By: Aedan Smyth, SFU Student
On February 21, I attended a Lunch Poems event at SFU’s Harbour Centre campus. This recurring event happens online and in-person on the third Wednesday of every month, where two poets are invited to show off their work to an eager audience. Presented by SFU’s Continuing Studies program, this month’s poets were two award-winners making their communities proud.
Sneha Madhavan-Reese is a Detroit-born Ottawa-based poet whose emotive poetry books have been tethered to astronomy. She won Arc Poetry’s 2015 Diana Brebner Prize, which recognizes a “National Capital Region poet, who has not yet been published in book form.” Onjana Yawnghwe is a Shan Canadian poet based in Vancouver who’s written several poetry books, many of which create larger narratives. The Small Way, about a woman coming “to terms with a spouse’s transition” got her nominated for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. Her most recent book, which is 20 years in the making, is We Follow the River. Released March 1, it’s about a family’s escape from military violence in Myanmar, “sifting through family history and grief, and alighting across cultures and continents to find a home [in Canada].”
The reading’s theme was family and material connections, and each poet’s interpretation was unique. Yawnghwe began the reading with excerpts from her variety of books, including the two mentioned above. She spoke as if contemplating every word, articulating them clearly so every letter resounded within the audience. She also read from a book she collaborated on called Vancouver City Map. The reading brought to life minor details of the constant hum of Vancouver, like the trolley buses, which she said “throw minute sparks into a buffet of clouds.” The work also referenced “mountains nudging the city into the sea” — a nod to the natural beauty of the area and its North Shore mountains. In a poem from Fragments-Desire, she mentions a “museum of memories,” to reflect on life’s tempting choices, love, and past lost relationships.
Like Yawnghwe, Madhavan-Reese spoke with deep reflection, building the audience’s sense of her depth and detail sentence by sentence. She discussed the nature of the universe and connections to her father in her book, Elementary Particles. Based on the past, the book stems from thoughts about how matter makes up the building blocks of the universe. It’s dedicated to her connection with her late father, who had a big impact on her writing and life. His influence is evident in his featured poem in her book. She reminisced about how she helped him pronounce the names of students in his chemistry class and how he answered her universal questions about life and the galaxy. In her writing, Madhavan-Reese talks a lot about the importance of togetherness in maintaining family and close-knit circles. She also touched on ritualism and how even the simplest traditions can be inspirational.
These poets left an impact on the crowd with their words as everyone left with smiles on their faces, and when each completed their readings, the audience erupted into thunderous applause. As a first-timer to Lunch Poems, it was an amazing experience to hear from two authors who created meaningful work using their own experiences and demonstrated the power of words. You can find both poets’ books at bookstores like Massy Books and Iron Dog Books, and keep an eye out for future poetry readings. Attend the next SFU Lunch Poems event online on March 20, where there will be more wordy wisdom to share from other poets.
