Owen 'Blakka' Ellis - Contributed

When Owen 'Blakka' Ellis made his penultimate Jamaican stand-up comedy appearance at Backyaad, Constant Spring Road, on Wednesday, April 29, a huge crowd turned out to laugh with him publicly, in St Andrew, for the final time.

Three days before, however, there had been another, much smaller, gathering to watch 'Tick Tock', a play utilising poetry, written by Ellis, which had been staged previously, directed this time by Carolyn Allen. Ellis told The Gleaner that it was an important moment for him, seeing that it took place in the same month as the Kingston stand-up farewell, it was "very validating".

And he chuckles as he notes that though small it was a "quality audience".

'Last laugh'

Having played 'last laugh' with Jamaica and done a few more farewell performances in other countries, Ellis is fast wrapping up his commercial chuckles. He has a three-part 'final stand' in New York, from July 1 to August 2, hosts a function for Excelsior in Toronto, Canada (where he now lives), on August 21, and has a date in Miami on August 30.

He is not sure if he will do Kings and Queens of Caribbean comedy in New York on October 21. He is sure that, for him, stand-up comedy is over. Poetry is starting or, to be more accurate (since he never stopped writing poetry, Gateman published as part of the Calabash chapbook series), coming front and centre again.

There is a connection between the two, though, "to the extent that I try as much as possible to use both to interrogate the gender issues from the male perspective, to give a voice to specific male gender concerns. Often we think that the issues are only about femininity. That is not the way to look at it, not in my book".

So Ellis was one of the few male poetic voices on Women's Media Watch's 'Gender Fever', held in early June at Weekenz, Constant Spring Road, St Andrew. There, performing with his son Jawara and Stacie Fyah Vibes Hyata, he did Binary Road, Decree, Depart and Tick Tock. Ellis points out that while he will write, he does not see himself sitting on a stool or at a podium reading his poetry. For one, he thinks that the audience for a piece of writing is supposed to go and find a voice (which they hear in their heads) for the literature. In addition, he will include other people in the presentation because "it's not just my story. I am looking at people's lives".

NEW BOOK

He is also planning to have his next book, Riddim, Riddles, Revelations, published in Canada.

In his fast-ending stand-up comedy run, Ellis has long tackled issues that are very serious and says he is in two minds about the humour helping to bring his points across or distracting from the seriousness of what he is saying. He points that opinion leaders who he respects, such as Barbara Gloudon and Mutabaruka, do use humour but are accepted on a serious level. However, "since I am sold as a comedian, they (the audience) laugh".

"That's why I am giving up comedy, because of the serious issues I want to get out there ... Bello and I came out as serious poets in 1985. I want to go back there," he said.