Jamaican Canadian dub poet KlydeBroox ‘lived to the beat of his own drum’

TORONTO: Canada lost one of its leading dub poets when KlydeBroox, aka Durm-I, who performed on many stages across North America, Europe and the Caribbean, died in Hamilton, Ontario, of cancer on January 20. He was 66 years old.

Born in Little London, Westmoreland in Jamaica in 1957, Broox left high school in 1976 to teach and perform as a poet. A graduate of Cornwall College, he studied at the then Mico Teacher’s College and won the Nathan Brissett Poetry Competition in 1978. Years later, he became a regular on the burgeoning Jamaican poetry performance scene. One of Jamaica’s most promising dub poets, he travelled to England and the United States for readings, workshops, and guest lectures.

His chapbook, Poemstorm, was released in 1989, and in 1992, he received a James Michener Fellowship to the University of Miami Caribbean Writers Summer Institute. A scholarship followed in 1993, and Broox migrated to Canada that same year, settling in Hamilton, Ontario.

His daughter, Toya Brooks, said, “My fondest memories of my father are the political or philosophical conversations or debates we used to have, just talking to him about different theories or world systems. I always liked how he would be reflective. If I disagreed with what he said, he would reflect and sometimes, days later, let me know that he researched my argument,” she said. Her father, she said, was always willing to adjust his opinion.

Brooks said her father “lived to the beat of his own drum” and inspired others to do the same. He believed that as a poet he lives on in his writings, a philosophy which she says now comforts her as she pulls on his trove of writings.

AMAZING COLLABORATIONS

Ronald Cummings, associate professor in the Department of English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University, said Broox was “a community intellectual and poet who wasn’t afraid to tackle the big questions of race, history, language and our understandings of humanity.

“He was part of a dub poetry movement in Canada deeply connected to Jamaica, the Caribbean and other areas of the world. Hamilton is not a likely place where one would think that dub poetry would flourish and yet Klyde found ways to plant roots there that grew into amazing collaborations and projects.”

Cummings said this can be seen in the monthly performance poetry stage series PoeMagic that Broox launched in the city.

“He was able to do this work because he fundamentally thought that dub poetry had universal resonance because it was poetry of the people and for the people. At the heart of Klyde’s work was always the faith that poetry could do things in the world and could change the world. The notion of “Literary Coup”, that he returned to across several of his writings was because he recognised the power of words, and the force of poetry,” he said.

“Klyde was a brilliant poet committed to the art and craft of dub poetry,” said Afua Cooper, a historian, former Poet Laureate of Halifax, and a founder of the Canadian Dub Poetry Movement.

Lillian Allen, Toronto’s Poet Laureate, cultural activist and a trailblazer in spoken word and dub poetry, met Broox at Burke’s bookstore in Toronto for a reading and was very impressed when she heard his work.

“He was the real deal. I said folks need to read and hear this stuff. His dub poetics and language sense were quite advanced and deeply rooted in the African nuances of Jamaican culture and in a solid set of critique and criticalities with respect to the experiences and rigours of black lives.”

Broox worked in arts development with the Toronto-based Dub Poets Collective.

He coordinated the International Dub Poetry Festival held in Hamilton in 2007 and was part of the artistic team for other festivals held in Toronto and elsewhere.

“I remember him as the Mico student who hung out with us Edna Manley students under the lignum vitae tree behind the school of drama. It was a space for delightful debates and rich reasonings about race, politics, culture, history, art production and just life, in general. He was a clever wordsmith. I deeply respected his sharp intellectual acumen. I admire his fascination with words and his facility with words. Above all, I respected his fearlessness. Yes, he was the embodiment of creative courage,” said Owen ‘Blakka’ Ellis, an educator, poet and writer.

AWARDS

Dub poet Michael St. George knew Broox since 1985. “Klyde, ‘Durmi,’ as long-time friends would call him, is a member of the learned society of the written word who owned his craft. A brilliant thinker with an unmistakable laugh and complexities that match.”

Broox received several awards for his creative and community work, including the 2005 City of Hamilton Arts Award for Literature, the Hamilton Black History Committee’s John C. Holland Award for Arts Achievement in 2011, and the Arts Hamilton/Seraphim Editions Best Poetry Book in 2006 for My Best Friend is White, published by McGilligan Books in 2005.He considered Hamilton a gem, in terms of arts and culture, and loved the underground arts scene. One of the last events he organised addressed the issue of homelessness in the city.

Brooks said her father’s latest book will be released in March in which instead of having an introduction, he has an ‘IntroDUBtion,’ and instead of an outroduction, an ‘OutroDUBtion.’

“Essentially, the whole play of words that he is fond of, for him, dub is the way he explains what he does. What he does is poetry, but a lot of people said it didn’t fall under poetry, so he called it dub,” she explained. She noted that her father defined dub as “using something in a way that it is not intended, but in a way that still made sense in the grand scheme of things”.

A celebration of Broox’s life or “OutroDUBtion”will be held on February 11 at 2 p.m. at Gasworks Hamilton. Toya hopes that persons sharing in the celebration will feel the spirit of Broox.

“He’s not really interested in the idea of grief; he doesn’t feel that the living should really mourn for those who have passed. He understands that he’s going to be missed. He wants to be more celebrated (than) grieved.”

She has invited everyone who loved her father to share a story, poem, or performance that reflects his essence and impact and urged persons planning to attend to wear one item that is either red, green or gold.

KlydeBroox is survived by his wife, Joan; daughters, Toya and Shushauna; son, Theodore; grandchildren, Alexander and Zuri, and other relatives.