Well, it’s been a heck of a long time since I’ve been active on my website. Back in 2019 – was it really 5 years ago??? – I took a big step away from writing poetry and being active in Winnipeg’s literary community to work towards personal and financial stability. I needed to make some shifts in career goals and find ways to balance my time and energy to make working a ‘day job’ fit alongside a creative lifestyle.
Then the pandemic happened!
Which was terrible for many reasons.
But it also offered me a blessing in time and space to work on, and finish, quite an ambitious mature YA novel project. In 2021, I was fortunate to be accepted in The Sage Hill Writing Experience‘s Summer Fiction Program where I received overwhelming encouragement from the group facilitator and amazing award-winning writer, Yasuko Thanh. Since then, I’ve completed a couple revisions of the manuscript based on input from some active readers, and have sent a few submissions out to publishing houses in Canada. Fingers crossed as I wait for their replies, and I hope to share more info about the project sometime soon!
As you’d probably guess, with it being based in live events, the spoken word/poetry slam community all but shut down during the pandemic. Still, there were a few pockets of activity, such as with The Winnipeg Fringe Festival’s Winter Series co-production, SLAMDEMIC! Live streamed via YouTube, viewers participated as judges to choose the competition winner. The ‘Fringe brought us back that summer for another slam competition during their Play On Digital Festival, too! I took part in both events as co-producer and performer, pulling out some new material that I managed to put to paper at the time.
Another program that adapted to a digital format was Manitoba Council for International Cooperation’s (MCIC) Voices for Change youth spoken word project. Having facilitated the creative aspect of the program many times before, MCIC reached out to me to return during a lengthy period of isolation. It was a welcome opportunity to connect with youth poets and mentor them through developing new work that speaks to global sustainability issues they care about – especially those that touch close to home here in Winnipeg on Treaty One Territory.
I’m happy to be invited back for what is my TENTH round of facilitating this project with MCIC. Each year is a new adventure in creativity, resulting in empowering art that is shared on video and live on stage at the Winnipeg Legislature during International Development Week in April. Applications are open now for youth to take part. Check out the embedded link above for info on how to apply, and all the fantastic pieces that youth have produced in the past decade-plus!
I’m excited to say that I’ve started to come out of my shell and write poetry again! This is largely due to the fact that my pal and former mentee, Kortnee Stevens, and I have partnered up to re-establish the Winnipeg Poetry Slam to reinvigorate spoken word in the community. Since running the first few open mics at the Good Will Social Club (RIP!) in October 2023, we’ve relocated to The Handsome Daughter where the poets – and audiences – have begun to show up in droves! Thanks in part to our savvy Social Media Coordinator Jules Stevenson, another former mentee, sign-up sheets have been filling up in minutes, and it’s been standing-room only! We’re seeing so many new faces and hearing such incredible work that Plume Winnipeg (formerly Thin Air: The Winnipeg International Writers Festival) took notice and asked us to take part in their festival for TWO separate events!
We’ve been so inspired by how the community has grown in the past year that we’ve applied for funding from the Manitoba Arts Council. We hope expand our programming towards showcasing amazing feature poets and to running workshops for participants to develop their craft both on page and stage. Stay tuned for what we’re cooking up – and in the meantime, find us at The Handsome Daughter on the last Tuesday of each month!
Producing slam events has reinvigorated something in me since my pre-pandemic falling out with Winnipeg’s poetry community. I’ve a sense of purpose and a place where it’s realized in a variety of ways. I’m happy to be working with two former mentees who I get to see thriving on stage and in their efforts as community leaders. I’m honored that even more former students and mentees have come out to be a part of what we’re building, and are crushing it as the next generation of spoken word poets making names for themselves in the arts community. At Plume Winnipeg’s Afterwords event where she invited me to be a featured reader, my own former mentor and festival director Charlene Diehl said to me in an embrace, “I’m happy you’ve found your way back.” It was humbling because not only did she touch on that profound absence, but the substantial being in and of that moment and every moment -writing at my computer, rehearsing in my apartment, performing on stage, sitting in meetings with my team at the coffee shop, watching the slam from the crowd – all of it, which tells me this is what I’m supposed to be doing, like I’m fulfilling some kind of destiny.
Which is why it brings me so much hope and joy to share the release of my graphic poem project with my old friend, artist and graphic designer Adam Pagtakhan a.k.a. Midnight Sun Creative. Birds of a Feather is one of my most treasured poems, from which Adam drew inspiration to illustrate a heartfelt narrative of trauma and recovery. Producing and releasing this graphic poem was a deeply meaningful act in collaborating as friends and creative people, and in sharing a message of support for those struggling with mental health. Already a talented graphic designer, Adam leveled-up his artistic ability with the images he portrayed with emotion, detail, and brilliant colour – you have to see it for yourself! The project was unofficially launched at the previously mentioned Plume Winnipeg Afterwords event, where copies at the book table sold out in minutes! Since then, the response has been heartwarming as we’ve sent copies to friends across the country. We look forward to sharing it with the costumed crowds at Winnipeg Comic Con (Oct 25-27), and an official launch event featuring a showcase of poets as well as an open mic (details coming soon!).
If you’d like to grab Birds of a Feather: A Graphic Poem, hit Adam up at his Midnight Sun table at Comic Con, or reach out to me via my Contact Page or message me on Instagram. You can also find copies for sale at 204 Comics in St. Vital!
Yup, I think it’s official: I’m back. Feels good to be here, guys. Feels real good.
Steve Locke 