lisa b. is no run-of-the-mill queer political spoken word poet. There is a gentle patience amidst an urgent fire in her which makes for a powerful and accessible performance and message. She has shared the stage with Alix Olson, Tara Hardy, Ivan E. Coyote, Tara Hardy, Billeh Nickerson, Zoe Whittall, Hadassah Hill and, best of all, many phenomenally talented high school students at various open mics.
In 2004 she worked with Glenna Garramone and members of Barley Wik and members of Po’Girl to record “salvaged music,” a full-length CD of spoken word poetry accompanied by diverse acoustic instrumentation. In 2005 lisa became the first spoken word poet to tour across Canada, organizing, promoting and performing at 20 well-attended shows in 15 big cities and small towns from coast to coast with very little advice and even less funding. She made connection with elderly ladies in rural Saskatchewan and too-cool-to-crack-a-smile urban queers in Toronto.
(The Canada Council for the Arts has cautioned her about being overly ambitious.)
In June 2007 lisa moved across the Atlantic ocean to leap into the UK performance poetry world with a large splash.
“Ladyfest was great except for that offensive Canadian girl.” – audience member at Ladyfest Manchester UK
England embraced her; she won several poetry slam competitions across Britain as soon as she arrived. lisa quickly became a sought-after guest poet, performing extensively around Manchester and the Northwest.
Not everyone enjoys lisa’s performance. She writes with uncompromising honesty of the impacts of violence, sexism and homophobia in her life, as well as her experience of racial and class privilege as a middle-class white woman. On occasion, such directness raises hackles in audience members.
“I do hope as you mature you lose a little bit of your anger, and shift from such very personal, autobiographical stuff.” – Billie S., northern Alberta
“I grew up white and middle class and I think that the white middle class has nothing to feel ashamed of and I think you make sweeping generalizations and I feel aggrieved.” – Rachel C.
lisa co facilitated a series of writing and performance workshops with 20+ community members culminating in an experimental queer poetry play, Crow of Murders, which enjoyed a sell out run at Manchester’s Contact Theatre. In 2008 she was awarded a placement in Incubate, an artistic development project with Apples & Snakes, doing additional artist residencies at the Birmingham Rep Theatre, and the Battersea Arts Centre in London.
“It’s hard to make the English emote, but you’ve done it…not a dry eye in the house.” – Gerry Potter, playwright and creator of Chloe Poems, Manchester UK
Maybe it was the urban soundscape of life in Britain that pulled this banjo-loving poet towards the electrosonic spectrum. The accompaniment on lisa b.’s second album, “resonant frequencies,” differs greatly from her debut CD; the poetry is brought into focus in a new way. Pulses, heavy beats and synthetic notes shimmy up to and swirl around base guitar and clarinet. lisa chose to work with Manchester-based electronic meistress and recording engineer caro snatch to create her second album. lisa and caro combined their sensitive ears, feminist sensibilities, mischievousness, grit and growl to create a unique recording of 12 tracks of spoken word poetry enhanced by electronic music, vocals, and atmospherics. “resonant frequencies” is the slow food of spoken word poetry. There are no easy answers here; chew before swallowing.
lisa moved back to Canada’s west coast in late 2009 and only took half a year to forgive Vancouver for not being Manchester. (Folks who call this the No Fun City are maybe just not looking in the right places.)