Joseph A. Dandurand shares his misery, joy and laughter in poetry collection The East Side of It All
Vicky Qiao | | Posted: June 17, 2021 3:45 PM | Last Updated: June 17, 2021
The East Side of It All is one of the three Canadian finalists for the 2021 Griffin Poetry Prize
The East Side of It All by Joseph A. Dandurand is one of the three Canadian finalists for the 2021 Griffin Poetry Prize.
Drawing on Dandurand's first-hand experiences of life as a drug user and single-room occupant in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, The East Side of It All navigates the ongoing process of healing through reconnection with family, the natural world and Indigenous storytelling.
Dandurand is a poet from the Kwantlen First Nation. His other poetry collections include The Rumour, SH:LAM (The Doctor) and I Will Be Corrupted.
He spoke to CBC Books about The East Side of It All.
A gift for storytelling
"I write every day. If I'm working on a manuscript of poetry, I'll usually write one or two poems a day every day until the book is finished. Over this COVID thing, I've written five or six manuscripts of poetry and a few plays.
"Each of us has a gift. What I'd like to believe is that my gift is that stories are given to me. I have no idea where they come from and it's scary sometimes. Because it's just me sitting in my office writing poems and it's like, 'Where did that come from?'
Each of us has a gift. What I'd like to believe is that my gift is that stories are given to me.
"For this book, The East Side of It All, I've been spending quite a bit of time in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, doing readings with the elders downtown. Every time I went down there, I'd arrive early, and I would stand at Hastings and Maine. I would watch all the characters. They somehow went into my psyche and came out in poems. The emotion of that area is just so powerful."
The residential school legacy
"My mom was five years old when she was put on a train and sent to Kuper Island Residential School. When she graduated, she married my father who's non-Native. They sent me and my sister to Catholic school. On my first day, I got in a fight. I was the only brown kid there. I got into a fight with this other kid. The Mother Superior separated us and she made us punch cement walls. I kept punching and punching and the other boy was crying.
That's how I use those characters in my work. I was bullied right from when I was four years old. I've been fighting since I was four years old.
"That whole experience, I use it a lot in my writing. I write a lot about how if I was a street person, I'd meet up with God and we would shoot dice, but I knew he was cheating. That's how I use those characters in my work. I was bullied right from when I was four years old. I've been fighting since I was four years old.
"My mom never talked about anything. I didn't even know she went to residential school. She said, 'Well that didn't really affect me.' But even today, she only takes a couple of pieces of tissue paper when she goes to the washroom. She was given the apology and she was also compensated. She built a house and she started teaching in the schools, telling children about her experience in residential school."
Building connection
"I think night is the most terrifying time to be in the city and to survive — there's just so much tragedy and sorrow. But I try to create stories that almost are images of what these people go through every day — like just standing in line for a sandwich or trying to survive in the rain.
I always like it when people see things that I don't see.
"I always like it when people see things that I don't see. I hope that they see the image in the story and that they can relate to it. Hopefully through my books, they see what I'm going through and my progression as a poet.
Joseph A. Dandurand's comments have been edited for length and clarity.