Power in poetry

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Critics return to the adjective "powerful" when talking about the poetry of David Groulx. They also add "stirring, striking and enjoyable." S. Vernon of Zygote Magazine reports, "I like his snarl . . . like a fish knife, gut/gut."

In December, Groulx released his second book of poetry, The Long Dance, in Ottawa.

"I am trying to talk openly about racism in my poetry," he said. "I'm looking for clarity, to get to the bones of issues."

The Long Dance is getting Groulx a lot of notice. Book launches, readings and interviews on radio and television, are making him a popular commodity. Shy as a child, he is now enjoying the attention.

"My road is writing. I just have to go with it," he said. Groulx's first book, Night in the Exude, was a self-published compilation of poetry and short stories. The Long Dance, with its cover depicting a repository for uranium mill tailings, is published by Kegedonce Press.

Like many poets, Groulx draws from life experiences for his poetry. Growing up in Elliot Lake, an almost all white mining town in northeastern Ontario, it was tough to be Metis. With a French Canadian father and Ojibway mother, he didn't fit in either community. Nor was it easy to pursue the writing that gave him such positive feelings.

"There are not a lot of poetry readings in a mining town," he said with a laugh. Lines from his poem, "The Harness," portray some feelings about his hometown.

I have held your uranium/all night long/boiling 10,000 frozen lakes/wrapped around me like razor wire/beaten silent/I am broken/but/I am angry.

It took a period of youthful substance abuse before Groulx knew he wanted a better life.

"You can't be hung over and want to write," he said. As well as themes for his writing, his troubled youth give him a career direction.

At age 31, he works for Ka-Na-Chi-Hih, a specialized solvent abuse treatment centre in Thunder Bay. After working nights, Groulx writes poems such as "Drunk On This Wine" in the early morning while his family sleeps.

The pain of alcoholism comes through in his words.

I've been bootlegging these broken dreams/with ribbons tangled in my hair/. . . I've been looting hearts in the cemetery of dreams/and fermenting it in good wine.

Pursuing his degree in Native Studies from Lakehead University brought out mixed feelings. Studying political science and history, he felt that Aboriginal viewpoints are still largely ignored or misrepresented. On the other hand, he got a lot of writing awards and encouragement to write. He won the Munro Family Poetry Prize for Outstanding Poetry, the Simon J. Lucan Award for Outstanding Achievement, was awarded a Canada Arts Council Grant and a National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation Award.

At the Enowkin International School of Writing in Penticton, B.C., Groulx broadened his skills to include writing screenplays and fiction. Though critics see his poetry as snarling, political, and somewhat angry, it has a softer side too. In "This Noise Is Life," he laments:

I wish I could see you again old woman/the way you spoke with your clothes/Your smoke/your words/a rendition/of the earth/and its power/. . . Your old grey eyes/going back to the darkness/ with history dropping out of your mouth.

David Groulx exudes both power and pain in his poetry.

For information about The Long Dance, contact Kegedonce Press (Chippewas of Nawash First Nation) at Voice/Fax:(519) 534-5107 or check with Chapters Book Stores.