Tawhida Tanya Evanson is an Antiguan-Québécoise poet, author, artist and arts educator. Her two poetry collections are Bothism (Ekstasis 2017) and Nouveau Griot (Frontenac 2018), and her debut novel Book of Wings (2021) is fresh from Véhicule Press. With a 25-year practice in spoken word, she performs internationally, has released several studio albums and videopoems including the award-winning Almost Forgot my Bones. In 2013, she was Poet of Honour at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word and received the Golden Beret Award for her contribution to the genre. She is program director of The Banff Centre Spoken Word Residency and vice president of The Quebec Writers’ Federation. Born and based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal, she moonlights as a whirling dervish.
History
History Prompt
Tell an ancestral story. Begin with a story about your father, then your father’s father, and so on. Or consider a father figure in your life, someone you truly admire who has been your guide – real or imagined. The story should tell us when, where, who, what happened, why it’s important, what the challenge was and what crescendo took place. The story does not need to have a resolution or ending but should have a lesson for us all.
Craft & Writing
Sound Wave
When we speak of writing then we speak of language, which is sound. All sound is inherently powerful. Every human community has a tradition of communication through sound. We have been giving each other music since time! Our human music is paired with gesture and sign to transmit idea, knowledge, information, memory, cultural material and art. These are the origins of literature from way back when the human being was the living book; the book of poems. You are that book.
When we speak of writing then we speak of language, which is rhythm. Attune YOUR EARS / to the sound of words. Find THE RHYTHM / in words joined together and let that beat GUIDE the writing alongSIDE the message. Listen ACTIVEly to the person speaking the cicada buzzing that birdsong and the machine hum that we ALLLLLLLLLLL created. / If we do NOT pay attention NOW, thunder or gunfire will surprise us later. / Recognize the RHYTHM and bring it into WRITING. Recognize the RHYTHM and bring it into LIVING.
When we speak of writing then we speak of language, which is poetry. Non-fiction evidence of life from all possible perspectives. Verse carried inside your memory bank. All forms flow from this source, from epic to TikTok. Write in the lineage of your ancestors if you can or in the lineage of your spiritual path and move it forward! In the name of Ptahhotep’s Kemetic wisdom, Enheduanna’s Sumerian hymns, The Epic of Sundiata and Rumi’s Masnavi as told spontaneously to his scribe Chalabi, in the name of all stories that tell the truth, write as if all that remained were your love, astronomy and almanac—keep it revolutionary and sublime, as if written in rock.
Craft Work
- Keep a journal; work the longhand
- Write what you see around you; how you live, who you love
- Write what you’ve lost, what you’ve found
- Your understanding of the world, how it works
- Write yourself into the world
- Develop a writing ritual
- Be a Zen Master of grammar and spelling
- A Sufi Lover of sound and language
- An African Passion Poet of longing
- Take a guide; leave a guide
- Writing is work; you are supposed to study
- Listen to elders, ancestral voices and your own body
- Spend time in the Invisible World
- Explore the secret of secrets; fire itself; Love
- Contemplate the heart, your internal reality
- Observe and record everything
- Question, Reflect, Predict the future
- Read Read Read widely and in-depth
- Experiment with different subjects and types of writing
- Take risks; write what is urgent
- Tell the truth, trust your voice; harmonize with the Voice of Voices
- Give yourself permission to be yourself
- Be music, song, dance and chant
- What is natural in you, take it and strengthen it; codify it
- Notice the Dot
- Time travel both ways, wormhole it; change perspectives
- Work on empathy; be a better human to be a better writer
- Work in the community
- Be in ceremony all the time
- Choose your words wise
- Exercise, drink tea
- Don’t be afraid to edit
- The reader is your friend; the reader is You
- See what your mind can do
- Go for the jugular
Craft & Writing Prompt
Four Sufi Questions
- How did you spend your time on earth?
- How did you earn your living?
- How did you spend your youth?
- What did you do with the knowledge we gave you?
Performance
Performance anxiety and excitement can sometimes take our breath away. And so we honour the heart and lungs, but above all, breath. Our breathing wants attention and practice as well as thanks and appreciation on a ritual basis. There are many ways to do this—something as simple as sitting immobile in a quiet place and taking three deep breaths is a way to begin. Now. When we hold our breathing in highest regard, it is a doorway between worlds.
And so in the name of all compassionate sounds
For all those who have come before and will come again I implore you Allow us this
First Are you wearing comfortable clothing ?
For this exercise let nothing distract you
If your jeans are cutting off your circulation
Undo the top button
(Nothing inappropriate my friends)
Next, make sure you’re sitting down Let go of your phone It’s alright
Your legs Hips Nose Toes Vanish
Push the sky with top of the head
Swaying gentle side to side Back and forth
Listen to the voice inside yourself Not my voice Your voice The same
Everything Slowing down now
IN H A L E EX H A L E slow
IN HA LE Stretch your arms UP Take a deep breath IN
EXHALE arms coming down slow Your hands, a cup in your lap or cupping the thighs
Shoulders Low Jaw Lax Waist Legs Position Up
Sit Tall Curve Spine Slight Light
Lotus Knees Half Bent Up Right
Calm Slow Breath Wheel Turn Real
Eyes Down See Not Floor All Fall Way Eyes Half Closed Open Head
Up Chin Light Lips
Closed Tongue Slight Teeth Top
Touch Right Wave Eyes
Loose Heavy Lid Low Gaze
Down Gentle Centre Float Down
Doing Non doing Doing Non doing Doing Non doing Doing Non doing
Performance Prompt
In performance as in exercise, two organs come into action: the heart and the lungs. The heartbeat quickens, muscles tense and lungs consume more oxygen. The body in performance is in flux! It is flushed and awakened—as it should be. To memorize a text for performance, try repeating the text out loud while walking up a mountain, a hill or some other natural landscape. If you can, go outside and change your breathing, your feet will find their rhythm, the heart and lungs will dance. Walking meditation in nature has a way of activating the body, the imagination and the memory banks.