Speak easy

>> Local poets put it on paper

by VINCENT TINGUELY

You can expect some Random Acts of Poetry on the first week of October, courtesy of local poet Anne Cimon, haikuist Angela Leuck and trilingual Noches de poesía organizer, Élizabeth Robert.

Experience cultural globalization first hand with some great out-of-town talents like South African-born Australian John Mateer, Portugal-based John Havelda and the globetrotting organizer of the Calgary International Spoken Word Festival, Sheri-D Wilson—all performing at the Atwater Poetry Project this fall.

The Pilot reading series, hosted by the ebullient Jon Paul Fiorentino, is also showcasing numerous authors from across Canada, starting with Victoria’s Jan Zwicky and Torontonian Jeff Parker on September 30 at Blizzarts.

Vocal staples

The irrepressible urge toward literary self-expression manifests itself in a deluge of new books and CDs by local scribes and seers. Spoken word poet and scene father figure Ian Ferrier has finally popped out What Is This Place? on West Coast label Bongo Beat. Ferrier hosts the monthly Words and Music at the Casa and is performing Oct. 18 at the Visual Arts Centre in Westmount.

Performance poetry’s elder statesman Endre Farkas, co-organizer of the annual Circus of Words, is celebrating more than three decades of bardic inspiration with his collected works, Quotidian Fever. “I’m pleasantly surprised at my range—I wasn’t a one-voice pony,” says Farkas. “We all speak with many voices and that’s true in our creative as well as our daily lives.” The launch event, Oct. 16 at Casa del Popolo, also sees the release of the late Ruth Taylor’s last book of poetry, Comet Wine.

Louis Rastelli, who’s been chronicling the underground indie rock and art scene in Montreal since the mid-’90s through the legendary zine Fish Piss and a series of mini-chapbooks, is launching his first novel, A Fine Ending, Oct. 23 at Casa del Popolo. “The book is very closely based on stories and anecdotes which actually happened—some of which I wrote in detail at the time—all stirred into a pot, modified, combined and fictionalized like any novel,” Rastelli explains. “The book starts in the early ’90s, when the plateau bohemian scene is coming together.”

Pop and spice

David McGimpsey’s oeuvre is known for its genomic combination of pop cultural detritus and high literary chutzpah; his latest book, Sitcom, continues the journey with an exploration of the blank verse monologue form. “I’d written these monologues where people talk about things in a very unapologetic way, and the form of the poems started to suggest themselves as a book,” McGimpsey explains. “The bigger themes are career, love and death, really, but within that are much smaller things like: what does Mary Tyler Moore like to wear? Is Shania Twain angelic? Who’s better, Mary Ann or Ginger?”

Autumn will also witness the launch of Maya Merrick’s spicy second novel, The Hole Show and a series of mini events in October will lead up to the grand gala launch of Lickety Split number five.

Indie comix fans should definitely check out the Monster Island Three anthology, edited by Billy Mavreas and including work by the Mirror’s Rupert Bottenberg; it makes its debut this Tuesday, Sept. 18, 7 p.m. at Casa del Popolo.