Not even a snowstorm could dissuade the crowd that gathered in Arts Court theatre to shine a spotlight on Carleton during Versefest, Feb. 29.
While it was freezing outside, the feeling was anything but cold for Ottawa’s second annual poetry festival.
University students and poetry enthusiasts mingled over beers as they pored over colourful copies of the winter edition of Carleton-based poetry magazine In/Words and sex literature magazine The Moose and Pussy.
In front of a backdrop of colourful painted canvases, In/Words’ poetry editor Bardia Sinaee welcomed the audience before introducing the first performer.
Gregory Scofield, one of Canada’s leading aboriginal writers, kicked off the night with a reading from Louis: The Heretic Poems. Interjected with historical facts and stories from Scofield’s own research, about the life of Métis leader Louis Riel.
From historical to haunting, to edgy and funny, the headline performances by four poets represented an unlikely variety of voices over the span of two hours, a variety that Sinaee said is reflected in In/Words’ 11th issue.
“New editors bring new tastes,” he said, adding that his goal for the magazine “includes content that is funny, provocative, and new.”
In/Words also publishes The Moose and Pussy, who released their first audio version of the publication, Codename: Oral.
A familiar face to some in the room was performer Rachael Simpson, Carleton graduate and former In/Words editor. Since being published (and rejected, she added amongst laughter from the crowd) in the pages of In/Words, Simpson has continued to publish her poetry. She was included in Canadian Poetry: Pith & Wry, alongside Margaret Atwood.
Simpson said she and other students grew together as writers.
“I’d often find a piece of writing featured in the magazine that I’d first read on a napkin in the English department lounge,” she said in an email.”It was interesting to follow another writer’s process. Up until that point, I’d considered writers as people I studied in school. Now, they were my friends.”
Local Ottawa poet Christian McPherson’s work, like “Eating Capitalism,” alternated between silly spontaneity and morbid metaphors, concluding with some kind of unexpected punchline that got a satisfying chuckle from the crowd.
The final performance of the night was Helen Humphreys, who changed the pace by choosing not to read poetry. Instead, she read humorous excerpts from her latest fiction novel, The Reinvention of Love, that follows the life of a young poet in 19th century Europe.
