POEM FOR PEACE IN TWO VOICES
by Cheri L. Roberts, Liberty R. 0.
Daniels,
Penn Kemp, and Robert George Taylor
The
huge dining tables and chairs aid plush living room furniture in the second
floor Lounge Gallery of The
Scarab Club with the fireplace as the
backdrop, was the perfect setting for an international reading/translation of a
"poem for peace in two
voices." The poem was written by
Canadian spoken word artist Penn
Kemp and performed in Ancient
Egyptian. French, Hindi, Hungarian, Latin, Ojibway, Punjabi, Sesotho from
Southern Africa, Spanish, The Mystery Language of Childhood, and as Sounding on
Friday, January 17 at 7:30 p.m. An evening of camaraderie warmly hosted by Cheri L. Roberts began with a Vietnam
experience by Robert
George Taylor and ended with the prayers for
peace on the Emissaries
of Light website.
Of the many languages used, the most unusual
translation was by London, Ontario's Johnny Fansher, who translated the poem
into Pig Latin. Reader/translators
included Ashok Pahuja, Daniel
Kolos, Gloria Alvernaz Mulcahy, Johnny Fansher,
Penn Kemp, Suzan
Ntepe, and narrator Gavin Stairs. Bob
Janes performed one of his witty
an songs and when Liberty R. O. Daniels read the second Pig Latin voice with Johnny Fansher,
Robert George Taylor whispered, "I thought Egyptian must be the
mother language since it sounded so much like the lovely rendition of Pig
Latin." Wayne State University computer science student. Ashok Pahuja, read
the Hindi and Punjabi translations, which were taped for the next CD.
Cheri L Roberts described the evening as
"a testimony to the uniting power of poetry. It was amazing to me that even in languages we did not understand
we could still connect the deep feeling of this poem to it's purpose: the
desire for peace. Robert
Taylor's Vietnam poems showed us the result of not pursuing this goal and the
tragedy that ensues. May we all finally
listen."
The launching, of the poem, chapbook, and CD
was so splendid that future celebrations have been planned in Ontario. The anthology is published by Pendas
Productions, 525 Canterbury Road. London. Ontario, N6G 2N5 Canada and costs $10 American
or $15 Canadian. To see and hear "Poem
for Peace in Two Voices" and forty translations, go to www germination.mytown.ca. For more information, contact Penn at (519) 434-8555 or Pendas@pennkemp ca
There will be a Poem For Peace in Many Voices Celebration at The Art
Gallery at The University of Windsor in
Windsor, Ontario, Canada on Saturday,
February 15.
A Poem For
Peace In The Afternoon Celebration will
be hosted at the Elsie
Perrin Williams Estate at
101 Windermere Road in London, Ontario,
Canada on Saturday, March 9 at 2 p.m.
Penn Kemp will represent Ontario
it a special project for World Poetry Day funded by Heritage
Canada. On Friday, March 21, one poet in
each Canadian province or territory will visit a local public or high school,
lead a poetry workshop, choose the three best student works, which will grace Heritage
Canada's website. Penn will recite
"the poem for peace in two voices," invite students
to join her in reading the translations. then have them write for the Dialogue
Among Civilizations project.
Daniel
Kolos is the coordinator for a
performance and workshop to be hosted in Durham Ontario on Friday. March
21. He facilitates the Peace Within Concise News Network where his poetry also appears at the www.bmts.com/~damilos/peace.html website. He
coordinates the Words
Aloud Poetry Cooperative reading series,
including the World
Poetry Day celebration to 2002 (see www.
dialoguepoetry. org).
P 0 E T
S Newsletter Volume 5
Number 21 Page 13
"What
a marvellous generator of energy the Scarab Club is. Egyptological
iconography of the Twenties.... Invisible presences filled the room. I
brought my Frida Kahlo poem because I felt compelled to read it, without
knowing why I should, in the context of Poem for Peace. Frida
certainly doesn't embody peace! After the reading, the house manager,
Ellen, suggested I look up at the rafter beam. There was the bold
signature of Diego Rivera above us! I had no idea Frida and Diego were
there, living around the block while Diego was painting the Detroit
murals. But the poem wanted to be spoken! May it bring Frida
peace."
Penn Kemp