Hamilton dub poet Klyde Broox remembered as a 'brilliant artist' and educator who was 'proud of his culture'

People are coming together this weekend to honour Klyde Broox, a Hamilton poet who became the first Black writer to win the City of Hamilton's Arts Award for Literature in 2005, and was "a great artist" and "a great teacher."

Broox died on Jan. 21 after a short battle with an "aggressive" form of cancer, his daughter Toya Brooks told CBC Hamilton. He was 66.

Brooks said the urn containing her father's ashes will be on display at "a celebration of life" dubbed "Klyde's OutroDUBtion," which will start at 2 p.m. on Feb. 11 at Gasworks, 141 Park St. North.

"I want everyone to walk in and be like, wow, like they feel him there even though he's not there. There's going to be live drumming and things of that nature, and I kind of want people to like, not necessarily dance, but like sway," Brooks said.

Born in Westmoreland parish, Jamaica, Broox migrated to Canada in 1993. Brooks said her father was a man who "stepped to the beat of his own drums."

"He was very much an individual, his opinions were his opinions, but then he also respected everyone else's opinions, and he would kind of listen and reflect," Brooks said. 

"He was a communicator and he loved socializing and he loved learning from everyone — he treated everyone with so much respect, and just care, regardless of anything. He was very non-judgmental."

Brooks said her father "really liked people that were kind of out-of-the-box, because he himself was very out-of-the-box."

"His favourite word actually was abracadabra, and it means 'as I speak it, it exists' or 'as I speak it, I create it.' And so that was very much him. He would create things with words, he really believed that words could change the world, and how people communicate and treat other people in their communication can really create the future."

'A beacon of literary brilliance and activism'

Matthew Green, the NDP Hamilton Centre member of Parliament, paid tribute to Broox during a speech in the House of Commons to mark the start of Black History Month.

Green said Broox was "a beacon of literary brilliance and activism." 

As he made Hamilton his home, "Broox's journey from an award-winning dub poet to an international literary figure is a testament to the power of words to inspire change," Green said.

"His accolades, including the Nathan Brissette Poetry Prize, the James Mr. Fellowship, and the Hamilton Arts Award, barely scratched the surface of his impact. Through works like Poem Storm and My Best Friend Is White, he challenged us to confront the complex racial dynamics with honesty and empathy. And he did so, bridging divides and celebrating our shared humanity. 

"In fact, more laudable than all of his formal accolades in life, [his] contribution was capturing contemporary oral Black history," Green added. 

'A great Hamiltonian, a proud Jamaican, a proud African'

Evelyn Myrie, executive director of the Afro Canadian Caribbean Association (ACCA), said Broox — who also sometimes went by his legal name, Clyde Brooks — was one of the tutors at the association's Black youth program.

"The way he inspired the young people to create their own poems and dubbed poetry and really get them excited about the art form was truly tremendous," Myrie told CBC Hamilton.

"He was very proud of his culture. He was a brilliant artist, and he used that to highlight narratives around social justice, inequality — he used the art form to push for change wherever he was, he used the power of the word, the power of his dub poetry, to really challenge systems of power.

"He was a great Hamiltonian, a proud Jamaican, a proud African, and one of Hamilton's icons. He will be tremendously missed. I know our kids will miss him because he's a great teacher," Myrie added.

The Workers Arts and Heritage Centre, in a tribute on Facebook, said it was "privileged to collaborate with Klyde" on several programs over the years including Call and Response, a night of readings, performance and dialogue about race, labour and civil rights in March of 2017.

"While Klyde's accomplishments are vast, we acknowledge his work in public space, in elementary school classrooms, performing in humble venues, and as a kind and insightful mentor to budding artists as key parts of his legacy."

Meanwhile, Hamilton-based music producer with Grant Avenue Studio, Andrew Lauzon, shared on Facebook, "Sometimes in life, you meet someone who has a profound effect on you in a very short period of time.

"I am lucky to have known renowned dub poet and literary activist Klyde Broox, if only briefly. In that time, I got a glimpse into the soul of a brilliant and truly unique human being. 

"I will miss his energy and our conversations, during which he would often morph into poetry, and I would find myself trying to decode his message while being simultaneously dumbfounded by the way he commanded the language to make a point with so much impact. Poetry flowed through Klyde with seeming effortlessness, and the way he twisted and played with words was astonishing and thought-provoking. It was gift to have known him."

Not having conversations with her dad is what Brooks says is one thing she will miss after his death.

"Luckily I have everything that he's written now, so I guess anytime I am ready and feel like I miss a conversation with my father, I'll probably read when he wrote," she said.

"I'll miss, kind of, bouncing ideas off of him or and even if I made a decision that was opposite to what his decision was, he always respected it. So, I think that kind of security that you get in having someone that just, like, champions your ideas and the way you think is probably what I miss the most. [Also], our debating 'cause we debated often."

Brooks said her father has published only about one per cent of what he has written. He has written a book, which will be published in March, and Brooks said she plans to publish other works as well.

'A celebration of his legacy'

Brooks said she had many conversations with her father during his illness.

"We had talked about his celebration of life and how people would grieve, and he's not really interested in the idea of a bunch of people crying," she said.

"He wants them to be happy. He's not really interested in the idea of the living mourning for the dead. So, we want it to be more like a celebration of his legacy and what he left on Earth."

Brooks said her father requested that his ashes be spread on a river in Africa, and she is planning a family trip for early next year to fulfil his final wish.

Broox is survived by his wife, Joan; children, Toya, Shushauna and Theo; and grandchildren, Alexander and Zuri.

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.