Two stops is a tour, right? Two stops with three events, that is.

Monday, i’m off to Toronto. Tuesday the 17th, i’ll be guesting at The ArtBar Poetry Series, longest running poetry series in Toronto. How about that? One of the organisers is an old friend from university days, Stephen Humphrey. I owe Stephen a fair bit, you might say, as he encouraged me to run away and join the circus – well, to get into theatre. He was one of those fellows i look back at as The Princes, a group of guy friends who graced my life, and my little sister’s, during some really dark times.

We’d come to the City to make our fortunes. We missed our mom and our little brothers, missed the land. All our family was shaken by the deaths of our dad and older brother within little more than a year; our older sis was reeling from her fiance’s death the year before that. So, the adventure of being young gals finding our way in a new place had some weight to it.

The Princes (we never called them that to their faces) treated us like sisters, and a little bit like princesses. They were gentlemen, unassuming, who made a space for us, and who kept us safe. In the charmed but unmentioned circle, we found ways to be okay. We had a lot of ridiculous and healthy adventures. Princes, you know who you are. If you didn’t know, i’ll cherish you always, and wish you and your families the best of roads.

Which brings me back to this tour. It’s been five years since i performed in Toronto. Five years as well, since i first heard of Black Coffee Poet. He was already making a name for himself as a blogger covering the work of Brown folks,  and of people working outside mainstream categories. He reviewed my book, Fifth World Drum, on http://rabble.ca/ – most kindly, i recall. We’ve been casual correspondents since. This winter, he graciously invited me to guest on http://blackcoffeepoet.com/  and we agreed to meet up in June. So looking forward to making his acquaintance, and hopefully shooting a video poem!

Getting home from Toronto just in time to turn around and head down to Calgary, for a gig that has me six kinds (all of them good) of nervous – sharing an evening with the amazing Kris Demeanor! Here’s what he wrote:

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Meeting up with Black Coffee Poet