The Revolution has changed
Dubpoem, excerpt from book Literary Coup: (Tribute to Miss Lou), Artword Press, Hamilton, 2019.
Broox’s poem “The Revolution has changed!” centres on the environment as the primary issue for social justice ahead of other partisan political agendas. The image/text presented at Geraldine Copps Parkette is an excerpt from a larger spoken word piece. In addition to the political meaning of the word revolution, the poem offers a series of word plays, including the mechanics of turning about on an axis. Brooks is not new to environmental activism. His earlier poem about the destruction of the Red Hill Valley is appropriately titled “The Red Hill Chainsaw Massacre” and reflects the feelings of distress and loss experienced by many activists in Hamilton after 25 years of protest. The same artistic philosophy underpins “Dubbing the Speech of a Place,” a poem which speaks to identifiable local terrain and predicament, and draws attention to global problems. As Broox describes it, his artistic practice “is based on the premise that dubpoetry is a poetry of place, as well as a poetry of utterance.”
Weather permitting, Broox intends to etch words in the snow and provoke responses from passers-by on the trail.
Klyde Broox, a.k.a. Clyde Durm-I Brooks, is an internationally seasoned, award-winning, Hamilton, Ontario, based, Jamaican born and raised dubpoet. Klyde performs poetry as public art and invites audiences to experience it as social communion. He has published two poetry volumes: PoemStorm, as Clyde “Durm-I” Brooks, (1989) and My Best Friend is White (McGilligan Books, 2005), which won the Hamilton Arts Award for Literature. As a member of the Red Tree Artists’ Collective since 2009, Broox has participated in the Simcoe Project, Public Space Works, Art Match (in partnership with Centre3), multi-generational arts education program at Prince of Wales, community art workshops and numerous neighbourhood performances. In 2017, Klyde successfully applied a dubpoetry program in an institutional setting to supplement cognitive reconstruction and narrative enhancement treatment for people coping with schizophrenia. That year, he also earned a writing fellowship with McMaster University’s Community Centre for Engaged Narrative Arts (CCENA). In 2018, Broox was a finalist for the Ontario Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts.