MONTREAL — The proverbial pen is mightier than the sword, and two Montreal poets hope that when words are put into verse they will be even more powerful.
Poets Carolyn Marie Souaid and Endre Farkas perform Blood is Blood, a literary appeal for peace in the Middle East.
Endre Farkas and Carolyn Marie Souaid have created Blood is Blood, a passionate, frank, spoken-word performance about the Middle East that blends their respective poetry and voices.
It had its premiere at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts this fall, and now the text has been published as a book (Signature Editions) accompanied by a specially produced 15-minute video of them performing against different backdrops in the city.
The two had been colleagues and friends for years when that relationship was strained during the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Hungarian-born Farkas is the son of Holocaust survivors; Souaid, a Christian, is of Lebanese descent. Both are educators as well as published poets (17 collections between them). He is a retired CEGEP instructor, and she teaches high school.
During the 2006 summertime conflict, the two conducted a lengthy e-mail correspondence in which they candidly expressed their diverging perspectives. It was an eye-opener for both of them, as neither had thought of themselves as especially engaged with the Middle East. But deeply rooted emotions came to the fore.
Farkas’s fears for Jewish survival clashed with Souaid’s dismay over seeing the devastation to the land not only of her ancestors, but of her adopted son.
Their electronic conversation soon took the form of poetry, and then they began presenting their poetic encounter publicly.
When CBC Radio became interested, they produced a 10-minute drama that was broadcast nationally in December 2006. Over the intervening years, Farkas and Souaid have continued to combine their creativity into something they think speaks to today’s Mideast tensions and the maddening relations between Jews and Arabs.
“We, as poets, decided to take on this challenge, both personal and political, through our art,” Farkas said. “It is important for artists to be engaged in the debate.”
It also saved their friendship.
“We feel we bring a perspective in form and in content to the ongoing Middle East conflict that is fresh and vital,” Souaid said.
Both realized the horror and futility of so much spilled blood, and that’s the origin of the title, which also suggests the kinship between Jews and Arabs.
The two presented Blood is Blood on-stage at the recent launch of the book and video at Casa del Popolo on St. Laurent Boulevard. In addition to being gifted writers in an underappreciated literary form, they are both spellbinding dramatic readers.
Their delivery, both solo and in duet, ranged from hushed whispers to loud declamation. They spoke different and competing lines simultaneously, yet each voice was distinct. At regular intervals, they joined together in chorus. They call it “harmony and cacophony,” reflecting the chaotic region.
Farkas and Souaid start out sounding like kids fighting in the schoolyard. “I was here first. No, I was here first/ My god can beat up your god, No, mine can beat yours,” and so on, until one says, “I killed you. No, I killed you first,” making plain how high the stakes are in this game of brinkmanship.
This is not a sentimental plea for peace or brotherhood. Both tell their people’s history as they see it, expressing suspicions and prejudices in accusatory tones.
Ultimately, they see the error of each other’s “tribal bravado” and the cycle of retribution, or as they put it, “an eye for an eye until everyone is blind.”
Five dollars from the sale of each book/video, which sells for $20, is to be donated to Dans la rue, an organization that helps homeless youth in Montreal.