Few artists on either the local spoken word or hip-hop scene can boast of having the skills to seamlessly navigate both worlds. Toronto-born and bred artist Motion, a.k.a. Wendy Braithwaite, is just such a rare talent.
Over the years, she has opened for such renowned artists as Mos Def, Wyclef Jean, Talib Kweli, Jill Scott and more. Her vocal chops have also been showcased on the soundtrack for the film When Moses Woke (Itoti Productions), which premiered on Bravo! Television.
And to all that, add published author as well.
Motion recently launched her latest book of poetry, 40 Dayz. A follow-up to her 2002 book Motion in Poetry, published by Women’s Press, 40 Dayz is an intensely personal and reflective exploration of her journey as a woman, mother, lover, and world citizen.
Still ever rooted in her Torontonian universe, Motion takes us back to her Antiguan and Bajan heritage to show how her family, friends and other individuals have shaped who she is.
Motion has a gift for bringing back days gone by, infusing her reminiscing tales with lyrical smells and scents of familiar experiences. As you are transported back with her in a Funkadelic time machine, we encounter Malcolm, Maya, and Alice along the way.
Her piece “Dem Say” is a prime example of how, in just a few lines, Motion takes us back to an idyllic and more carefree past.
But eventually, sure, as the sun rises from the east every morning, innocence is broken, hope battles with regret and dreams are too often deferred.
Despite all of that, and perhaps because of those growing pains, one’s sense of community remains a major pillar amid it all.
This T-dot community that Motion illustrates encompasses it all. From the busloads of people going along with their mundane existence, to the mournful mothers and guilty lovers, all play a part.
The bustling city landscape she describes is also sometimes a metropolis under menacing clouds. In “hedlines” we find a city under curfew where “somewhere a poet is detained” and a “high court decides the fate of men”.
Motion depicts a post-911 world where “ownland security” justifies the oppressive rule of a police state. She longs to spend her Friday night watching “pre-war N.Y. on Sex and the City.”
In a cold mega-city where “skyscrapers grow where green trees used to greet” and “good mornings are swallowed up down fearful throats and stuck-up tongues,” we often find ourselves feeling suffocated.
But far from wallowing in despair, the bliss of passion, lust and love remains a permanent fixture in Motion’s poetic cityscapes. From jonesing under the Bronx bridges by the Hudson River to fantasies of making love while riding the rocket in the T-dot, she leaves with this burning question: … where is the love?
