poets, was caught between the police and the tables and was shoved to the floor. "Inside, the police were saying nothing," says the 48-year-old McGill computer systems manager. "They were just ignoring everybody, and going towards Jaggi."
from Montreal Mirror: Police crush poetry
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4 comments :
Rus,
I find it funny, that you, all the way down in Lowell, hear about this incident, when it's I've heard of it (or the poetry reading, for that matter--and I subscribe to an e-mail list of poetry events for Montreal). Granted, I don't watch the news much any more.
Singh is a well known activist and has a rocky relationship with law enforcement. Which is not to say he provoked this, but I'd be sure to bring full body armour to any event he organizes. ;-)
Hi Peter,
Thanks for clicking in.
I found the article with the Google news search for poetry items that I use daily.
Doing a more advanced search, we can find articles only in Massachusetts. I've used this type of search to look for wrestling articles for Masswrestling.com, where I am dansdad, a moderator there in the articles and college sections.
So, I thought I'd be smart, and give you the advanced search for Quebec. But I found out we can only do Canada, not the provinces. Undeterred, I switched from google.com to google.ca to get the Canadian version. But even there, a US state, but not a Canadian province may be specified.
Yours,
Rus
Well, I've heard of suffering for one's art. . .
Seems like something I would expect in the states these days. We poets are a dangerous and subversive group, you know. . .
sigh.
best,
Lisa
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for popping in and leaving your good note. It's good to virtually see you.
It is nearly natural law that no matter what the government--whether based in freedom of expression, or based in the assertive practice of tyranny--poets are going to be squelched. Like so much always does, this goes back to what Plato expressed so poetically, that in the ideal republic, the poets, all affected with divine fury, would necessarily be banned. This is simply and ingeniusly, an extraordinary catch-22 insight, that people have always lived with. Of course, this drives the philosophers crazy, always has, the mistaken thinking that Plato was not being poetic, but trying to propose the best republic. Of course they would. And I cannot help but to think that Plato had just this insight in mind to shore up his point.
Poetry is the humanity in being human. It is what gives us vision. The poetic musing or inspiration, transcends all government. It is a power that, like crab grass under pavement, will never stop trying to find a way to grow through whatever is being built on top of it. Ultimately, in the branches and ivy, then the dirt of the earth, poetry overtakes all civilizations. Poetry is a threat to each country on earth, always has been.
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