Dark nights of the soul take flight

Georgia Straight Arts Notes
By Pieta Woolley
Publish Date: August 4, 2005

Even with the help of an agent, Vancouver poet Sara Bynoe couldn't find a Canadian publisher for her recent book Teen Angst: A Celebration of Really Bad Poetry (St. Martin's Press, $18.95). The nation's presses might live to regret it. Featuring work by Bynoe and 31 other writers, the anthology is listed as one of the New York Library Association's "books of summer"-a sure-fire sales booster. It also made the Cleveland Plain Dealer's top 20 picks for the season, and Bynoe has become, in her words, a "media whore", appearing on the CBC and in the Globe and Mail, the Boston Herald, and other places.

In October, avid readers will vote to decide whether Teen Angst is the NYLA's young-adult book of summer. Will the sole Canadian on the list be the Big Apple's star? "It's my dream to write a musical about it," Bynoe told the Straight. "The song lyrics are going to be teen-angst poetry. It'll be like Breakfast Club meets Grease." She said the idea has already attracted the attention of a Los Angeles producer.

Teen Angst began with Bynoe's own tortured verse, written between the ages of 10 and 18. She started a Web site for teen-angst poetry back in 2000, and the book appeared this spring. Every second Monday at Montmartre Café (4362 Main Street), Bynoe hosts Teen Angst Poetry Night at 8 p.m.

"You know the deal now," she explains on her Web site. "You come to Montmartre, you drink, you read some old and embarrassing poetry, you laugh, you go home feeling better about the world."

Bynoe, 25, a graduate of Studio 58 at Langara College, is currently preparing to perform Sparkle Bunny: The Last Raver Standing at the Vancouver and Victoria Fringe festivals.

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