“I pond water her / she pond water me / me scum —”
These are the words that begin Mitosis, a chapbook funded by a grant from the City of Ottawa and written by Ottawa poet Conyer Clayton.
A chapbook is a small, often handmade book filled with poetry, drawings and other art. Artists can print and sell chapbooks at relatively little cost.
The grant also funds an album of spoken word set to music called If the river stood still. The music is composed by Clayton’s partner, Nathanael Larochette.
The $1,000 Youth in Culture Pilot Program grant was awarded to Manahil Bandukwala, a Carleton English student, for her idea: a chapbook to accompany an album of spoken word poetry set to ambient guitar strumming. The grant is awarded to youth ages 18 to 30.
The trio met at an open mic, when Bandukwala saw the couple perform poetry set to music. She then had the idea to make a chapbook to showcase their work. After she won the grant in May, they began producing the album and chapbook.
“With chapbooks and art, people don’t get paid anything like they should,” Bandukwala said.
She used the grant money to buy handmade wood stencils and to spray-paint “Mitosis” in gold on the cover of the chapbook, as well as to pay the artists involved. Bandukwala also illustrated the book.
“With the grant money, there’s more room to to be creative and artistic,” Bandukwala said.
The album and chapbook are dedicated to Clayton’s late mother.
The opening lines were inspired by what her mother said to her while she was holding her in bed: “Press your heart against my back, and watch the pond scum fly off.”
The title “Mitosis” refers to the split she and her mother felt in themselves, a split between their good and bad selves.
“The album and chapbook are about taking myself back,” Clayton said.
The musical accompaniment was played by Larochette.
He doesn’t know exactly what he would call the combination of spoken word poetry to ambient music.
“It has a storytelling element to it,” Larochette said. “It’s kind of like a movie—like she’s an actor with a script and I’m the music in the background. It’s like soundscaping a monologue.”
While the grant made it possible to pay the performers and cover the chapbook costs, Larochette said that the event would have happened with or without it—the only difference is that they could afford to pay everyone involved.
“Normally, we would pay for this kind of thing out of pocket,” he said.
Clayton and Larochette launched the album and chapbook with a performance of Mitosis last Sunday at the Happy Goat Café on Laurel Street.
Photo by Greg Guevara
