Got out to Plasticine Poetry (October 16, 2011) to help celebrate their 5th anniversary. Congratulations to Michael & his host Cathy (Charlie in 2021) for being so dedicated. Having run &/or hosted more than a couple of reading series myself, I know the hard work that goes into it – the sweat waiting for people to arrive is the icing on the cake – speaking of which thanks for the anniversary cake – great poetry and eating your cake too – who could ask for more?
Plasticine has wisely moved their stage to a more central point in the room and away from the piano – poetry in the round – which gave us improved sight lines for more of the room. Unwise was to put the few open-stagers on at the end of the show – by the time they hit the stage over half the room had departed.
Charlie Petch, in a kick-ass pair of boots, didn’t seemed all that exhausted from competing in the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word, but was happy to participate in a show where score cards weren’t being held aloft.
The first set started off with Plasticine’s organizer Michael Fraser – he read romantic new pieces, tributes to his youthful inspiration: James Brown, Jimi Hendrix and some from his book which he was going to offer for a special anniversary price but left the copies at home. He was followed (I think) by Natalie Zina Walschots, whom I have never heard before. She did a great engaging set of comic fan-gal material that transcended its origins with pieces that worked even without knowing the supervillians to whom she paid tribute.
She was followed by David Silverberg, also looking remarkably fresh from the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word – which he helped organize here in Toronto. As always he did a strong set of accessible yet cerebral material, some comic, some commentary. Plus a great audience participation – we gave nouns, verbs etc that substituted for nouns verbs etc in a well-loved piece of poetry.
After the break the second set started with James Dewar – another poet I’ve heard many times before and always enjoy. Relaxed and tender – he makes heterosexuality almost seem like a good thing. The final feature was Margaret Christakos – another poet I’ve never heard before. I found her an engaging reader. The material lifted well from the page but some of the connections were in the tangental shifts in the way words on the page bounced off of each other with echos that got lost, for me, as I tried to follow the drifting images.
If it’s fair to judge a series by the quality of it open-stagers Plasticine shines with short turns by RC Weslowski (here for the Festive), Adam Abbas (a feature at next month’s Plasticine), Liz Howard & Christian with a flame-thrower ode to the Art Bar.
I also hit the open stage with two new pieces. Here’s one of them:
Only Three Units Left
a grudge match
women with baby buggies
jostle to get by
each other
the patio
the man with his two sweet little dogs
the dog bark
the babies cry
the women
glare dart their baby carriages
at each other bitch bitch
get out of the way bitch
<>
fingers start to itch
welcome to murder city
new condos going up
thousands of units available
store clerk watches
teenagers shove each other
in front of the magazines
the pop cooler
teens mutter
get your fuckin’ eyes off me bitch
bitch bitch
prick prick prick
is it a crime to be a teenager
<>
well in fact it is
here in murder city
shots or backfires
smell of burning
bbq or arson
something someone
falls from a balcony
screech of car ties
blood ketchup paint on the street
<>
all the same
here in murder city
don’t walk at night
behind a woman
even if you just
leave the subway at the same time
don’t walk behind her
she could turn scream shoot you
get away with it
<>
here in murder city
condos go up
poverty increases
throats cut babies battered
cameras everywhere
to catch each drip
reporters to ask
did it feel sacred
were you scared scarred
<>
here in murder city
chokes from the ally
gasps for help or sexual pleasure
who can tell
yeah fuck yeah fuck
ouch yeah ouch
yeah crime is sex
here in murder city
only three units left
TOpoet 