Penn Kemp, Poet/Playwright/Performer and Pendas Poets Series Editor. Gavin Stairs, Publisher/Printer/Designer, Pendas Productions, and Man at Large.
With thanks to all Pendas Poets and Poets Everywhere...
and to our collaborators, especially Anne Anglin, Bill Gilliam, John Magyar, Chris Meloche, Gloria Alvernaz Mulcahy, Susan McMaster http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQfvxV6dpF4
This video presents a performance of poem for peace in many voices in London ON, with many of the 112 translators. Director: Rachel Thompson.
New Books of Poetry from Pendas Poets Series 2008
Persiflage by Gregor Loud is Pendas Poets Series No. 13. The subtitle, Leary pomes and sorties, may not explain anything very much, but it does allude to a much loved master of nonsense, Edward Lear, and bend whatever concepts may come to mind in the train of the other words there. In short, this is a tome of shaggy pomes, a rediculosity of imaginary staggers, nonsense supreme. Not only does Mr. Loud expand his title words far past their due date, with reversions, extractions, palindromes and every other sort of dromedary, he also compounds his felony by trying to make sense of it. If you are confused by all of this, it is nothing to what you will feel once you try to read the book. Good luck
CANTOS NORTH by Henry Beissel. CD. He writes: "CANTOS NORTH is an epic poem in twelve sections that attempts to bring together the many dimensions of our different landscapes and different peoples, their history, both political and geological, in a comprehensive celebration of Canada. A theatre director in Switzerland to whom I sent the poem wrote back to say: ‘What a pity Mahler is dead. He would've set this poem to music.’ In recording the poem I've tried to project some of the different moods and the majestic sweep of the poem. If I'm to believe some of the critics and some of my fellow-poets, CANTOS NORTH has become a Canadian classic. I thought you had to be dead and buried to have written a classic. But I'm still alive. And still writing. In Ottawa now, far from the stark wilderness in which the poem is settled."
.
Samsara: Canadian in Asia by Katerina Fretwell. Book. She writes: “Travel for me is a chance to visit different perspectives and adapt better
ways of being in contrast to the North American satiety and arrogance. It's
the discovery of what other cultures believe, how they live eat and love,
how they organize politically and economically, how they group together. I've
always wondered what other lives offer. In November, 2004, my husband and I experienced the cultural frisson of Thailand, Vietnam and China,
illuminating vastly different ways of being, thinking, believing. My poetry
and art in Samsara: Canadian in Asia express the collisions of cultures
and my subsequent enlightenment and appreciation.”
.
Focus by Doug Valleau is the 15th Pendas Poets volume. This is a selection of poems culled from a lifetime in music and words. It spans the decades with fine imagery and sentiment, exploring many of the forms of contemporary poetry along the way. A potpourrie to tease and enchant the nostrils of imagination.
Trance Form, book by Penn Kemp. First published by Soft Press. P.K. Page writes in her preface: “Trance Form. Its title prepares you. For metamorphoses. For multiple meanings. Trance-verse? Born of trance-illumination? Its tableofcontent prepares you too. For homonyms, puns, complicated word play in the tradition of middle-eastern poetry: mattermater, moonphase, bonepoems. Logic trance-ended; matter trance-muted ‘blown thru and out the other side of reason’…Trance Form is an intricate book. It rewards attention. Read it with three eyes. Although two will do."
Trance Dance Form: Doors Open Live at the Brickworks, cd, SoundSpoke Ensemble. “Sound poet Penn Kemp is at it again. Joining forces with Anne Anglin, Bill Gilliam and Jean Martin, this free-form sound improvisation quartet attacks the boundaries of sound art while navigating the raging river of sound poetry that is "Trance Dance Form". The result is a mesmerizing blend of vocalizations, clatterings, buzzings, shimmering drones, and ivory ticklings that are drenched in emotional and spiritual overtunes/tones.” PsychoSpace SoundNotes Newsletter
Influences
"Not Waving But Drowning". This poem by Penn is animated in Flash by Jeff Dawson, sparrowheart.ca. It is dedicated to the memory of Canadian modernist poet, Gwendolyn McEwen, whose story it is.
!
Jazz musician Bill Gilliam and I have developed this section, Helwa!, from a new Sound Opera of mine, Suite Ancient Egypt. ! ! In Helwa!, I am tracing the soul’s journey across one night to rebirth the next day: a classical Egyptian journey which was also my own. I invite you to put your mind at rest as the Pharaoh did, between the imposing paws of the Sphinx, and listen to this poem as he would listen to his dreams there. Let our sound carry you back and across to Egypt, heart of earth’s land mass, whose temples to the divine line the spine along the Nile. The title, Helwa, means Beautiful." ! ! Bill and Penn have collaborated on many performances in Toronto, resulting in several CDs of Sound Operas: From The Lunar Plexus, Sarasvati Scapes and Trance Dance Form, as well as a live recording from the Distillery Jazz Festival, Sound Spoke. ! ! All CDs are available from Pendas Productions, London Canada! !
With perennial thanks to Anne Anglin, Amanda and Jake Chalmers, Robert Creeley, Jim Kemp, Ann Kerr Linden, Daphne Marlatt, Gwendolyn MacEwen, R. Murray Shafer, Gavin Stairs, Marion Woodman, bill bissett, Four Horsemen, Geode, Bill Gilliam, Daphne Marlatt, Outward Sound Ensemble, PsychoSpace Sound, Sound Opera, Sound Poetry and Zasep Tulku Rinpoche.
Peace/performance poet, activist and playwright Penn Kemp performs her eco-poetry in arts festivals and conferences around the world. Among her publications are more than twenty-five books of poetry and drama, ten CDs of Sound Opera and Sound Poetry as well as Canada's first CD-ROM: sample pennkemp.ca, http://www.mytown.ca/pennkemp/, myspace.com/pennkemp. ! ! Since Coach House Press published her first book in 1972, Penn has been pushing text and aural boundaries, often in participatory performance. She presents her Sound Operas in happy collaboration with actors, poets and musicians. Her videopoems have won for best performance (Voice Award), Vancouver Videopoem Festival and been shown throughout TorontoÂ's Nuit Blanche. The Association of Canadian Studies sponsored PennÂ's tours throughout India and Brazil, with the Canada Council's aid. !
http://mytown.ca/poemforpeace/ includes the video of Penn's "poem for peace in many voices" and, in audio, many of 121 translations. Through Pendas Productions, Penn edits and publishes poetry book/cd combinations, http://mytown.ca/twelfth/. The cds and interviews are archived on "Gathering Voices", her radio program on chrwradio.com/talk/gatheringvoices.
Gathering Voices Program Note 1 !
Sounding the Radio. Lit.-On-Air! From sound poetry to sounder interviews, what a hoot! !
Penn Kemp hosts "Gathering Voices", CHRW Talk Radio, every second Wednesday, at 6 pm and Thursday at 6:30 am, 94.9 FM in London, Ontario. Each show is archived on http://chrwradio.com/talk/gatheringvoices. !
Two of Penn's creativity workshops from her book on writing, What Springs to Mind, are on line at http://chrwradio.com/talk/gatheringvoices. See also http://mytown.ca/whatspringstomind/. Her workshop, "What sparks your imagination? For Me It Was Foxes", is also up on http://mytown.ca/pendas/foxes/. The workshop is followed by a reading of "The Shadow". This poem by Penn is performed by Anne Anglin with Bill Gilliam, keyboard and Rick Sacks, percussion. "The Shadow" is from the Pendas CD, Sound Spoke, performed live at the Distillery Jazz Festival, Toronto. !
The show called Helwa! includes Daniel Kolos's translation of Penn's"poem for peace in many voices" into hieroglyphics. Our feature is Helwa! (Beautiful!), a new sound opera from Pendas with Bill Gilliam, keyboard and Penn Kemp, text and vocals, mastered by John Magyar at PsychoSpace Sound Studios. Helwa! was developed from Penn's chapbook, Suite Ancient Egypt, up on www.mothertonguepress.com/kemp.html. !
Interviews with Gil Adamson, Barry Callaghan and Lon Milo DuQuette can be heard on line now. !
Upcoming interviews feature Frances Itani, Daphne Marlatt, Edeet Ravel and several Poetry London readers, including Susan McCaslin, Christopher Dewdney, John Steffler, and Stephanie Bolster. !
Darkness Visible: a Sound Opera, now archived, features "Play us", from the CD (Pendas 2006), by Penn Kemp and Chris Meloche. "Play us" is a teaser for the gala premiere of Xtra Text/ure: A State of Play / State Your Play, which Chris and Penn performed on October 4 in London Hall at The University of Western Ontario. The McIntosh Gallery commissioned Xtra Text/ure for their international symposium, Playing the Gallery: the art of games". See http://www.playingthegallery.ca. !
Poems from The Lunar Plexus: a Sound Opera are now archived on chrwradio.com/talk/gatheringvoices. Two pieces from the Sound Opera were part of Bill Gilliam's presentation during Nuit Blanche in Toronto. !
Sarasvati Scapes: a Sound Opera, now archived, features two poets on pilgrimage to India. The piece includes music by Kiran Ahluwalia, translations by Ajmer Rode, text by Penn and Angela Hryniuk. Sound concept is by Bill Gilliam and mixing/editing by John Magyar. !
Lit.-On-Air...Happy Hearing! !
Penn Kemp has published 25 books of poetry and drama, had six plays and ten CDs produced as well as Canada's first poetry CD-ROM. She creates Sound Operas on line and live: sample poems on http://www.mytown.ca/pendas/, http://www.pennkemp.ca and http://www.myspace.com/pennkemp. Series Editor for the Pendas Poets Series of book/cd combos, she was proclaimed one of the foremothers of Canadian poetry by the League of Canadian Poets. !
Our producer Robyn Israel, is a London-based journalist, playwright and performer. She contributes regularly to ArtScape magazine, a monthly arts publication. She also teaches arts journalism at the University of Western Ontario. From 2000 to 2005 she was the arts and entertainment editor for the Palo Alto Weekly, a community newspaper in the San Francisco Bay Area. She wrote and performed a one-woman show at the 2007 London Fringe Festival, entitled "Jewish Girls Don't Kayak." !
With thanks to Jessica Burgess, Spoken Word Director at CHRW, 94.9 FM, London ON and Edward Pickersgille of mytown.ca.
Photo credit for the Gathering Voice turtle: Gloria Alvernaz Mulcahy.
All CDs are available from Pendas Productions, as is Penn's book on writing, What Springs to Mind.
Penn's Events, Fall 2007 ! !
www.dialadiva.net, www.myspace.com/dialadiva2007
chrwradio.com/talk/gatheringvoices
http://greyborders.blogspot.com
http://syc-cjs.org/sustainable/National+Conference&bl
www.playingthegallery.ca
! !
Gathering Voices"
http://chrwradio.com/talk/gatheringvoices. ! !
Sounding the Radio. Lit.-On-Air! From sound poetry to sounder interviews, what a hoot! ! !
! ! http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=4844596143
! !
Lit.-On-Air...Happy Hearing!! !
About me:
Sounds Like
"Canada's cultural fabric is woven with some exceptional talent in music, film, spoken word, dance, theatre and poetry. And tightly woven into this wonderful fabric is a notable poet by the name of Penn Kemp. It is not only her ability with words that we celebrate, but her wisdom of the human soul and her love for the human spirit. Penn's poetry, music and spoken word are strong threads that uphold human values that are not only Canadian, but indeed Universal." Nancy Houle - Chair, Brantford Arts Conference '06, Vice President - www.successtracs4artists.com
"Pendas Publications are works of beauty. Edited with purpose and clarity, they are exquisite to hold and behold. The care taken to create the books speaks loudly of their soul life." Mary Hamilton, MEd, BodySoul Rhythms
"It is always exciting for poetry lovers when a new publisher emerges on the scene, and when the name Penn Kemp, a poet best known for her evocative, experimental sound work, is associated with that press, it is safe to assume that work that is both innovative and challenging is in the mix.
Certainly, more than a dozen new works offered up by Pendas in 2004 fulfill that assumption. Most of the books in Pendas' catalogue offer some visual treats and may be purchased as a book alone, as a compact disk or as a book/cd set.
Pendas Productions' Wizard of OZ, Gavin Stairs, who acts as designer, prepress technician, printer and binder, has long felt that poetry, unlike other genres, could benefit from the innovations of desktop printing. Pendas' aim is to use short print runs, both to meet demand and to keep initial costs to a minimum, while ensuring that titles stay in print for as long as possible. That kind of commitment is music to poetry lovers' ears." RONNIE R. BROWN is an Ottawa freelance writer/broadcaster. This review in another form appears in Canadian Bookseller: The Magazine of Book Retailing
These comments show that participatory performance is alive and well!.....
"This term, a local poet, Penn Kemp, performed sound poetry in class. I
was completely amazed by her performance because it revealed an entirely
new form, meaning, understanding of poetry for me. ... The biggest thing
that I learned from Penn Kemps presentation was what it felt like to have
my whole body understand what a poet is trying to say... I finally
understood what you had been trying to get across all year with regard to
poetry interpretation. "
"Penn Kemp was one of the most unique speakers I have ever heard.... The
way Penn did her reading of her poem 'for b.p. nichol' was by far one of
the most bizarre and also fascinating things I've ever heard. ... I really
like how she made things _sound_ the way they actually sounded... The thing
I really took away from the whole thing was the ability to read and write
poetry in a slightly different way. In the past I have always emphasized
structural and visual elements. I am now able to see and place emphasis on
words and sounds which adds a new depth to it. "
"The last but definitely not least [thing I learned] (in actuality the
following will be the most influential) we had a lengthly discussion of
Penn Kemp teaching us to throw practicality and conformity out the window.
Poetry, or anything creative for that matter, requires no trace of being
practical. Poetry is awsome and out of control. If I've learned anything
about life this past eight months from what I've learned about poetry, it
is exactly that. ...I know that most of us felt silly chanting Kemp's poem
until our tongues dried; however that is what makes creativity so
beautiful. Penn Kemp taught me to find beauty in the wildness of poetry
rather than condemning it for its lack of practicality."
"As we participated in her sound opera, I felt uncomfortable and foolish
because it simply did not match my style and feelings. At the same time
there were individuals in the class who were intrigued and interested. ...
I was drawn into the poem, however, because I began to imagine being in
the mind of the person speaking in the poem. It was the sounds around me
(and those coming from my own mouth) that allowed me to enter into the
experience of what this woman who lost her love was thinking and feeling.
It certainly would not have happened if I had simply read aloud the words
off a page."
"The sound poetry that was presented to us is by far the form that speaks
the most to me. I have never been attracted to still life paintings where
the emotion is rooted in symbolism if it is there at all. What I have been
attracted to is surrealist and abstract pieces, Salvador Dali and the like.
For me, at least, sound poetry seems to work in the same way. It conveys
the idea and emotion in a deeper sense-based way that makes us look at
everyday words and ideas in a new way and with a new angle."
"Penn Kemp is nothing short of an astonishing woman. ... Walking into class
that day now upon looking back, although I had all the proper tools --
books, pens, glasses, an open ear and an open mind, I was still somehow
unprepared for what I saw and what I leaned from it an am still currently
learning. ... what I saw was contemporary poetry coming alive not merely
being words on a page or something to be learned and gotten through but
something to witness and enjoy and that is the most precious thing that I
learned... It is her infectious passion for her craft that made me fall in
love with poetry all over again"
"From her opening statements and first glance as she walked through the
door, we could see Penn Kemp was a living poem. She herself personified
bits and pieces of the poems we had read all year. ... It was as if all of
the poets we studied got together and wrote a poem and Penn Kemp was their
piece come to life. ... the most profound lesson learned from Penn Kemp
was that poetry is all around us. I could see poetry in Penn as she walked
in, and I am surrounded by poetry every day."
Save The World - One Click At A Time!
On each of these websites, you can click a button to support the cause -- each click creates funding, and costs you nothing! Bookmark these sites, and click once a day!
Pendas Productions is a very small publishing company that has happily relocated to London ON. Our niche is hand-bound poetry book and cd combos. See mytown.ca/twelfth.
Angel Makers, paper (cover)
Animus, paper cover
Bearing Down, chapbook
Bearing Down, 2nd Ed.chapbook
Binding Twine, paper cover
Carnivocal, cd
Changing Place, paper cover
Clearing, paper cover
C'LOUD, cd
C'LOUD, cd set
C'loud, hmcb
Ear Rings, cassette
Eidolons, soft cover
enChantments, chapbook
Fire Breathing Poems, chapbook
Folhas Mortas, hmtb
For Me It Was Foxes, dft
For Me It Was Foxes, children's. dtfb
Four Women, paper cover
Four Women, Performing cd.
from The House of Pan, cd
from The Lunar Plexus, cd
Gathering Voice, cd
Gathering Voice, hmtb
George The Purple Spotted Horse, hmtb
Great Assumptions, chapbook
Incremental, chapbook.
Incrementally, cd
Incrementally, hmb & cd
IS. 14 (Women's Anthology), paper cover
Morning Glory Poems, chapbook On Our Own SpokeCD-ROM/CD Pendas Poets Series Anthology, cd Pendas Poets Series Anthology hmtb Pinceladas, hmcb Poem for Peace in Many Voices, box Poemas Escolhidos de /Selected Poems from Penn Kemp, hmtb
hmtb Quand cesse le temps, hmab
ReAnimating Animus, hmtb set Sarasvati Scapes, cd
7&transiti..4&transiti..a&showCapti..1&albumID=2130628" width="445" height="230" name="slider" align="middle"/>
Penn Kemp, Pendas Productions's Friend Space (Top 24)
From one friend of Howard Zinn to another — thanks for adding me. ¶ People hear only what they want, so facts alone won't wake them; they need inspiration too. ¶ This world's evils have a common root: Bullies, liars, thieves, & murderers — whether in school, home, government, or elsewhere — believe we're all separate, motivated only by self-interest, by greed & fear. They want us to share that belief; they use it to justify themselves and to discourage us from uniting. They use it to shape the world's political & economic systems that perpetuate war & poverty. Their real power comes not so much from secret conspiracies as from propaganda that we all hear every day and that we hardly notice. ¶ But you & I have found something better inside ourselves & our friends. It's in everyone, if we can just wake them; we're all one flesh & blood. Let's spread that vision, for until we do our other advances will be minor & temporary. ¶ The outcome of the ideological struggle is not yet determined, so no one can afford to be just a spectator. Join the movement, if you haven't already: get involved in whatever way feels right for you. Question authority. Keep fighting, loving, hoping, singing. Hand in hand, we may still be able to heal this world. ¶ I'm impressed with ideas of Lakoff & Waldman about *how* to spread the vision, so I'm trying to promote their ideas via comments like this one and the essay on my MySpace page. It's free (I'm not selling anything). ¶ The real war is between classes, not nations; so I'll picnic on July 14, not July 4. CLOSE GUANTANAMO BY BASTILLE DAY; PASS IT ON. ¶ Peace, love, hope, and revolution — Eric
great to be part of your myspace enjoying the tunes you have here we wish you all the best with your music drop by any time from your friends at guarro
Thank you very much! Did you download the 9 FREE tracks from my EP "La Computadora en la ducha" from www.myspace.com/guiyefrayo yet? Please do so and then burn copies and share them with your friends. Enjoy the Theremin waves))))))
Muchas Gracias! Ya te descargaste los 9 temas GRATIS de mi EP "La computadora en la ducha"? Podés hacerlo desde www.myspace.com/guiyefrayo . Hacelo si te gustaron las canciones y pasáselo a tus amigos! Que disfrutes de las Theremin Waves))))))
