MF GALAXY

z Wab Kinew is the 2015 host of CBC’s national book competition Canada Reads . He’s an award-winning hip hop artist and journalist, a correspondent for Al-Jazeera America, and perhaps best known to Canadians as the advocate for Joseph Boyden’s The Orenda , the winning book for Canada Reads 2014. SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE ON iTUNES SUPPORT MF GALAXY ON PATREON Last year on CBC’s Canada Reads , Wab Kinew electrified listeners with his opening book defense that name-checked each rival book in the competition while building to his defense of The Orenda . And he did it all in just under his allotted 60 seconds, memorised, and in verse. He began the competition by demolishing his competitors, some of whom, like runner Donovan Bailey , failed to use even half his accorded time, perhaps forgetting that you couldn’t win this contest by finishing early. Despite numerous achievements and awards, merit alone wasn’t enough to get Wab Kinew his new gig as moderator of Canada Reads ...

I wrote this poem at the end of 2000 for a woman I wanted to date. The poem worked out in the short term (we dated) although things didn't work out between us in the long term (we were like TNT). It wasn't the first time I'd gone through that poetry-date-relationship-breakup cycle, either. Anyway, it's all for the best as I later met the woman who would become my wife and then we got married and are raising a daughter and we're all happy although I write fewer poems. Anyhoo... the poem. Yeah, I was asked by CBC's Christine Chomiak to perform it for the network's late night alt-culture show ZeD-TV, and I now present it to you all. And don't freakin' steal it to score with. Make your own freakin' moves (and movies). UPDATE: Because of an intrepid reader pointing out to me a continuity error on this entry, I have just now corrected the above date. It now correctly reads "2000" instead of "2001," which would have meant an entirel...