Wednesday 7 January 2015

Changing Course at Mid-Life / A View So Far


Jung said something to the effect that we should not do in the afternoon of our lives what we did in the morning. For artists, this can often mean a change in focus, allowing the muse to express in another form. Thus a songwriter takes up painting. A filmaker decides to learn to play guitar. A theatre artist becomes a writer.
 
After thirty years in the professional theatre working as an actor, singer, dancer, director and producer, I felt the call to shift my primary focus to writing back in 2008. A few years later, Glenn and I pulled up stakes and moved east - looking for a simpler life, one that would allow us time to practice our art.
 
New creative forms can take a while to gestate, and for me, this meant three years of writing for the sake of writing alone. And then...a poem published here, a short story there, a monologue professionally produced, and in 2014, a rush of energy. A portion of my book, Traeh Gnul - Miranda's Journey from the Great Forest won the Writer's Federation of New Brunswick Young Adult Fiction Prize. And my first full length work of fiction, JAZZ, won the Ken Klonsky Novella Contest, and was published by Quattro Books / Toronto in Nov. 2014.
 
JAZZ is an important story. We have to look no further than the recent suicide of trans teen Leelah Alcorn to know why.
 
About the book, JAZZ:

There is a shadow of a boy walking within me. His spirit is lightning fire. He will not be shackled. At birth, I was labelled a girl. My name is Jazz. Like the music, I am nature’s improvisation.
 
When he is forced to leave his suburban home at age seventeen, Jazz - a transgender F2M - moves into the heart of Toronto's LGBTQ community in hopes of finding the help he needs to begin his transition. A true hero's journey, this narrative features a cast of colourful characters, including Martine, a dope-smoking drag queen; Kimmie, a hairdresser with a heart of gold; Sister Mary Francis, a sharp-talking ex-nun, and his counselor; Kendall, who must face his own demons in order to support Jazz in his journey. With comedy and pathos, Jazz wrestles with the realities of the courage it takes to be transgendered in today's society.

Review by Toronto filmaker and playwright, Sugith Varughese:
A heartfelt and authentic depiction of a transgendered boy's difficult break from his unaccepting family and discovery of a new family on the streets of downtown Toronto. Copeland writes authentically and movingly with a style that's engaging and terrifically dramatic. Gripping and very real.

If you are interested in buying the book, or have read it and want to offer a review:
 
This year has been a time of searing loss and soaring success. Interesting how things work like that, huh? All in all I am grateful for the gifts that continue to bless my life - good health, loving relationships and the stories and characters that fill my writing hours with exquisite delight.

Monday 29 December 2014

Happy New Year!

The old year now away has sped,
The new year now has entered,
Now let us now our fears downtred
And joyfully all appear,
Let's merry be this day,
And let us now both sport and play,
Hang grief, cast care away,
God send us a happy new year.

Traditional / sung to the tune of Greensleeves

Friday 19 December 2014

LISTEN / To a dear friend struggling over the holidays



Ancient sugar maple stands majestic,
Her daughter at her side,
Both graceful in their icy finery,
A sparking gift from the winter fairy
Who, though unseen, 
Has been summoned by the whirling snow.



How is it
On this day
So close to dark of winter
My heart stands open in
Light-filled reverence?

Yet, lodged in the stone-heavy ache in my heart,
Shame ever readies her venom-laden claws,
Threatening in a thundering voice
To crush all wonder.

I don my armour,
Shield of Celtic courage,
Sword of phosphorescent gratitude,
And with the raging heart of Queen Boudicca,
I cast out all that is unlike love,
Cradle my bruised heart
In winter silence.

All sorrow is but a fleeting thing
For deep within the earth's
Radiant heart
The Great Alchemist works to fuel LIFE.

To you, my dear, I send a message.
Armed with the ferocity of mother love.
This warrior is
Ready to stand at your side,
Cut away what would strangle you whole.
But should you choose to wage this battle
On your own strength.
Do not forget,
Victory will come,
And Joy will return
In small steps.
Encouragement can be found in the tiniest things.
In the sweep of the wind through maple branches,
In the light in the eyes of a friend,
In the perfect symmetry which nature creates
To remind us that we are part of a great whole.
The Creator sings to you this day.
Be still. And listen.

Elizabeth Copeland / Dec. 2014

Thursday 11 December 2014

GRACE

On the day when the scar tissue burns at every turn
There is grace.

When the longing to be seen, 
to be heard, 
to be celebrated,
to be witnessed,
Rises up like a dervish spinning staccato prayers into the twilight
There is grace.

When the heart screams 'no more!'
And the howling in your belly 

Becomes the howling of the ages,
And you find you have no choice

But to bring up the poison seeds you swallowed so long ago.
There is grace.

I see you little one.
Spit the bitter seeds on to the ground.
Grind them under your heel and let the
Earth reclaim them. She will
Make medicine out of your poison.
Make beauty out of your suffering.

If you do this thing, the suffering will be great.
But then...ah then, you will know...

There is grace.

Elizabeth Copeland
Dec. 11, 2014

Thursday 20 November 2014

TSP: Hilary Mantel's Ten Observations About Writing

Tips on writing from one of my favourite authors.

TSP: Hilary Mantel's Ten Observations About Writing: In the 39th in a series of posts on 2014 books entered for The Story Prize, Hilary Mantel, author of   The Assassination of Margaret Thatc...