5th Season Videos (2016-2017)

Videos from the June 7th, 2017 London Open Mic: Featured poet Stan Burfield & open mic readers

6/24/2017

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The June 7th event featured poet and founder of London Open Mic Poetry, Stan Burfield. The night was a celebration of his vision, his journey and his poetry, as well as an opportunity for attendees to give thanks and appreciation for Stan’s years of tireless work in forming, building and maintaining London Open Mic.
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Stan’s wife and devoted life partner, Linda, showed great courage considering her shyness by standing before the audience and opening the evening with many tales of Stan’s life, travels and adventures. Stan then took the stage and read several of his poems, along with details of the genesis and personal significance of each. The audience responded with a hearty and well-deserved standing ovation.

Stan had originally founded London Open Mic as a therapy for his own serious shyness. He created a place to read his poems to others, which was intended as the immediate source of therapy, but in the process of organizing the series, the required social interactions were what actually reduced his shyness to a tolerable level. In the process, over the five seasons, he created an institution and a community of poetry lovers.

Interview with Stan & 3 poems
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Stan’s reading was followed by the evening’s open mic segment which featured an array of veteran and first-time readers.
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This June 7th event was Stan Burfield’s last as organizer of London Open Mic Poetry, but he will return regularly in coming seasons to share his poetry as an open mic participant.
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London Open Mic Poetry will take a summer break and start up again at Mykonos Restaurant, Wednesday, September 6, 2017 at 7:00p.m.

Help us keep videotaping our poets

Sebastian is volunteering his invaluable services videotaping our poets. Please help keep him with us. If you or anyone you know can use his videography or any other tech work he does, which is extensive and detailed in the video below, by all means contact him.

Correct spelling for the above: Kelly Creighton

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May 3rd, 2017: Videos of feature Jason Dickson & open mic readers

5/18/2017

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The May 3rd London Open Mic featured poet, author and bookseller Jason Dickson, who was introduced by friend and fellow poet Andy Verboom. Verboom posed the most-asked question in London: “Who the hell is Jason Dickson?” It turns out that Dickson, known also by the alias Old Man Book, is co-owner of Brown & Dickson Antiquarian Books in London, has had his work published in various magazine publications as well as three solo titles published by BookThug, and is a strong supporter of the London literary and arts scene.

Dickson kicked off the evening by explaining that what he wants to inspire in his readers are three things: anticipation, apprehension and terror. He then read a spooky selection from his work-in-progress The Demon Book, and followed up with some locally-flavoured morsels published in his book Clearance. A robust and informative Q&A provided biographical context as well as insight into what motivates and inspires this creative London-based poet. Questions posed by members of the rapt audience inspired Dickson to reveal the following:

When he was a kid, Dickson wanted to write poetry like Leonard Cohen, but found his efforts fell short of his expectations. He decided that instead of attempting to imitate, he would simply write about what he loved. Once he’d made that choice, writing became a liberation rather than a chore. He found that “demon stuff” really interested him. Writing can be a laborious and time-consuming task and he finds that writing about this dark and spooky subject helps him stay engaged.
The biggest lesson Dickson has learned on his literary journey occurred when he was about 19 years of age. He had just finished reading at a downtown café and had “given it all on stage.” As he left the stage, Dickson heard an audience member say, “Nobody cares, buddy.” Taking this comment to heart means that he is now totally free to write simply to entertain himself.
Dickson was asked if he has more demon poems in the works and whether there are plots lurking “under the tunnel” (a reference to a proposed rapid transit tunnel in London’s core). Dickson replied, “Perhaps they’ll find something they should have just left alone.”
Dickson’s publications have sold out and there are no plans to print more. Used copies may be found through AbeBooks and Amazon. In June, a new book on the history of culture in London, Ontario will be released.
Dickson is fascinated at what happens when ordinary and comfortable language reaches the end of its capacity to explain what’s happening; he likes that edge, which he refers to as “half spaces” such as where city meets country. He says one “can do a lot as a poet in that weird space.” (Perhaps he refers to an ineffable transition point that exists in all liminal spaces. At what point, precisely, does hot become cold? Dark become light? Erotica become smut? Zeitgeist makes the answer fluid; subjectivity, perhaps, makes it undefinable. – MD)
Dickson was asked if he has had personal connections with death and whether those experiences are in his mind when he writes about demons. He feels almost as though he’s encroaching on pretentiousness when he explains that writing about the sudden death of family members was and experience “like having mercury deposited” in his blood. He always tries to get back to that feeling when he is writing. Delving into the subject of demons allows him to safely explore those experiences.
Dickson’s work has been influenced heavily by Canadian writers, including James Reaney and Michael Ondaatje, who have spent significant amounts of time in the London area. Dickson states that one of his greatest personal discoveries was learning that, just as London influences his own work, great writers such as these were likewise influenced by this place. He explained that Canadian literature has enough dour work and he strives intentionally to make his characters funny. He stated, tongue-in-cheek, “Afterall, it’s hard to take Thorndale seriously.”

A sample of Dickson’s poetry as well as our interview

Jason Dickson’s reading was followed by the evening’s open mic segment which featured an array of veteran and first-time readers and touched on subjects from swimming pigs to bubble baths to the simplicity and beauty of breath.

This May 3rd event was Stan Burfield’s last as host. Next month, he will be the London Open Mic featured poet. We look forward to celebrating Stan and giving thanks for his vision and tireless efforts in creating and building London Open Mic Poetry.

--Mary Dowds

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Apr. 5th, 2017: Videos of features James Deahl & Norma West Linder, open mic readers

4/20/2017

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London Open Mic Poetry was proud to host two of Southwest Ontario's poetry legends, Sarnia-based poets Norma West Linder and James Deahl, at our National Poetry Month reading on April 5th.

James and Norma were introduced by fellow Sarnia poet Debbie Okun Hill, who was featured at London Open Mic in its third season (of five so far).

Following the readings, James and Norma fielded questions about their work and their lives, including their long marriage and what prompted them to begin writing poetry:

Norma: I started writing poetry in the 70s when I was conducting weekly creative writing classes at Lambton College where I taught English. I wanted to cover all aspects of writing, so I gave my students an assignment to write a sonnet. Unwilling to ask them to do something I wouldn't do, I wrote a sonnet myself.

James: I started writing when I was 8 or 9 years old. I had been greatly impressed by the work of Robert Louis Stevenson and thought I could do likewise. Easier said than done! About that time I also discovered the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe.

James Deahl was asked about People’s Poetry, which he has supported and promoted all his life of poetry. He response was one of regret and disappointment. From our interview with him:

“In general, people’s culture has been based on two key concepts:
       1. That progress can be clearly seen in the human universe. In terms of social physics, this means that society moves from disorder to order.
       Thus, society improves, becomes more fair and less governed by social Darwinism.
       2. That humanity is perfectible within history. That is, humans play a (if not the) major role in personal and collective salvation.
It therefore follows that:
       3. People’s culture promotes peace, equality, and human goodness.
       4. People’s culture opposes racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination.
       5. People’s culture opposes classism. It is art made for the people, not the elite.
       6. People’s culture works to preserve the natural and human environment.
              6 a. People’s poetry includes almost all nature poetry.
              6 b. People’s poetry can also be a very urban poetry.
In practice, people’s culture tends to:
       7. Be committed to Modernist concepts while retaining key Romantic ideals;
       8. Support Socialist / Social Democratic political movements;
       9. Oppose large-scale Capitalism and the “business culture”;
       10. Encourage all people to participate in building their culture.

“The enemy, if you will, of People’s Culture (poetry, prose, theatre, art, and music) is Post-modernism. Strange as it may seem, while most Canadian poets claim to be working within the People’s Poetry tradition, they are not. Most poetry today is either Confessional or Post-modern. Few will admit to it, though.”

On a lighter note, his bio had included something culled from other sources: “Deahl is best know for his 1987 collaboration with Milton Acorn, A Stand of Jackpine.” When asked about this in the Q&A, James expressed surprised that he is known for this, but was happy to talk about it. James explained that his friend Milton Acorn created a form he called the Jackpine sonnet. James Deahl enjoyed the form as well, and at the time became known as a writer of Jackpine sonnets. Here is Acorn's beautiful description of what he envisioned a Jackpine sonnet to be: http://www.geist.com/contests/jackpine-sonnet-contest/jackpine-sonnet-campaign/
"Unlike other conifers it grows at opportunity, having no set form. Thus with its solid-looking needle-foliage, it makes all sorts of evocative shapes.
If it looks like nothing on Earth - not even a Jackpine. It must be a Jackpine . . . Or a Canadian."
"The Jackpine is resilient. It has a basic form, yes, but grows to any shape that suits the light, suits the winds, suits itself." --Milton Acorn

Read: James Deahl & Norma West Linder -Full INTERVIEW & POEMS
Reading this, it occurred to me that a Jackpine (and the Jackpine Sonnet) in many ways shares the characteristics of our series, London Open Mic! It follows no fixed rules; rather, it flows and morphs and is shaped by its environment and the environmental forces and energies with which it interacts. It's all about flow! London Open Mic is so much like that.

After brief announcements and a short intermission, the first open mic session of Spring 2017 commenced. Spring, of course, is a time of new beginnings and this open mic session mirrored that, with a number of first-timers in attendance, some sharing poems at the mic. Wind and torrential spring rain pounded the canvas terrace roof occasionally while the venue filled with supportive warmth and camaraderie, welcoming the newcomers, their youthful energy and (re)generative spark. Through years of hard work and dedication, Stan Burfield has created and built London's open mic institution, which is now in a time of transition. The evening's open mic session suggests that as he retires, Stan leaves us with an entity that is thriving, growing and filled with so much life.

--Mary Dowds, LOMP Internet Manager.

See the slide show

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March 1st, 2017: Videos of feature Andy Verboom & Open Mic readers.

3/20/2017

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The March 1st London Open Mic featured ANDY VERBOOM, whom we were happy to celebrate not only for his uniquely creative poetry but also for his creation of a wonderful addition to the London poetry scene: Couplets, a collaborative reading series.

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When I originally asked for a volunteer to organize a spin-off of London Open Mic, it was simply meant to be a new series of readings by our former features, the difference being that it would be in the Chapters South bookstore. Andy immediately answered the ad, and, on the way to Chapters, I worried that few strollers in the book shelves would bother to come over and listen to poetry unless we added some other kind of entertainment value. A clown, for instance. Well, in the store’s Starbucks we sat down with Chapters’ events manager to discuss seating, etc, and within minutes Andy’s creative engine burst into life. It was wonderful to see. He instantly created an entirely new kind of poetry series, one that pairs one of our more-established former features with a younger-but-exciting emerging poet, thus ensuring the event would not be just one long droning reading but would be divided into unique sections in which the two poets play off each other in multiple exciting ways. Here’s how Andy describes it on his event website: “A month in advance, the pair begin collaborating on an evening of alternating readings, response poems, renga, duets, live interview, writing exercises, arguments, and general poetic tennis (net optional). Their episode is the culmination of this collaboration, a unique blend of dialogue and performance sparking in the gaps between two poets.” (From Couplets, a collaborative reading series. https://coupletsreadingseries.wordpress.com/) After seven episodes, Couplets has now established itself in the city as something not to be missed. I love it and have never heard of another series like it. London’s Poet Laureate, Tom Cull, who appreciates it as much as I do, thinks there’s a good chance it may be the only event of its kind anywhere.

Watch the slide show

Andy’s poetry is no less unique and creative than his series. It’s not easy poetry; it certainly has depth and layers in abundance. It’s the kind you would want to read a number of times back to back. I knew this before he took the stage, so I was curious how he would deal with this, if at all. There are poets who insist that a poem is perfect in itself, that it should never come with an introduction, either in a book or at a reading. Which, to me, is irritating because there is a massive difference between reading a poem read from a book and listening to one read aloud. In a book, you can reread it, or any of its individual lines, any number of times; you can slow down to better digest it, or even press the pause button; you can refer back to previous bits from later bits; you can look up a word in a dictionary. And so on. But in a reading, you only have one chance. And during that chance, hopefully you won’t get distracted by how the poet reads, or your glass of wine, or any of a million other things. Andy’s particular hocus pocus definitely requires focus focus focus. So I was pleasantly surprised when he not only introduced the poems, but really got into it. In his deceptively casual and calm manner, Andy prepared us for each reading with a description of how it came about, the process he used in its creation, and what he was trying to accomplish in each poem. So, when he began to actually read (that one and only time), we were fully prepared. Even then, of course, the poems went by far faster than they would have if read on a page, but at least we got some things from them that we would otherwise have missed. AND we got a lot that we hadn’t expected—from the introductions.

I was so enthralled by the intros that it never occurred to me to jot down the juicier bits. But to give you a taste, here are a few clips from Kevin Heslop’s wonderful interview:
“Am I concerned with keeping my readers comfortable? Quite the opposite, but I’d like to keep them around long enough to make them uncomfortable.”
“If I’m not surprised by a poem as I write it, and then again after I’ve written it—if my palpable design upon it is actually achieved—I’m bound to hate it … Poetry, especially your own poetry, should surprise you so deeply and consistently that you keep suspecting that you’ve been on the wrong side of history. … That said, I often feel like I’m moderating peace talks between surprise and convention. … My personal sympathies lie with surprise, but I’m always asking it to demobilize, to stand down, to rein it in a bit for the sake of readability.”
“…form is an independent layer of poetic quality. Any moderately good formal poem should, to my mind, have enough integrity and interior movement (enough other things going for it) that a reader needn’t be initiated into its form to appreciate how (or at least that) it’s working.”
Andy’s rule: “Bring enough to a poem that it can begin writing itself, and then be a good editor. When the poem starts being too surprising, course correct by setting it up for a joke.”

Read the entire interview and three of Andy’s poems

The rest of the event consisted of our open mic section preceded by a few announcements: to wit, that yes the open mic will definitely continue into it’s 6th season after yours truly resigns as organizer in June. And April Fool’s Day will see the launch of our Basic Poetics Study Group, in which group members take turns each month being instructors on particular aspects of poetics. I will be the April Foolish instructor, getting a discussion going about line breaks.

The open mic section was it’s usual very lively self, with five-minute views into the poetic (and otherwise) lives of some fifteen unique individuals. The styles and content varied enormously, as always.

Audience: 46

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Nov. 2nd, 2016: Don Gutteridge and open mic poets

11/23/2016

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London Open Mic Poetry was proud to host London’s most well-known member of the Canadian literary scene, Don Gutteridge, who launched his 20th book of poetry, "Inundations", published by Hidden Brook Press: Brighton, 2016, before an audience of 53.

Don's poems of the home and village he grew up in, Point Edward, Ontario, and of the wonderfully eccentric characters who lived there, were very warmly accepted by his large audience. Those who hadn't experienced this kind of life as children wished they had, after listening to his poetic stories. As Don said in our interview, "The poems are a place of safekeeping for memories, thoughts and emotions. They also serve to trace my inner development as a human being: father, grandfather, custodian of the family and historical memory....I’ve created a Point Edward in my memory and given it a mythical quality (as every-village). And such a creation enhances my own memories about the town."

Sarnia-born Gutteridge, Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Education at Western, is the author of more than fifty books, including poetry, fiction and scholarly works in educational theory and practice. In 1972 he won the President’s Medal at The University of Western Ontario for his poem "Death At Quebec". Among his best-known poems are the mythic tetralogy: Riel: A Poem For Voices, Coppermine: The Quest For North, Borderlands, and Tecumseh. Gutteridge is best known across Canada for his historical fiction. He has also recently produced a series of mystery novels, The Marc Edwards Mysteries.

COMPLETE PLAYLIST of the Nov. 2nd, 2016 London Open Mic, featuring Donald Gutteridge. Included are videos of poets Frank Beltrano, Alan Leangvan, David Stones, Richard Weston, Wendi Waters, Stan Burfield, Ralph Graham, Zoe Button, Robin Marie Butt, Gloria Alvernaz Mulcahy, and Paul Branton.

Help us keep videotaping our poets

Sebastian is volunteering his invaluable services videotaping our poets. Please help keep him with us. If you or anyone you know can use his videography or any other tech work he does, which is extensive and detailed in the video below, by all means contact him.

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Videos from the June 7th, 2017 London Open Mic: Featured poet Stan Burfield & open mic readers

May 3rd, 2017: Videos of feature Jason Dickson & open mic readers

Apr. 5th, 2017: Videos of features James Deahl & Norma West Linder, open mic readers

March 1st, 2017: Videos of feature Andy Verboom & Open Mic readers.

Nov. 2nd, 2016: Don Gutteridge and open mic poets

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