Spoken Word Saturday is a showcase of the amazing Spoken Word Poetry talent that can be found from coast to coast. This June, the League is proud to showcase Indigenous and LGBTQI2S+ poets in celebration of Pride Month and Indigenous History Month!

askiywipimācihowascikēwina, by Moe Clark

written + composed by Moe Clark
with nêhiyawêwin + musical support from Joseph Naytowhow

filmed in Tio’tia:ke/Mooniyang/Montreal on unceded Kanien’keha:ka territory by Patrick Shannon (Innonative – 2020)

*words inspired by the book: “Treaty Elders of Saskatchewan: Our Dream Is That Our Peoples Will One Day Be Clearly Recognized as Nations” – by Harold Cardinal and Walter Hildebrandt

Multidisciplinary Métis artist Moe Clark is a nomadic songbird with wings woven from circle singing and spoken word. Mistress of the looping pedal, she creates sonic landscapes of layered voice that invite audiences into a trance-like space. Her poetic songs soar through these landscapes, with tonal and lyrical resonance. In music collaborations, Moe’s intuitive and sensual approach to vocal improvisation pulls from soul, gospel, folk and spoken word genres. She’s trained with the likes of Rhiannon (Bobby McFerrin’s Voicestra), Pura Fé (Ulali) and David Smukler (Linklater approach).

As artistic producer she has collaborated on numerous projects. In 2013 she directed the 10^th Annual Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in Montreal, the first bilingual edition of the six-day national slam festival, which highlighted Indigenous languages and the art of poetic translation. Other collaborations include Bird Messengers theatre performance with Émilie Monnet, It Is Only Sound that Remains sound theatre with Shahrzad Arshadi, Tschakâpesh puppet street theatre at Place des Arts with Presence Autochtone, and Back to Where My Heart Belongs Cree language songwriting project with Joseph Naytowhow and Cheryl L’Hirondelle.

As community arts educator Moe facilitates writing, spoken word performance and looping pedal workshops in high schools, communities and with Aboriginal youth with a basis for de-habitualizing speech and deepening personal and collective expression. Taking her as far north as Iqaluit to offer intergenerational storytelling exchanges and as far south as Brazil to collaborate inter-culturally with the Tembe people, her approach to group facilitation aims to build bridges through empathetic listening and sharing. In 2010 she was chosen as Leonard Cohen Poet in Residence (Westmount High School, 2010) and has since worked with the Quebec Writers’ Federation Writers in the Community program. Moe draws from traditions of the talking circle, employing the microphone as a talking stick to engage youth through technology. She also facilitates professional-level workshops.

As performer, Moe’s work spans international borders and creative disciplines. Following the success of her debut album “Circle of She: Story & Song” (2008) she toured national and international stages. Her second album “Within” (September 2014) builds off this success to bring elaborated musicality. Highlight feature performances include Maelström ReÉvolution Poétique Fiéstival in Belgium (2013 & 2009), IDEA World Congress: Art for Social Change in Brazil (2010), Aboriginal Music Week (2012), Makusham APTN Series (2011) and she will perform as “Poet of Honour” for the 2014 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word. Her 2009 videopoem “Intersecting Circles” is now part of the Peace River Museum, Archives and Mackenzie Centre.

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