River Run Centre hosts renowned Canadian poet
Many may ask “what is the point of poetry anymore?” Well, the folks at the River Run Centre who had the privilege of listening to Koyczan’s reading know the truth.
Koyczan is most well-known for an animated video of his poem addressing bullying, which went viral, and for participating in the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympic Games. Koyczan visited the River Run Centre as part of his cross-country tour.
Koyczan’s performance was opened by two local poets, Lisa Baird and Truth Is. Lisa Baird’s poetry ranged from pleasure to pain; from the vagus nerves of domestic pets, to the everyday violence of being a woman. Her tone was comforting, just as much as she railed against injustices, her voice was kind and warm. Following her poems, Truth Is started her readings. Truth Is is an extremely celebrated Guelph poet and the co-director of Guelph’s own non profit arts organization called Guelph Spoken Word, and is now the artistic director of the Guelph Youth Poetry Slam. Her poetry simmered with emotion and her voice, laboriously-crafted, at times thundered and at times whispered. Her words centred around love, recognizing history—and like Baird’s poetry—feminism.
[pullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]…as funny as he is artistically brilliant.[/pullquote]Following a short intermission, Shane Koyczan, armed with nothing but a bottle of water, a cup, a stool, a mic, and an iPad (the use for which he later explained), walked on stage and proceeded to wage war against those who say poetry has no place in the world today. And he won.
Koyczan explained that following a motor-vehicle accident, he has suffered some complications regarding his memory—hence the iPad. It was kind of him to inform the audience that he was mortal, because the way he speaks and the words he writes imply something else, something otherworldly.
Koyczan is as funny as he is artistically brilliant. At every show, he gives out a Twitter award to the audience member who tweeted the strangest thing before a show. He called up a young man who had tweeted about how excited he was to see Koyczan with his “lady friend.” As a reward, Koyczan gave him a leftover samosa and took a photo with him.
Shane Koyczan is like your older brother’s super cool friend who treats you as a peer instead of a bratty younger sibling. He was warm, funny, charming, and dropped an f-bomb frequently enough that titters—if not outright laughter—rocketed through the audience every few minutes. But as funny as he was—and he was extremely funny—he was tenfold wise. Koyczan managed to give so much thoughtful meaning to the audience without ever coming off as patronizing or pedagogical.
Koyczan’s story is one all-too familiar these days. Hailing from Yellowknife, he is the son of a native father and white mother. He was raised by his loving grandparents, and dealt with severe bullying throughout his childhood. Despite a rough start in life, Koyczan’s poetry never wallows, nor does it speak of passive complacency. Koyczan advocated time and time again living with integrity and loving whenever possible with an unquenchable intensity.