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lisa b. is a queer Canadian acupuncturist and spoken word poet, currently living in Manchester. She's articulate, passionate, political, occasionally raunchy, and frequently very funny.
lisa's poetry is impossible to sum up in one of these blurbs. But here's an attempt. She's got something thought-provoking and moving for every audience. She's equally at home performing for elderly grannies in Big River, Saskatchewan as for radical queers in the GLBT Centre in downtown Manchester. One of her favourite compliments is "I hate poetry but I love yours!"
Since 2001 she has self-published 4 chapbooks, (ask her next time you see her; she might have some in her bag) and performed across Canada, in the United States, in Spain and in Britain. She's shared the stage with Alix Olson, Ivan E. Coyote, and Trash 'n Ready, and with Tara Hardy and Katinka Kraft as part of the 2005 Write-off Tour.
In 2004 she worked with Glenna Garramone and members of Barley Wik and Po'Girl to record "Salvaged Music," a full-length cd of spoken word poetry with diverse instrumentation. (REALLY diverse: banjo and djembe, harmonica and accordion, mandolin, charango, piano, vocal backup and bass guitar.) "Salvaged Music" ushers the listener through sarcasm, thoughtfulness, cheekiness, anger, arousal, children's stories, a river in Northern Alberta, the Canadian prairies as seen from the train, and sheer exhilaration. lisa tackles issues of war, racism, sexual violence, and gender politics, and celebrates sexuality, natural beauty, community and music, all in one joyous recording.
(Listen/download/buy it at http://cdbaby.com/cd/lisabmusic.)
In 2005 lisa became the first spoken word poet to tour all the way across Canada (ha! They said it couldn't be done!) organizing, promoting and performing 20 well-attended shows in 15 big cities and small towns from coast to coast with very little advice and even less funding.
The Canada Council for the Arts has cautioned her about being overly ambitious.
Since June 2007 lisa has leapt into the Manchester performance poetry world and is enjoying herself hugely, winning slams, raising eyebrows, making friends (and, as a random tangent: revelling in bike-riding in a city so very FLAT!) She's never been so supported as an artist in her life, and is crushing harder on this gritty, glittery, filthy & fertile city every day. (Even when it rains.)
She's been chosen as one of the Incubate Six, to do an artistic development project with Apples & Snakes in Manchester, Birmingham and London, and still pinching herself in the attempt to believe that she'll be PAID to do poetry. Also on the horizon is lisa's 5th chapbook: Diving For Shiny Things, as well as a very exciting collaboration with Caro Snatch - second audio recording on the way! More details to follow...
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