media on Trail of Poems

With my "Sarajevo eye" photo.

shdn vi zelebrat?

hek 2 hek kizs
frstd end uv vithse
dat var dar var
verget da fal
verget de lakz & planz
hogtide ratz on streetz
no rt no luv
dam harp

y du un vana ate me

f d proezre iz phict

zw lozt
unfuriven
skalpt
pux balk lo
wrapt in mem lozt
lin & li
vod(k)a
zebug hart

noting

y dew i ean i ryte
xpoyed bi dezir 2 creat shit
kut da boxrsoff me
phucq da shit
lozt en ze phorzt
yamakan phjest
yo mo kno go
"i'm just a
krazy muthr fuk
livin it hup
in ze fazt lin"
(r sumting lik dat)
vasa ze yer urina
storie yer art

blue brains 2

blue brains
blue boy
blue jewels
bluebird
blue heart
blue moon
blue valentine
blue blood
blue sky
blue jeans
blue movies
bluenose
blue funk
blue room
blue tooth
blue streak

+

action painting
street walkers
window watchers
observation post
academic researcher
cultural anthropologist
sexual sociologist
work ethnographer
lived experience practitioner
panopticon camera obscura
professor peeping tom
neighbourhood spy
academic busybody
non-innocent observer

+

binoculars out the window
pen is in hand on journal page
(again) i am a fieldnote
paintbrush dipped in water & paint
streched canvas primed & posed
i am a case study qualitative
qualified certifiable lettered
symbolized ethics problematised
active academic action activist

+

blue brains underwear
canvas is done made
blue sparkle ornament
& tin of vienna sausages

Blue Brains perform/ance video

My "Blue Brains" text bricolage from performance on Thursday, 9 Feb 2012.

Click on the title line above to watch a short video by WhiteFeather, or use this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5kNU-MO7yU

staircase poem 6

rather have a point of entry
text vest than a dunce cap
and made to sit in classroom
corner—poet seems to have odd
awe of unfathomable magic
too deep to sound with rock
on a rope & education
not the schools of fishes
in the unseen sea beyond
mountain & valley river
mouth & the shore washed

hear that mournful violin
feel its aching cry pull haunts
from the woodwork brick & stone
snatches of voice & piano
drift from the auditorium
follow the black arrows
ignore the path closed/
detour around/ art gallery
sign on this gallery wall
to install bejewel weekend
clearance sale: store closed

downstairs in dance studio
really little littles gather
fuzzy teddy bears on the barre
their hands stretch up to reach
& their gaze with longing
when they must sit in a circle
at centre of the studio's floor
violin lesson ended and now
a woman with grey & magenta scarf
is playing a faster fiddle
small reel frag o're & o're

blue brains 1

am now in an insanely cold window box
owl's nest bookstore 390 queen street
frederiction new brunswick

semi-academic or pseudo-academic
in red longjohns multiple fleece
vests without any sheep harmed

journalism johns just wave at me
as they slowly drive queen street
cruising for performance artists

+

to keep writing & keep warm
where warm isn't possible
hunter waiting for game

like a duck-blind joe
one in a white labcoat
making field notes

flip chart art & markers
vienna sausages in window
i am not a sex artist

+

or am i? what am i?
not a trophy wife
cabin boy or temple virgin

foole for word association
as my fingers numb like a
guitar busker in winter

a streetworker wearing
almost nothing—to be seen
& hired like a day labourer

+

not for love but illusion
or relief or something else
risk repulsion attraction

those tighty-whiteys
joe fresh style frais
underwear on or a canvas

an image or story everywhere
no sex workers have i seen
so far today (that i know of)

+

but who is a sex worker
in this call centre province?
who has not sold of themselves?

not just work for money
but illusions of love or comfort
for shelter and sustenance

to run from abuse or neglect
into exploitation of self
and/or control by ______

+

and me a bluenoser
with cold blue fingers
exposing blue brains

Ashes, Paper & Beans: 8 Feb 2012

Ashes, Paper & Beans: Host: Joe Blades. CHSR 97.9 FM, http://www.chsrfm.ca/ Fredericton, NB.

Catherine Chandler. Poems: People, places, & things.

Jason Heroux. Poems from Memoirs of an Alias and Emergency Hallelujah books.

Fredericton arts PSAs.

Susan Cormier. "Pinned: Five men of Canadian poetry".

rob mclennan. "open mic poems".

staircase poem 5

perched like a partridge in sun
this cold clear february morning
windows to be reinstalled and
documents ghosted off and back
on like the stars on star sticker
fallen off someone's pet beach rock
with crab sticker and metallic snowflake
on the wainscoting ledge outside
the dance studio with a doll propped
up in the corner above the box
of lost and found treasures
and me in my staircase landing
corner slowing in sunlight
feeling its heat warm my head

staircase poem 4

sink: please wash out
art supplies in here
instead of washroom thanks
free verse not paint-
by-number poem kits
remember having a tin
of pain pucks brush and
paper—ordinary paper
not watercolour or artist—
and i was painting small
landscapes in a passenger
seat during family drives
action landscape painting

crisp morning after full
moon academic cage match 
to be or to un-b might
be a research question
qualitative self-interviewing
vs ontario tory mp's quest
for when life begins that begs
his understanding of what
is life and how/when/if
it is self-sustained human
life he asks about or
a rebirth resemblance
of a new politician

staircase poem 3

sunlight streams in
though clouds and tall windows
bare tree branches with exposed
squirrel nests far from ground
i see myself reflected
in window in plexiglas cube
in the black of my blog page
with poet vest above my head
and an unseen headache
pinching above my eyes
woke in panic today
don't know why—am
the human behind this poem
here by chance or by
appointment like thursday
afternoon's doc seminar
(faculty of education
doctor of philosophy
students) presentation
after hoot & peep performance
in owl's nest windowbox
saw a fly—fruitfly-sized—
caught in the wet blue
paint covering "let's
talk science" on my
prop or hero's brain
for that performance

staircase poem 2

call for auditions
a career in poetry
rehydrating beer
typewriter heard
around the world
fredericton to izmir
and back pinging
in my head ex-school
hallway and kindergarten
classroom empty of kids
gone home for the day
just teachers cleaning up
and preparing for tomorrow
like the piano tuner
on the baby grand
in the auditorium
playing keys different
than on this typewriter
with its forest or hunter
green keys white characters
like deer tail alerts
as words leap and scatter
beyond my thick fingers
and a need to create

Hoot & Peep Mini Performance Festival

THE HOOT & PEEP PERFORMANCE MINI-FESTIVAL

MON, FEB 6. 1-4 pm, AMANDA JARDINE.

TUES, FEB 7. 10-1 pm, WHITEFEATHER. 1-4 pm, MEGAN MACKAY, CANDACE MOOERS.

WED, FEB 8. 10-1 pm, WHITEFEATHER. 1-4 pm, SHAUN BARTONE & CYNTHIA RYDER.

THURS, FEB 9. 10-1 pm, JOE BLADES. 1-4 pm, AMANDA JARDINE.

FRI, FEB 10. 10-1 pm, CYNTHIA RYDER. 1-4 pm, JO GRIFFITH.

SAT, FEB 11. 10-1 pm, JOE BLADES. 1-4 pm, CYNTHIA RYDER.

PERFORMERS & THEIR PERFORMANCES

MEGAN MACKAY – INVERSE EROTICA points out the absurdity of assigning roles to costume through fantasy. MacKay adopts the moves of an erotic dancer who puts on clothing until she has become a sexless, amorphous blob of fabric.

WHITEFEATHER – FIXATION STATION explores obsessive bodily engagement in the form of oral fixation. WhiteFeather’s performance involves lipstick, watercolour paper and sunflower seeds in the shell.

JOE BLADES – BLUE BRAINS will be a word association performance based on the idea of academic intellectual congestion and notions of attraction and the uncomfortable.

SHAUN BARTONE & CYNTHIA RYDER – TEMPEST IN A TEAPOT: an exploration of sexual repression. Under a picture of the Queen, Cynthia and Shaun will sip tea while reading passages from banned books. Simultaneously screening in the adjacent window will be the video Slut: A Drama in One Word alternating with found films of tea services from around the world.

CYNTHIA RYDER – FOOT WORSHIP. A study of our obsession with brand, style, and the appeal of the shoe, Cynthia will be crafting an altar from her 60+ pairs of shoes and boots.

AMANDA JARDINE – DECOLUMNIZATION will explore the expected disconnect between theory and sexuality in the academic community by using live creative nonfiction writing (in column form) to bridge this gap.

JO GRIFFITH – ARTEFACTS/X-COLONEL WILLIAMS. The police interrogation of Colonel Williams plays continuously while endless nonsensical flow charts are made to document the absence of reason for the crimes.

CANDACE MOOERS – LESSONS IN LOYALTY/CONFESSIONS will be the reading of a S&M script without following any of the emotional cues for audio performance, using a voice mixer and homemade radio transmitter.

PERFORMERS: BIOS

Jo Griffith works in criminal justice and explores related themes through performance and art.

Shaun Bartone is a Sociology Instructor at UNB Fredericton and a queer performance artist, musician, and poet.

WhiteFeather is an artist, writer, educator and arts administrator known for both her engaging strangeness and (sometimes) intimidating
straightforwardness.

Joe Blades is an artist, poet, and publisher in Fredericton, whose Trail of Poems is on display in Galerie Charlotte Glencross
Gallery, CSAC, 1 Feb to 15 March.

Cynthia Ryder is an award-winning metalsmith, visual artist, fetish model, and proponent of radical relationships.

Amanda Jardine is an overeducated, underemployed weirdo who calls
Fredericton home (even though it’s not); she survives off local produce and witticism.

Candace Mooers has been a community radio broadcaster since 1997. Once upon a time, she also worked for a S&M audio production company.

Megan MacKay is a Fredericton-based writer and comedian who believes that she is invisible when her eyes are closed.

Amanda, the first performer in Hoot & Peep started at 1 pm, today. She is being photographed by WhiteFeather.

Owl's Nest Bookstore, 390 Queen St, Fredericton, NB.

staircase poem 1

on the mythical beast
or machine once again
back in the saddle roaring
to go go go from this landing
this pseudo-office of poet
in the stairwell & hallway
of charlotte street arts centre
the former charlotte street school
outside a reduced-scale version
of new brunswick legislature
in red brick not sandstone

art opening cacophony
of guitar lessons in former
principal's office violin
& fiddle in the studio upstairs
baby ballerinas with moms
who say they haven't touched
their own toes in years
followed by a stream of irish
dancers—riverdance girls
backdrop soundscape for
opening remarks and poetry

Ashes, Paper & Beans: 25 Jan 2012

Ashes, Paper & Beans: Host: Joe Blades. CHSR 97.9 FM, www.chrsfm.ca Fredericton, NB.

Happy Robert Burns Day!

In Sept 2011, the Burns statue on The Green in Fredericton was re-dedicated with pomp and ceremony including several bands. The above photo taken before Rabbie was unveiled.

To start today's APB episode, in memorium for Wolastokwiuk elder Gwen Bear who passed away unexpectedly this past weekend, I play the legend of "Koluskap and the Giant Beaver" as told by Gwen Bear.

Going Scottish now:

Joe Blades & Biff Mitchell on F'ton affirs, the trails, & Robert Burns.

Hamish MacDonald: A ode to commemorate the opening of the first international robert Burns school.

Trail of Poems: the exhibit installation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—January 19, 2012

TRAIL OF POEMS LEADS TO THE CHARLOTTE STREET ARTS CENTRE

Fredericton poet–artist, Joe Blades, wears a Trail of Poems in the Charlotte Glencross Gallery, on his journey towards becoming a man of letters. The Charlotte Street Arts Centre is pleased to host Blades as writer-in-performance during his upcoming solo exhibition that will feature large-format photo-based works, along with text-based and mixed media artworks. Blades’ work is presented in partial fulfillment of a Master in Education degree in Adult Education at the University of New Brunswick.

Join us for the opening reception of Trail of Poems on Thursday, February 2 from 5–7 pm, where Blades will give a free poetry reading to launch his six-week series of onsite activities. Trail of Poems addresses Blades’ research questions that consider his artistic oeuvre and the path he has created to arrive at where he is today. Blades invites the public to visit both the Charlotte Glencross Gallery at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre and Room 145 in Marshall d’Avray Hall (UNB), where his works will be displayed concurrently in order to literally and metaphorically connect the dots, pebbles, or breadcrumbs of his art and education journey.

For over thirty years, Blades’ artist life and its continuing output of words and images have led him to his current engagement in arts-based research in adult education. He has exhibited hand-bound book works, photographs, mixed media pieces, and objets d’art in group shows across Canada and Europe. “Joe Blades has become a Fredericton landmark, and we’re extremely pleased to support his work in this way,” says WhiteFeather, Executive Director of the Charlotte Street Arts Centre.

Join us at the Charlotte Glencross Gallery to understand the importance of one’s own reflection on life and where that can lead, through art. All are welcome to attend the opening reception and to return to visit Blades during his performance residency. The exhibition will run until March 15, 2012.

-30-

Media contact: Laura Perry, Communications and Outreach Intern, 454-6952 or charlottestreetartreach@gmail.com
or
WhiteFeather, Executive Director, 454-6952 or director@charlottestreetarts.ca

--
The Charlotte Street Arts Centre opens the doors of creative expression to all.

732 Charlotte Street, Room 200
Fredericton NB E3B 1M5
506.454.6952 | office
506.454.6956 | fax
506.238.5402 | cell
www.charlottestreetarts.ca

Ashes, Paper & Beans: 18 January 2012

Ashes, Paper & Beans: Host: Joe Blades. CHSR 97.9 FM, www.chrsfm.ca Fredericton, NB.

Changing landscape of documentary filmmaking: (moderator: Rachel Bower), Greg Hemmings, Rob Turgeon, Paul MacNeil (National Film Board of Canada).
Recorded in the Industry Series of the Silver Wave Film Festival, Fredericton, NB, 4 November 2011.

Ashes, Paper & Beans: 11 Jan 2012

Ashes, Paper & Beans: Host: Joe Blades. CHSR 97.9 FM, www.chrsfm.ca Fredericton, NB.

Lorna Drew Maltese Poodle book launch (recorded 22 Sept 2011 @ Westminster Books, Fredericton).

Los puentes del Rio San Jaun/Bridges over the Saint John River (Broken Jaw Press) book launch by editors Nela Rio and M. Travis Lane with contributors Lynn Davies, Jo-Anne Elder, Sophie M. Lavoie, & Joe Blades (recorded 22 Sept 2011 @ Westminster Books, Fredericton).

John Terpstra & Bart Nameth: "Beach".

Catherine Kidd & Jack Beetz: "Sea Peach".

Ashes, Paper & Beans: 4 January 2012

Ashes, Paper & Beans: Host: Joe Blades. CHSR 97.9 FM, www.chrsfm.ca Fredericton, NB.

The beginnings of Acadian Literature:
Jo-Anne Elder (moderator), Diane Legere, & Rose Despres

Michael Crummy: "Rust"