The art of resistance poetry is alive and well and showcased at The Enpipe Line: 70,000+ Kilometres of Poetry Monday night at Art Space.
At the free show audience members hear poetry written in resistance to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines proposals.
Local poets Rob Budde and Al Rempel, Sarah de Leeuw and Gillian Wigmore each take a sometimes harsh look at what could be called business as usual in the north. Also reading her work is Sheila Peters, a Smithers contributor to the project and co-owner of Creekstone Press which published the project in book form.
"Global economics brings great forces to bear upon our corner of the planet," Peters said. "Many of us make poems, as John Berger says, 'to place something substantial against the cruelty and indifference of the world'. All of us are planning to make written or oral presentations to the Joint Review Panel examining the Enbridge project."
The Enpipe Line project started in Prince George in November 2010, when Budde invited Vancouver poet Christine Leclerc to read at UNBC.
Leclerc had taken part in an occupation of the Enbridge offices in Vancouver when the enpipe image first came to her. To enpipe is a turn of phrase meaning to block up or fill a pipe to bursting.
The concept went online at http://www.enpipeline.org until Peters approached Leclerc about publishing the project as a book.
"The project speaks powerfully to those of us living along the proposed pipeline route, reminding us that we are not alone in resisting these pipelines," Peters said. Other northern contributors include Charlene M. Mattson, Marilyn Belak, and Weston McGee.
An editorial collective, including Leclerc, worked with almost 100 poets from around the world to create the book.
"We came together as a community to write something that speaks to the heart of the resistance to Enbridge's tar sands pipeline," said Leclerc.
Proceeds from book sales go to a Northern Gateway Pipelines resistance legal defense fund administered by the editorial collective.
The reading starts Monday at 7 p.m. with a reception at Art Space, above Books & Co., 1865 Third Avenue.
