene is Fortner Anderson, a tireless performer and long-time host of Dromotexte, a CKUT radio show devoted to all things spoken word. He recently launched his second CD, Six Silk Purses, where some of Montreal’s best experimental sound artists were given a free hand with six of Anderson’s pieces. Lately, his decidedly political live performances have shone a harsh light on the treatment of 16-year-old Canadian Omar Khadr, a prisoner in Guantanamo Bay.

On the topic of Montreal’s spoken word scene, Anderson says, “This year, the Festival Voix d’Amériques had sold out crowds over several of the nights. It’s able to engage both the English and the French community. It’s so important because the success of the scene is contingent on the work of the impresarios, the people who dedicate so much time to create the opportunities for performers to reach the public. In that respect, D. Kimm has been tireless.” He also points to the Kalmunity Collective, who topped this year’s Best of Montreal poll in the spoken word category. “That doesn’t exist to my mind anywhere else in the country—a very active group, they’re producing strong work and developing new collaborations as well,” says Anderson.

At street level, Montreal’s a seething hive of DIY activity, as evidenced by the Pop Montreal and Expozine zine fairs. Paula Belina has been producing the Streeteaters zine and organizing shows in lofts, grocery stores and joints like Café TocToc for nigh on six years, and in the process has nurtured a multitude of funky grassroots poets like C.T. Staples, Larissa Andrusyshyn, Seth Porcello and Virgil Lovitt. She launched A Morsel, her first mini-CD last spring, spent a couple of weeks this summer at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics in Boulder and organized November’s Who Is Sounding show at the Casa del Popolo. “It’s about collaborative creativity,” Belina explains. “It’s a way of being very conscious of breaking boundaries and stimulating people further, having fun and trying stuff in the moment, like doing readings off-stage.” She likes the idea of poetry as a lifestyle, a mode of being, not a career option. “The poet friends I like the most are just real people who have many voices in their poetry,” says Belina. “It’s about experimenting, not solidifying who you think you are as a poet, but always being ready to challenge yourself.”

Anderson looks to younger performers like Belina as the future of the scene. “It’ll be interesting to see how they build an audience and what kind of new work comes out of those new young artists, and where they’re gonna perform,” Anderson muses. “That’s all key to the health of the milieu, where to perform and the organizers who make it happen.”