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literary. Memories miles do not make the visions fainter. i draw your faces with strokes of memory. the absence of thought is the destructive force. that crayons visions into oblivion. never, can i forget the curve of your smile. the cashmere eyes, or the warmth of your flesh that melted at sunset. your simple lines dusted the beach in shadows, never, could the sand wash that imprint away. it was then that i saw you, a shadow walking lonesome, in twilight. time can not efface the feelings i once had, for memories can only be distorted, as your shadow lingeringly limps in the places we never shared. i was born into your life i was born into your life as a rhyme within a poem of all the things that were meant to be like candy canes upon a Christmas tree i was born into your life as a sunset to an African sky or lilting laughter to lovers ears of all the things that were natural to be like waves on a stormy sea i was born into your life as snow meringues a mountain top or rain quenching parched leathered land of all the things that are essential to be like peace within a nuclear age or truth within one's own sage i was born into your life as you were born into mine and of all the things that were meant to be i was created for you and you were created for me Lost Children We are children lost in the city. playing hide and seek behind hidden trees. plastered with smiles, we run to no destiny. falling, we stain our Levis. with grass, between the cracks, in city sidewalks. smokey bars filter through the air, beer and whisky talk. old times reminisce, leaving the old timers behind, they stagger out as ornaments, believers of the divine. we are animals in a menagerie. puppets without strings. rats-that win no races. we are impotent beings. Born an identical twin jn Ontario, North Vancouver poet Wendy Michnik started writing at the age of 13. Initially inspired by the power of visual art, she tries to create equally powerful word-pictures. festivals 20 Years of Folkfest-- Where to Next? b' Katherine Dodds This yer Folkfest celebrated its 20th birthday and attempted to make the show bigger than ever. Traditionally a series of Centennial Theatre showcases ofvarious "national" performing troupes from the Lower Mainland. this year the Folkfest Committee hooked up with the XV Commonwealth Games PowerSmart Sport & Culture Tour. With major funding from BCHydro. a major festival infrastructure transformed Norseman Field. at 23rd & St. Georges. into celebration central. The June 24th weekend featured an interesting lineup of multicultural performances. Combining forces with the North Vancouver Community Arts Council (which is celebrating its 25th anniversary), many new elements were added to the festival mix. The Arts Council contributed sevëral components: an ethnic craft market, a 25th anniversary celebration visual arts exhibition on the theme of A Community in Cultural Transition, an international organic food kitchen, and a youth concert. The most ambitious component ofthe entire Folkfest weekend, the InterNation-All Hip Hop Youth Concert, attracted an enthusiastic crowd of about 1500 youth. The show featured seven hours of rock and rap music from some of the top young bands on the West Coast. This project was a successful collaboration between the Arts Council and the youth crew from Youth Artworks[Underthe Volcano Festival. Although not without controversy--poor placement of the stage caused a high level of sound and graphic lyrics to travel many blocks up the hill into people's homes--the concert was the most wellattended element of Folkfest. Consensus would have it that young people need cultural venues (theirculture, that is!) and that the young concert-goers were appreciative and didn't cause trouble. The art exhibit took place in the Lonsdale Rec Centre and featured the work of over 35 local artists, as well as a display ofJapanese-style flower arranging mounted by City of North Vancouverstaff. Over 600 people attended the Folkfest gala reception and viewed the exhibition. However, the room in which the exhibit took place did not prove ideal, having no usable walls for hanging. One of the goals of the Arts Council is to seek out and provide quality exhibition space for the artists in our community, and this event reminded us of the urgent need for such space on the North Shore. The craft fair, which contained nonimported work by local artisans (with the exception of those imports which directly support Third World cooperatives) was a relative success. The food kitchen also proved popular, offering an array of food items not usually found at the local hot dog stand. But due to low attendance at Folkfest in general on the Saturday and Sunday, the food kitchen just broke even and the craft fair didn't get the volume of traffic it deserved. Regrettably, the attendance on Norseman Field for Saturday and Sunday was poor. It was a large-budget, high-profile event, but clearly the variety of ethnic performers didn't draw as well as an event which could mix nationally-known musicians togetherwith local Folkfest Arts Aes 5 Sp,Oct 1994 performers. The Arts Council wasn't directly involved in the programming for the Saturday and Sunday--this is the work of the 20-year-old Folkfest Committee. It is apparent that for audience development to occurforthe annual Folkfest celebrations, new ideas will need to be incorporated into planning for 1995. While celebrating25 years of enabling artists in our community, the Arts Council is looking to the future. If events such as Folkfest are to last another 20 years, the programming will have to attract a community in cultural transition, while reflecting a wider range of concerns and contemporary realities. Katherine Dodds is the Communications Directorfor the 25th ann iversan' programming ofthe North Vancouver Com,nunitv Arts Council. She recentLy won a Hometown Video A ward forher production ofSHE TV, Changing oft/ic Avant-Gardes Women and Art.- - 11