Subversive Creation in New Directions

I've been doing activist theatre for a while and it's been fun, but I'd like to broaden the range of what I performancewise. I was at this great storytelling/performance gathering in May, and I read a couple of poems, sang a song and did a monologue. I'd like to do more of that sort of thing. I've been working on some issues of a zine (see below for details)- many of the poems there can be found on the Weaving a Web of Poems blog, but there's other stuff too. Anyway, I hope to do performances to promote them, and also move in directions- I'm feeling restless, and a bit stuck in some ways, so- time to break out of the moment.


Vol. 1, No. 1- Learning Life's Lessons, or Creating and Recreating Reality

Here, a montreal paul tries to sum up Life, the Universe and Everything in a mere 14 pages. He fails, of course (that's why there are further numbers in this series), but so what? It is what it is- some poems, some scattered verse, some drawings, and some musings on plastic bags and on whether anything means anything anyway.

includes: Childhood Lessons, Consolation amidst Desolation, Doomed & Delusional, Some Thoughts on Direction, Something of Beauty, Subversive Creation, The Springtime


Vol. 1, No. 2- Telling Stories: Truth or Dare

Ambition gets the bettter of a montreal paul here- this no. 2's almost twice as long as no. 1 (26 pages!). The theme is the telling of stories, and a number of stories are told here in which a montreal paul's shall we say "offbeat" sense of humour emerges. There are stories about mysterious silent phone calls from a charity, about a flag-hating kleptomaniac and his early morning bonfire, and about unsustainable development on the moon, among others.

includes: By the Dawn's Early Light, Lies & Life, Telling Stories, That Day, There is a War, Words and Worlds


Vol. 1, No. 3- Just a Matter of Time

If you're going to waste your time anyway, why not waste it reading about how a totally new day is like, totally about to dawn...or not. Is the end nigh? Surely not-our love will last forever. Things end, and then they come around again. a montreal paul wastes his time and ours in grand style by writing about wasting time in the countryside, in the city (with a camera), and in a waiting room (without a camera but with a decade-old magazine).

includes: Forever and a Day, The Way Forward (Rant No. 378), Revolution in Circles, Hanging out at the CLSC, Memories


Coming soon:

Vol. 1, No. 4- Impressions of People Making Impressions on People

This time it's mostly poems, often accompanied by drawings. I really like the cover, if I do so say so myself. It's my favourite of the covers so far. Some of the contents may be sketchier, depending on your point of view, but they're a pretty honest reflection of the range of emotions people can arouse in me as well as in other people. Includes one "outside" poem, written by one A.J. Klein (or is that two A.J. Kleins?).