freedom, or . . . ?

i'm free
and freedom tastes of reality
—the who

free to return to university

free to apply for another job

free to move

free to leave this apartment city province country

. . .

but/so
what will i do?

t: chsr highland radio 96
loc: broken mapp desk
temp: 1°c
sound: junior brown long walk back

APB, 24 mars 2009

. . . back in the radio station . . .

Tonight's Ashes, Paper & Beans show featured my recording of the 9th International Multicultural-Multilingual Poetry Reading that happened on Saturday, 21 mars 2009 at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre. Emcee was Jo-Anne Elder of revue ellipse mag & Vice-President of Literary Translators’ Association of Canada / Association des traducteurs et traductrices littéraires du Canada (LTAC/ATTLC). Poets who read their poems included Carlos Morales, Ken Corbett, Joe Blades, and Nela Rio. Other poem readers included Tim McLauchlin, Johanna Blum, Sophie Lavoie, M. Travis Lane, Melanie Bell, Elizabeth Coburn, and Scott Bell.

Nela Rio and the Nuestro Espacio display @ the reading.

Found 12 march 2009

Found about 11:30 AM, Thursday, 12 March 2009, half-in the ice beside the recycling station bin on the FREX Grounds, Smythe Street, Fredericton, NB. Photo of the boys of Good Charlotte cut from a magazine.

shirt: rust-coloured prairie-T
loc: broken mapp in-box
temp: -16
sound: Will the Circle Be Unbroken

montréal early morn

cloud hazed full moon
over the big O stadium
swollen river below

9th International Multicultural-Multilingual Poetry Reading

In conjunction with The United Nation’s Dialogue Among Civilizations Through Poetry, World Poetry Day (21 March), Mother Language Day (21 February), and World Water Day (22 March). Organized to foster tolerance, respect and cooperation among peoples.

21 March 2009, Saturday, 5 to 8 pm
including “Nuestro Espacio”

Rm 212, Charlotte Street Arts Centre
732 Charlotte St, Fredericton, NB, Canada

Organized by Nela Rio, Founder of the International Multicultural-Multilingual Poetry Reading, with the support of Gallery ConneXion, revue ellipse mag, Broken Jaw Press, Latin American Cultural Centre, Literary Translators’ Association of Canada / Association des traducteurs et traductrices littéraires du Canada, Registro de Autores Creativos de la Asociación Canadiense de Hispanistas, Latino Association of New Brunswick, and Grupo Fredericton de la Academia Iberoamericana de Poesía.

We invite you to join us in the 9th celebration! Previous celebrations, since 2000, have featured poets and members of the community reading in many languages: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Cantonese, Chinese, Japanese, Dutch, Danish, Urdu, Turkish, Amharic, among others. This event is open to the general public and admission is free.

Theme: River poems / Poèmes des rivières / Poemas de los ríos

REGISTRATION FORM FOR POETS
Please include your name, postal address, email address, the text of the poem (use Times New Roman, 12 point). The poem should have 30-lines maximum including stanza breaks (this is for the purpose of printing it on a poster for exhibition at the event). Send this information to nelario@rogers.com BEFORE MARCH 15, 2009. Note: this community event will not be paying artists or performance fee.

REGISTRATION FOR READERS
(Read a poem by your favorite poet at this event). Please include your name, postal address, email address, the name and country of the author poet, the text of the poem (use Times New Roman, 12 point). The poem should have 30-lines maximum including stanza breaks (this is for the purpose of printing it on a poster for exhibition at the event). Send this to nelario@rogers.com BEFORE MARCH 15, 2009.

Joe Blades in the TREE Reading Series

10 March, 2009:
Joe Blades' Ottawa launch of from the book that doesn’t close

Tree Reading Series—Time and Location: Please join us! Tree Readings happen year-round on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month. Doors open at 7:30pm, with a brief 'open-mic' set at 8:00pm. Our featured reader for the night follows the open-mic set. We're located at the Ottawa Arts Court in the Library room. For more information about the series, contact Rod Pederson by email at treereadingseries@live.ca or call (613) 292-1886. The Ottawa Arts Court is located at 2 Daly Avenue, Ottawa, phone (613) 564-7240. The Arts Court is located at the corner of Daly Avenue and Nicholas Street, just across from the Rideau Centre, where there is abundant parking available.

Fredericton’s Joe Blades is ‘a true prophet of poetry’
—Michael O. Nowlan, The Daily Gleaner

Poetry Compliance Alert

Ashes, Paper & Beans, 17 Feb 2009

"Foreign Accent" by Klyde Broox.

Biff Mitchell's Writing Hurts Like Hell workshop class live on the show with lectures, two writing exercises and readings: Biff Mitchell, Heather Stuckless, Catrin Berghoff, Leanne Ayer, Dawn Ouellette, Rita Monteith, Mary Mesgeau, Todd Arsenault, Jennifer Patterson, and Angela Na.

"Rant Against Otherness" by Klyde Broox.

T: "NSCAD: I will not make boring art"
loc: prelaunch
temp: -3 C
sound: Joni Mitchell Clouds

Ashes, Paper & Beans, 10feb2009

Live interview with Micha of Nonymous magazine here in Fredchicken, NB.

"Everybody" by Reg E. Gaines
"Sweats" by Nancy Dembowski
"So What" by Lilian Allen
"Stoplight Politics" by Ruth Foreman
"Project Princess" by Tracie Morris
"The X is Black (Spike Lie)" by Amiri Baraka
"Alien Nation Love" by Dub Trinity
"Malcolm is 'Bout More than Wearing the X" by Michael Warr
"Schoolyard of Broken Deams" by Marvin Tate
"Undertaker" by Patricia Smith
"Strong" by Motion in Poetry

T: NBFC Celebrating 15 years 1979-1994
loc pre-road packin'
temp: -7 C
sound NCIS

POETRY BOOK LAUNCH: NELA RIO

The public is invited to the launch of the latest collection of poetry by Argentine-Canadian poet and artist Nela Rio, a long-time resident of Fredericton.

Her latest book is Aquella luz, la que estremece / The Light that Makes Us Tremble which has been translated by Hugh Hazelton (winner of a Governor General’s Medal for translation in 2006) and co-published by Broken Jaw Press Inc. (Fredericton) and Enana Blanca (Montréal). The original Spanish collection was a finalist for a prestigious poetry prize in Spain in 1991 and subsequently published in Spain. Nela Rio has published multiple collections of poetry and is an established internationally recognized poet, artist and literary critic who taught at St. Thomas University for many years.

The poems in this collection can be characterized as explicitly erotic in their language and message. Literary critics have already lauded the collection, comparing Nela Rio’s work to that of other Nobel winning Latin-American poets such as Pablo Neruda. This bilingual collection has already been launched in Montreal last November and in Toronto.

Several of Nela Rio’s books have been published in bilingual and trilingual editions by Fredericton’s Broken Jaw Press, including Sustaining the Gaze: When Images Tremble / Sosteniendo la mirada: cuando las imágenes tiemblan / Soutenant le regard: quand les images tremblent (2004, with Brian Atkinson) and En las noches que desvisten otras noches / During Nights that Undress Other Nights (2003), among others.

The reading by Nela Rio will be bilingual, Spanish and English.
Date: Wednesday February 18th
Time: 7 pm
Place: Tilley Hall–Room 104,
University of New Brunswick–Fredericton Campus
9 MacAulay Lane

This reading is free, open to all, and co-sponsored by the Department of Culture and Language Studies (UNB Fredericton), NB Latino Association and Broken Jaw Press.

More information on Nela Rio’s new book:
brokenjaw.com/catalog/pg118.htm

For more information contact : Dr. Sophie M. Lavoie, (506) 458-7469 or lavoie@unb.ca.

Ashes, Paper & Beans, 27 Jan 2009

The feature of this Ashes, Paper & Beans episode was an interview conducted and recorded by Joe Blades with video artist Peter Kingstone and Gallery ConneXion director Meredith Snider.

It was followed by two Hilary Peach spoken word pieces: "Tattoo" & "Loretta".

A Klyde Broox demo CD set: "Literary Coup", "Foreign Accent", "Under the Influence of Dub" & "The Revolution has Changed".

UNB Reading news and 3-Day Novel Contest winners.

shirt: blue thermal
loc: prestormwerk
temp: -17 C
sound: Indigo Girls Become You

The Night Before Robbie Burns Day

You don't have to be Scottish!?!

Saturday, January 24, 2009 at 7:30pm
(after the BAG and ConneXion exhibition openings @ The Beaverbrook Art Gallery. 703 Queen St)

'Tis the night before Robbie Burns Day and all through the world, denizens are partying, rollicking and . . . well, drinking Scotch, eating haggis, reading poetry, dropping down drunk and throwing up.

This is a BlackTop MotorCycle Gang reading raid open to the public. It will start at Biff's place (158 Brunswick Street, Apt 3-C . . . behind the big red brick house with the huge balcony and porch between Smythe and Northumderland . . . his building is around back) with readings from Robbie (for those who want to read . . . find them here http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=58856568901&h=AzHQG&u=oJuiM) and a good old Scottish chili and other snacks (bringing food is optional). Joe Blades will be bringing haggis (the most delicious haggis in the world and the only haggis Biff says he'll ever eat).

We'll meet at 7:30. After drinking (and you can bring whatever you want . . . for those of you with defective taste buds that won't accept Scotch) we'll head to the Robbie Burns statue on the Green beside he BAG (which is absent at the moment, but Broken Joe is bringing a bust o' th' Bard) to read to his ghost.

And then, it's just pure party-your-ass-off.

shirt: The Globe Inn, Burns' Howff
loc: brokendesk
temp: -8 C
sound: Shooglenifty Live at Selwyn Hall, Box

Noche Latina 2009

6 Feb 2009
Friday, 6-9 pm

Noche Latina—supporting locally-organized education and human rights initiatives in Guatemala—music, trad Central American meal, silent auction, salsa dancers.

Fredericton Chapter of the Maritime Breaking the Silence Network
@ Wilmot United Church gymnasium,
cnr of King & Carleton, Fredericton. NB.

Tickets
—$10 adults, $8 student, $5 child (age 5-12), $20 family
—available at Doogle's café, MCAF, True Food Organics, Read's Newsstand.

Ashes, Paper & Beans, 20 Jan 2009

An excerpt from The Robert Burns Story by John Cairney including Burn's Tom O'Shanter" and "For A' That And A' That".

"Love is a Small Town" by Hilary Peach.

"Oilers" by Vince Tinguely.

"Holmgang In Skaugnir" by Lord Torvald Torgarson.

"The Green" by Dasez Scott.

Creating Speciality Props & Set Decoration Items for Film

Instructor: Joe Blades

An Intro–Theory & Hands-on workshop:

A hands-on workshop for anyone interested in learning how to create props and specialty items for film, television and video productions. The instructor will discuss how to research and make—with hands-on examples—signage; books and magazine covers; newspaper stories with photos; cigarette packages; beer, beverage, food and medication labels and packages; IDs cards; and much more!

22 March 2009, Sunday, 11 am–5 pm

Location: New Brunswick Film Co-op
(732 Charlotte Street, basement resource centre)
Fredericton, NB

Fee:
$20 for Film Co-op Members
$30 for Non-Members

Attendee Limit: 10

[Registration begins in mid-January. Formally registering and paying in advance is the only way to ensure you will have a seat in the offered course. Register in person at the NB Film Co-op (call or email to make an appointment first, please!) Payment in person by cash, cheque or money order or by mail (cheques and money orders only). You can put your name on the waiting list for workshop if it’s already full. For more information, call Cat at: 506-455-1632 or email her at cathie@nbfilmcoop.com.]

+ + +

Joe Blades is a writer–artist living in Fredericton. On the editorial board of revue ellipse mag, he is Vice President–Membership Chair of the League of Canadian Poets, producer–host of the Ashes, Paper & Beans community radio program at CHSR 97.9 FM, and publisher of Broken Jaw Press. The author of six poetry collections, including River Suite and from the book that doesn’t close, two of his books have been translated and published in Serbian editions. In 2008, Blades worked—mainly in the art department—for or on a dozen short film and television projects including Pray, My Children, Diplomatic Relations, Dead to The World II, Birth of a Nicola and A Dark Radius.

Art's Birthday!

a hoof- or footprint in mud
from armour through sky trail
to the darkness of cast iron
watermakes in beach sand
seeing pattern in wind
bent grasses frozen
colour or shape of a stone
a piece of driftwood
sunlight on skin

QWERTY Reads (again)

This Thursday QWERTY is playing your song. The Q Continuum is pleased as punch to present the last edition of the QWERTY reading series under the wacky rambunctious rule of Kathleen Brown. She has wrangled a slew of diverse and talented people to perform for the great folk of Fredtown, as she bids a sweet farewell to these Merrytimes.

We cordially invite you to celebrate Qwertaciously with these fabuolous peeps on the lineup:

Q Reads
LAST CHANCE TO DANCE !!
Thursday January 15, 8pm, Wilser's Room (Capitol bar complex, Piper's Lane, 'tween King & Queen Streets, Fredericton)
with the awe-inspiring textual rumbles and roars of UNB's writer in rez
GERARD BEIRNE
the swift, stellar styles of stunning
SHARON McCARTNEY
the mind-bending rhymes of lead dog
ROSS LECKIE
the lyrical cosmopolitician
JAMES PAUL LANGER
& Q's own:
polymath PAT LEECH
and neat new beat SARAH KHOKHAR

Musical Rar-Rar - the victorious return of our imaginary band:
A FEARFUL SYMMETRY
feat. jesse ferguson, morty bliss, pat leech, david bowie, hildegard von bingen and nico faieta

Ashes, Paper & Beans, 13 jan 2009

Beverly Mathurne, "Je vas vendre mon chasse-neige / Sellin' My Snow Blowin' Machine".

From Poems from Guantánano: The Detainees Speak: presented by Joan Kjaer and David Hamilton.

"He Sings" by Fortner Anderson + tape/head.

"Rant Against Otherness" by Klyde Broox.

Three Koluskap stories in Wolastoq'kew by Gwen Bear and (?).

"Lua rainbow" by Paula da Costa.

T: cameo
loc: inside Broken office
temp: 0 C
sound: Watermelon Slim & the Workers No Paid Holidays

Found photo(repro) plus

Found in the snow on my front step on York Street, Fredericton, NB, on Monday 5 Jan 2009 after 6 pm on my way inside after a overlong work day. DC shades, likely a woman's; an empty Blige CD case for No More Drama [wow, is that only almost-eight years old? Feels like an early Tina or something else]; an unmarked, burned CD with an almost 24-minute audio track allegedly created "December 31, 1994, 8:00:02 PM" but I can't hear it.

shirt: blue
loc: isitreallyThursday?
temp: -3
sound: Rocky Horror Picture Show (original Soundtrack)

Merry Po Mo Ortho Xmas Day

Photo just taken after an afternoon and evening of snow (with a promise of freezing rain overnight). Just south of my apartman on York, I saw this Post-Modern or Modern-Post nativity scene and just had to photograph it it on this Othrodox Christmas Day in many households :-)

shirt: denim-blue muscle shirt + a Lands' End button-down shirt
loc: post-Chez Riz et Lunar Rogue evening
temp: -8 C
sound: Michael Franti Songs from the Front Porch