Fred Wah held the audience in thrall as he read his poems at the recent Gung Haggis Fat Choy World Poetry Night reading January 17, at the Vancouver Public Library, Central Branch. Wah read poems from his many works such as Diamond Grill and the collection Waiting for Sasketchewan which had won him the Govenor General's Award for Poetry. Wah chose many poems to fit the evening's hybrid theme, many of them about food. He spoke about how food transcended cultures and recalled the foods he had grown up with. Just over 100 people attended the evening and listend to Wah speek about his experiences growing up hybrid between his father's mixed Irish, Scottish and Chinese heredity and his mother's Swedish family while growing up in Canada's not always multicultural-friendly communities.
"It's not always multicultural pretty," Wah told the audience attending the poetry event that blended together aspects of Scottish and Chinese cultures and heredity to celebrate the relative proximity of Robbie Burns Day (January 25) and Chinese New Year (this year on February 9). Wha also talked about the challenges of growing up between the cultures in Canada. Co-host Todd Wong also addressed how early Scottish pioneers and Chinese pioneers were often at different ends of disputes - but now many cultures have married inter-racially in today's Canada, including Scottish and Chinese pioneer descendents.
Scottish-born poet Dugald Christie, also a Civil Rights lawyer read both his own poems and a bit of Burns. Beijing-born poet Shirley Sue-A-Quan read part of a long poem, that addressed the many different immigrant cultures coming to Canada. Bagpiper Joe McDonald had led the poet procession into the room playing both an original song titled "Gung Haggis Fat Choy" as well as "Scotland the Brave." He later lead a singalong of Loch Lomand and performed an original song for which he also played a chinese flute.
This incredible culturally diverse evening started off with a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. as World Poetry co-hosts Alejandro Mujica-Olea and Ariadne Sawyer recognized the birthday of the American Civil Rights leader. Co-host Todd Wong and originator of Gung Haggsi Fat Choy, spoke about Burns as a defender of civil rights and how both the Scots and Chinese share values of hard work and helping to pionneer this land called Canada. Wong then read a poem titled Chinese-Canadian Ode in Heroic Couplets, composed by Mr. Yuk-Man Lai and translated by Dr. Jan W. Walls. Wong finished off by reading his own poem about immigrants coming to Canada titled "My Chow Mein Lies Over the Ocean" interspersed with sung choruses of "My Bonny Lies Over the Ocean" with the words chow mein or haggis substituted for "bonny."
The evening started drawing to a closing with a group poem by the World Poetry collective titled the Ballad of Gung Haggis Fat Choy World Poetry. Alejandro, Ariadne, Shirley and Dugald were joined on stage by James, Jacinta and Shirley's husband Trev Sue-A-Quan (featured in 2004's event). The poem recognized the origins of the event with creators Toddish McWong, Ariadne and Alejandro, and how different cultures each bring something to the mosaic of Canada. To end the evening, Wong and McDonald lead a singalong where all 100 audience members stood up in a circle and joined hands to sing the imortal word of Robert Burns, "Should old aquaintance be forgot...)
