Wherever our ancestors lived they would have gathered in circles around the fire, looking to the four directions, listening to one another’s stories. The Living Room, one could say, goes back to those ancient times. I mean the Living Room that was brought to life at the Taos Poetry Circle. Amalio Madueno conceived of it there and Paul Nelson established the Living Room as a regular event of SPLAB, Seattle Poetic LAB.

The photo was taken by Linda Crosfield at the Cascadia Poetry Festival in Seattle in 2014. I don’t know about Lyn but all the others will be in Nanaimo for the Cascadia Poetry Festival here: Paul Nelson, Lyn Coffin, Gordon May, Ursula Vaira, Yvonne Blomer and George Stanley.

Since September 2014 the Living Room has been a monthly event in Nanaimo at the Harbourfront branch of the Vancouver Island Library. It was initiated by David Fraser, Artistic Director and Co-Founder of the WordStorm Society of the Arts and our main man in Nanaimo for organizing every last detail of the Cascadia Poetry Festival, April 30 to May 3, 2015.

People gather in a circle to share poems, one at a time. Listeners are welcome too. It’s designed for new, emerging, and established poets to come together in a sense of poetic community to share their work.

The Living Room will be a feature of the Cascadia Poetry Festival on April 30, May 1 and May 2. In fact it will be the only event on the first day: Thursday, April 30 from 3 to 5 p.m.  I’ll be hosting that day. We’ll go around the circle without critique in the celebration of sharing. Each poet will have opportunities to read original work for a maximum of three minutes for each poem. While at the Nanaimo Museum you can see the permanent exhibit of artifacts from the Snuneymuxw First Nation. The Snuneymuxw, meaning “The Great People” in the Hul’q’umin’um’ language, lived in several waterfront villages along Nanaimo’s shores from Departure Bay to Newcastle Island. This is their ancestral home.

The photo is of a map in the Nanaimo Museum of Snuneymuxw First Nation Place Names.

Snuneymuxw elder, Dr. Ellen Rice White known as Auntie Ellen, blessed the relics in the museum, moved there from the former museum. She told me about hearing the voice of former mayor, the late Frank Ney. He was a very popular mayor who dressed up as a pirate. There’s an impressive sculpture of him at Maffeo Sutton Park in Nanaimo.

Old Spirits

Fifty years ago, Auntie Ellen
gave pirate-mayor Frank Ney,
A Hul’q’umin’um’ name:
Q’ullhalumutsun, killer whale.

When Auntie Ellen blessed the relics
in the new Nanaimo District Museum,
she could hear Frank’s voice.
Old spirits cry through the living person.

Auntie Ellen, told me when I interviewed her, that “tun” at the end of the name denotes a male and “wut” denotes a female in the Hul’q’umin’um’ dialect.

Auntie Ellen’s traditional name is Kwulasulwut meaning “many stars.”

Kwulasulwut

I am storyteller.
I am medicine woman.
I am midwife.
I am long house speaker.
I am many stars.

The other dates for the Living Room are Friday, May 1 from 3 to 5 p.m. with host Leanne McIntosh and Saturday, May 2 from 3 to 5 p.m. with host Naomi Beth Wakan, Nanaimo’s Poet Laureate. That’s Naomi autographing one of her many books and below is a photo of Leanne McIntosh and me at our April interview about the Cascadia Poetry Festival on People First Radio on CHLY. If you can’t make it to the Nanaimo Living Room, maybe you’ll consider starting one in your own community. The Living Room here will continue monthly at the north branch of the Vancouver Island Regional Library.