Friday, April 23, 2004

When poet Mohamud Siad Togane went back in 1992 to visit Mogadishu, Somalia, the city of his birth, he was shot at four times.

What a different reception he has received in his adopted home, Montreal: His poetry is now posted on buses crisscrossing the city.

"I have discovered that Montreal is a city that is very kind to its poets," he said yesterday.

Togane is one of 20 Montreal poets whose work will be featured in Poetry in Motion. The poems will be mounted on special panels inside 800 Montreal Transit Corp. buses until May 22.

"People think art is reserved for the elite and is unaccessible," said Carolyn Marie Souaid, a poet and teacher. "Putting poems on the bus is a good way to return the arts to the community where they grew."

Poetry in Motion coincides with national poetry month and was conceived by Souaid and fellow poet and teacher Endre Farkas, in conjunction with the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival of Montreal, which took place this month.

"All of the artists donated their works," Farkas said. "It may not be money (the poets get) but it is exposure."

The project was funded by a $6,000 grant from the Montreal Arts Council and corporate donations.

The works of 10 French poets and 10 English poets are featured and on each bus, one poem will be in French and one in English.

The English is the same size as the French, thanks to a provision in the provincial language law exempting cultural events.

Emile Martel, winner of the Governor-General's Prize for poetry in 1995, said he is an enthusiastic participant in Poetry in Motion.

"There's no way you can say no to being read," Martel said.

The 10 English poets are Stephanie Bolster, Farkas, Artie Gold, Tom Konyves, Claudia Lapp, Stephen Morrisey, Ken Norris, Souaid, Ruth Taylor and Togane. On the French side are Martine Audet, Claude Beausoleil, Jacques Brault, Nicole Brossard, Denise Desautels, Jean-Paul Daoust, Helene Dorion, Madeleine Gagnon, Martel and Elise Turcotte.

asutherland@thegazette.canwest.com