I invoke the spirit of Jack Wright whose light was the heart of our theatre
\nRosamund Laberge who awoke the strings in our children
\nBerenice Dickson who created our dancers for a dime each week
\nRose Stephens who made theatre fun and drove us crazy
\nMarie Keenan-Gignac and Mary Parisien who were our pianos
\nHume Wilkins who was our poet
\nRick Forrester who drove our musicals before him
\nCarm Aube who lived our music
\nGrace MacLeod who painted our sugar bushes
\nTamia Doll who painted our river
\nJ.T. Mackenzie who was the first to arrange \u201cAmazing Grace\u201d for the pipes of our world
\nand all the other crazy people who once lived among us and those who still do,
\nwho tell us who we are, what we can be.<\/p>\n
Here tonight in the light in the dark
\non the stage of this wondrous asylum,
\nthis source of hope and desperation
\nwe gather to honour the insane.<\/p>\n
Oh, artists!
\nIn the quiet rooms where
\nyou spin out your unique madness\u2013
\nyour village idiocy\u2013
\nthat leaves your neighbours wondering
\nwhen lunacy begins
\nlopping her ear,
\nhowling at the moon.<\/p>\n
In elemental space you rehearse,
\nshape, weave, compose, revise and
\nrepeat, repeat, repeat, repeat
\nuntil boredom is torture
\ninspiration is addiction
\nand passion has reverted to desperation\u2013
\nwhere feet, fingers, tears,
\nbrains and ignored loved ones
\nare pushed past brutality
\nfor a few moments of
\napplause or beer-bleary disregard.<\/p>\n
After the astronauts have gone limping home
\nyou draw the lines that define us:
\nthe ink sketch on the yellowed page
\nthe quilt on the comfy bed
\nthe pow-wow unity
\nthe moment of observation
\nsaved on a page
\non a monitor
\nin a chord
\nin a movement
\nin clay or bronze
\non a canvas
\non a stage
\nin a digital repository<\/p>\n
The scene is realistic
\nalmost photographic
\nexcept for the annoying
\nyaketa-yaketa
\nof the artist
\nwho is always in the way
\ninsistent, distorting, visionary
\nmad.<\/p>\n
We are here tonight to honour
\nthis productive insanity
\nthat thrives outside the realm of acceptance
\nin the silences
\nin the loneliness
\nin the selfless passion
\nthat will circle the moon
\nhowling:
\n“This is who we are,
\nwhat we can be.”<\/p>\n
[podcast]http:\/\/riverwriter.ca\/podcast\/Gala_Poem_Live.mp3[\/podcast]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I invoke the spirit of Jack Wright whose light was the heart of our theatre Rosamund Laberge who awoke the strings in our children Berenice Dickson who created our dancers for a dime each week Rose Stephens who made theatre … Continue reading