Planet of the Arts Volume 7 Issue4 page 6 Last year the poet George Elliotte Clarke published a collection of his poems under the title Whylah Falls. The poems in Whylah Falls explore a fictitious black community in rural Nova Scotia, based upon Clarke’s own experiences as a social worker in the maritimes. : His language is wonderfully lyrical, and Clarke incites the most musical and rhythmic attributes of humanity as it deals with emotion. The book centres around the courting of Shelley by the romantic poet Xavier. It explores Shelley’s family’s reaction to Xavier's presence as well as broader conflicts within the community of Whylah Falls. Last month George Elliotte Clarke visited Vancouver as part of a broad tour of B.C. He read one night, with mesmerizing style (and a right hand like a metronome) at the Western Front on East Third, an event sponsored by the Rungh cultural society. On this night | was able to interview him: Andrew Robulack: I’!] start with the big question: what is poetry? George Elliotte Clarke: Poetry is concentrated language; it’s words put together in a compact way to convey emotion; either as an image or series of images or as anidea or series of ideas. Or perhaps both together. Of course, the AR: And that is truly something you could do with most of the poems in this book, is go around singing them. So I wonder if that’s concious, if the musicality and the thematics are concious or not. GEC: It’s both. One of the biggest differences between this book and my first book [Saltwater Spirituals and Deeper Blues] is that my first book came out of my reading, more or less, histories and that kind of thing. I reflected on them and wrote poems about them. | Whylah Falls] comes out of living. It came out of my life, but also the lives of the people I knew. For that reason | wanted to write something that could be meaningful for them, too. Not just fora select few academics somewhere who say “Ah! We get the in- joke here!” There are some in-jokes in the book (chuckling). But, for the most part, | wanted something that I could give to my people, and, also, to the general public and have people understand what | was trying to say. My interest as a writer js not to be locked up in a mausoleum somewhere—not to be like Lenin or someting like that. It’s rather to write something that people can understand, perhaps appreciate, andeven, above that, maybe, even, bother to remember or to enjoy. In terms of being deliberate, | try to avoid the kind of best poetry seems to have both together. So, ina sense, at different times, everyone can be a poet, everyone can speak poetry. Because when our emotions get the better of us, when we feel something very strongly and | ourintellect can also recognize that emotion, then the words ey So that we can give to that experience are often going to be | quite poetic. So that, in essence, is what poetry is. AR: So there’s an element of spontaneity- § GEC: Oh, yeah, indeed, indeed. Poetry can come out of all kinds of things. It can come out of everyday speech, it can obscurity that has tended to be the common denominator of contemporary poetry, modem poetry, post-modem poetry. | v want ot write things that will, ina sense, be clear, and open. at And, in that sense, yes, a song, To write a ballad, you write a song. That’s plain, that’s open. Folk songs, | think, are full of poetry—it’s the simplest stuff. The reason why that stuff is powerful as poetry is because it just talks about emotion, sometimes very simply. Something like Ezra Pound’s “The River Merchant's Tale’, aletter; he has that line init that goes: “Calledto you athousand times, | never looked back”. That’s a homely line—it’s not a line that, | think, would leap up at one. It doesn’t talk about sparkling clouds in the summer time; it’s just a very straight- come out of newspapers, it can come out of greeting cards, song lyrics. Of course, standard poems, poems written as ‘poems’. But it can come out of all kinds of things and | think it’s important for.the writer, for the poet, to be open to all those sources of inspiration and ideas, and so forth, that poetry can take, and use. AR: As for poetry, pure ‘poetry’, as opposed to speech, where does that stand to us today? In our society? GEC: It’s curious, people don’t think about poetry, for the most part. But it’s in their lives, whether they want it to be forward expression of feeling. Ultimately it’s very ballad-like. Asa matter of fact, | would claim that particular poem as a type of blues. It has to be read as a kind of blues-poem. AR: In Books in Canada you are described as, I can’t re- member the term they use, but basically as musically inept. GEC:(laughter) AR: However, going beyond Whylah Falls’ ability to be put to music, it has its own, inbred sense of tonality—a sort of innate musical resonance. ornot. Because, again; of this general tendency of language under a pressure of high emotion, with the gift of some GEC: Yes, | think what we’re getting into is metre and rhythm sense of an intellect, you will find poetry being bom again and again and again. And we can find poetry in, say, song lyrics: look at rap music. Rappers do not consider them- selves, | think, to be poets. But, nevertheless, the kind of language that they are about and that they employ, is very and all of that. They are important because they pace com- munication. It’s funny because language is tied so intimately torhythm and you really can’ tescape it. And when you do, as some politicians do, you end up with the most boring, bland— but even that kind of rhythm is quite deliberate; when a much that of poetry. It may not be Shakespeare, but it doesn’t have to be Shakespeare. It only has to be something can move people; and if it does that, then it is effective language, and therefore it is poetry. AR: So poetry is pretty broad. politician is boring sometimes they want to be boring, they don’t want you to listen to what they’re saying. Brian Mulroney is an expert att, I’m sure he practices before a mirror, how to bore people. But also, from time to time, he knows how to rouse people, particularly audiences of his GEC: Yeah, you can narrow it down in terms of form, and you can say that only blank verse is real poetry, only haiku is real poetry, only free verse is real poeiry. But that’s just games, on the margin. Really, | mean that’s a game for : fellow Tories. by Andrew Robulack AR: Is Whylah Falls a tragedy, in the classical sense? GEC: Uh, it’s a tragic-comedy. That's a twentieth-century word; and | think it’s appropriate here. There are other ex- academics. And we should play those kinds of games because it’s kind of nice—it’s fun. Football, basketball, hockey, baseball: they don’t make sense, either, but people still play them. I mean (laughs), the same thing, in some ways, the criticism of poetry. Because sometimes it can be like that: it’s a game. Free verse is up this year and down next year: what team are you part of? AR: Well, Whylah Falls has been described as ‘narrative’ poetry. GEC: Yes. AR: And it has been compared to Michael Ondaatje’s Collected Works of Billy the Kid, which is also considered ‘narrative’ poetry. So would you say that the ‘narrative’ poem is in ‘style’ now? GEC: No, because when this book [Whylah Falls} came out it was really the only one of this nature out there. Except for the fact that Paulette Jiles’ Jesse James poems—which is very much a reminiscence of Michael Ondaatje’s Collected Works of Billy the Kid—came out before this. Which was quite nice, because, actually, that’s what cemented for me my wish to do this kind of book. So, to answer your question, really and truly, it hasn’t been done very much, this kind of narrative format. But it is there, it does exist. And there are some poets I hope, I think, in fact, I know now, more and more, are going to be using it, or looking at using it. | think it helps the reader—it’s good for the reader to have some sort of threadto follow through. Rather than just to throw together a collection of fifty or sixty different poems: here’s a poem on sunflowers, here’s a poem on child abuse. Poetry is very intense, and that’s why it’s very hard to just simply read a poem and then go from that poem to another poem. Each poem demands its own attention because, again, it’s that concentrated language. Actually, I look at it as though a poem is a battery. All the words are a power stored up, and it only comes to life when it’s read, and the energy flows out and moves into the reader. The reader is the conection for the poem. So when you have just a miscellany of poems you get a bunch of batteries, and sometimes it’s hard for the reader to get a charge out of each one. Some of them will leave him or her quite cold. But with the narrative running through it’s a little easier, | think, to go from poem to poem. Whereas it’s not so much the sense of constsntly getting new shocks every time, there is something to guide the reader through the book. While at the same time the poems, hopefully, can, for the most part, stand on their own, or even be totally taken out of the context of the narrative and still have some impact, or some effect. AR: Whylah Falls quite often returns, in theme, fo what are considered ‘traditional’ poetic ideals: love, death, beauty. And, also, in the sense of it being a narrative poem, I see a strong return to the ‘ballad’, as narrative poems were once named. GEC: Right! amples, in literature, of this kind of thing. Classically, comedy has to end in a marriage. This [Whylah Falls] does not end in marriage, although there is some indication that there might, possibly, be some kind of long-term relationship between X and Shelley. But it’snot clear ifthat might happen Soitsort ofis left hanging what their future might be. And there is a death which occurs init. AR: Yes, I see Othello’s death as a kind of catharsis. Because there is so much about life and love revolving around death; beauty and pain. GEC: Yes, beauty and pain. As far as a philosophy goes, that was the only thing that | found stuck out for me, this whole relationship between beauty and pain. Well, it’s a cliche to say you can’t have one without the other—of course you can have one without the other. But they do often tend to come together, intertwine. You can appreciate one more in the context of the other. Feel one more in the context of the other. Those two contrast...so, in a sense, that’s also the tragic-comedy. Shakespeare in Love's Labour’ s Lost does it. It’s a tragic-comedy. He would have called it a comedy, I’m sure, butit’s not because it doesn’t end ina marriage. The marriage is postponed fora year. Andthere’s death in it—the scholar dies towards the end of the play. He just dies , so it’s not very happy. There’s a funeral and the lovers say “Well, because of the funeral, we can’t be together for at least one more year”. And that’s the way the play ends. It’s not a classic comedy. He was definitely playing against convention in there.* Inthe future Clarke plans to continue working with narrative poetry, perhaps in a series of love poems (what a romantic guy, eh?). He also has an idea for a poetic novel:”’But it will be very short. Which is the only way you can do a poetic novel; if you do them long, they get really bad (laughs). Everything becomes poeticized. And the problem with that kind of thing is that poetry has to be concentrated, and when it expands into prose, and it’s still kind of poetic, then it can get really messy.” Whylah Falls, by George Eliiotte Clarke, is published by Polestar Press in Vancouver. It should be available at most book stores. The Rungh cultural foundation, which sponsored the event last month, is Vancouver's society for Black and Asian culture. PP PG PSDP Ah EEA AA SE SS EEL OR =< VLA Planet of the Arts Volume 7 Issue4 page 6 sate Gare ie Cpe clecion of pts ender Why Fl. The poms in Wha Fels xi fis Nak comma i re Newe Si ed por (hrtsomn eprint martes. ‘Moga sonal yc and Clk ines mas mas on i ares of many ar ea wih main. T cen hearing of hl roman pt a eplres She's ecm Noirs prance at wl raceme iin comma of Why Fal ast moh Gea Boe Cat vise Vercors of RC Heron i, ih marge (nde ih hn es meronom) tthe West Fron Ba Third one spose by he Ranh cab sci Ons nigh vs eli Antex Rela start ihe ig question wht poetry? Gog ite le Poy conrad pei wenpulgeerinscep ay 8c) cot ier sage rerio apese nia AR: An that italy seeing eld with mos oe resi tis bk i awed ‘inthe Swadesh masa and tema ar contort (GC: Ooo bigs dislenas betwen ska yes Sse pitas nd Dep Blass ny festbs cae oo ny reading. or ees srs ana id of thing kd cea wo ens abet te Wi Fal esx of Heat yi. oe esl ep hae. Fa tate wast wri set a pl erg aren, Naja ae ates rae win "AN Wee leh” Tae soe bk lin) Bu fr east need soeg ‘hell prety peopl. ne par pbicndhne pe ean sing, My ees witb ed pins mas onewtre—nto ee Le coring ett sero iesonebig nipped pep pina, soe mt, et, beri enter oe. Teese bee, | yw ad ed of eee cenemarmos ee ieee cores ae || AN) SSeS so corel ARS ere’ dent of onan. Ora ° comemee| Interview Alin en cme etl ey pc tn cone teapot tng ct, segs Ofc, snd pens pes wines ‘pest Batoncamosdlalizec tip es || e Sirmpnatciewie erento | | Daldaerorsctigin titans tee || sapped pe, re dh and aur? GC: peopl dink spe, fr be os Busines whee ry wa tobe crn: Bc. pin tispralen oflngae vote aps of igh con, wi ep of ae sexeolm nls olden inghon pia and agin ad atin Aad ead pny, ng ys oka msi. apes nt ci ese ‘ces ik eps. Bit ete edt legge at ya ht dt ay epi 9 sh hat of prey. my ot be Sapa, tt eat ine tbe Saker xi hsbesonig can moe ppl; fit es a, ts ec lng ated is pen. A So pot prety road GGEC-Yeakyoueansaowitoun astm so yoxesy ate Bek vessel ‘rage eevee py Baa aoe te ea, ely, ens pe or baci at ised oe oan desi of sempre, or poy, on py. ‘rs we tins tat il aes, be cla, ope mc ‘And tse, ys, song To wie ali ou we sng Thali a open Fn ih felt es)’ te pes uf Te ace why at sl oer sporty is ease jist sat eet, sence: snp ‘Seog i za Po' Te ive Merch Te see eas tit es “Caleta sd ‘ies Inve ke bac” Tsao esta ea he, wal app coe. oes a abt ‘peli chat ne sme ese igh favardxpesinc sig Ut ser bla ie Asamatr of wo cinta pea prs: blac bso ads kindof Bs poem. AR In Bossi Canad are eerie Lean’ Gee uighe) AR Hwee pig bond Mo Fl’ site po tomasiitasson inbred vee eoaty—asrtl inewe masa ronan. (GEC: kw tgs ee dt seal Thy a inp eae ypc con | nea Is fy case gage td iy | ‘rn anys ly ape aden oud. soe pic a youedp wit og Md et ven tat nd of ih i ge; wen 2 poli sig omens thy at beg. hey extn ooo sen whaty pg Bian ake anny sae bepaciesteoe ir wb ope Bt ao, ote tie loos ow ose pep, pay aos fis few Tres. by Andrew Robulagk ARs a Flag nth is eet GRC: Ub sa ng caety. That's vein ey ‘ean kisi Toe ae 2 ‘cei, Ad weal pty te Kd ofp ecm ind one's fu. Fatal bel ec bel: yds mie seit ba popes Be. ne (ps eae ig insane may eerie Bea Sonesta i's ge reve 9s earn donee wean yup? AR: Wel, Wha als as ben esr nara’ pot. “ore:Yex AR: Andit as ben compare io MihadOndae’sColtd Works of By he Ki, hich ako ‘omiderd erate’ pot. So would oy that be native’ pu ise’? (GEC-Ns ease wetisbx [Whol cae ats ca lisa oe xa rte iat Paul es ee es ens—obichseymack arene fie ata’ Colece Werks ily de ican cate is Which sani, scaly, ‘swt ceneed fi ey ih do iki fk 5,0 qusin realy, ‘tafe ey muh isin orate Bist, tds, tare sept hg, ih in ct, ow, ro da, epg beg coking ih Be redeemed ‘eolteads ol cuh ueran jo oneal yoni e's porno uafowes, hee’ nh hse, ery eye's y's ara gly ead porn he ga oe ‘sume pr. ich poen demands om ei bce spin a ess hop cay, Vk tsp pon sey Ale ee over sd, sic es ‘oie waits nthe ney fons nd moe aoe ie Tere cots ete een Swen youre in oes ops banrs, dsoeinesisha ‘era gea char etleac co. See oem wil eee ue al Batwing tog ese hk, fon rm ope. Wiest sonmchiesene ofa gee shes ine, ex cating gure tgh ‘bebo What anti eps pel ft ma pr sudo owe een voles ot econ te urate ill sme npc sone ef. AR: What Fels qt ote ets athens, waar seed radon pda be, ea beat Anda inte sense tithing arate poem, asin reat bald’, snare poems wer coe named GEC:Rips! eps lam oft tig Casal. coy asoed ina mai Ths Wh al ested amar, abhi sone urbe psy, besoe itll mrsntiptvenX Sel a tear ‘Tounihtapessoisoolsietgag tee Karemigite. Antes cesb niches ‘A Yes Ota sd indo cata Baa heres mach bt feed ine revdig aan deaths beat 2d pu. GEC: Yes ben en ses phlsopy es. hastening hie sk eis whok oie bas np. WelL'sce oayJuca nce wit ‘eel ese ys ce cer wa eo. Bt hyd oi ado ae pee, ‘neve Youcsappec oa cnx of ee. Fe maine etl ct Tse tea zs eta’ Be ago, ‘Snkeseu in Love's abs Ln esi Is atieconey He wade cet it scone, "ns i's eases edu narine The marie psp Aste’ s sexiness ova eno te ply ej er 01 at ey apy. The nena lve ay "Wel, because be faa, web pe ali no Anka se my ep en Went acc ce eas ie paying epstcmesin ‘tens Int ft Clos caning vit aa ary pape eens (oat rome oy? He a eta orp Bat ibys Wh ‘eae po yd emg hy ab gh) vehi ecm Adc pm hth ind fig tha pry has be cena ei ands padi fp, nang ra me." Wilh Faby ee EC piel by Ps reine ba be rie etm bk ster The ag balan, ihre ea mh Vrs iy fo ict in at