I was delighted to have a chance to read with local (Surrey BC) poet and civic treasure Heidi Greco, a fellow foodie and activist in all good causes. We decided to celebrate National Organic Week with a poetry conversation at White Rock Public Library on September 17.
Our poetry extended into a bit of baking, and we provided cookies as a reward to our delightful audience.
We made it a poetry conversation, alternating poems and thoughts on trees, food and matters ecological. Was busy reading and talking so not much time for photos, but here we were beforehand!
A week spent with environmental literati from around the country and beyond was stimulating, delicious and rather warm at times. The first ALECC conference since pandemic times was, as they say, an intimate affair – not everyone who could have attended was yet willing or able to rub shoulders – but protective measures such as masked indoor events felt safe and comradely.
Tuesday, the evening before the conference began, Mari-Lou Rowley, Katherine Lawrence and I read from our new collections to a live (masked) audience who joyously filled the reading space at McNally Robinson, with another 35 or so attending online through the magic of live streaming.
On Wednesday, Mari-Lou and I attended ALECC’s opening reception (the food was excellent and plentiful) and caught up with some familiar names and faces. Ariel Gordon, Tanis MacDonald and Kit Dobson read from their new books with Wolsak and Wynn, and the “Confluence” exhibit by Susan Shantz was on throughout the conference in the next door gallery (her talk on Friday night, “Confluences of Water, Art and Science,” with collaborator Graham Strickert, was excellent)
Thursday I was teaching online all morning and turned up in time for the first of two Poetry Walks, with Ariel and Tanis. It was much fun – we walked along a walking / running trail, stopping at intervals to read poems to our followers. Ariel borrowed one of ALECC’s helpful balloons to guide us.
Rhona, reading from LarderAh that green balloonTanis and Ariel under the cottonwood treesWe pause to sniff some wild aromatics
The setting for our Thursday night barbecue dinner was stunning; a hidden grove on the campus of our host organization, the University of Saskatchewan. The prairie dogs (Richardson’s Ground Squirrels) appeared not to have found this space, busy as they were gorging on the drifts of elm seed that covered much of the city… another sign of trouble, since trees shed seed when feeling stressed and needing to secure their genetic futures.
A river of elm seed on a Saskatoon streetRichardson’s Ground Squirrel – making the grounds somewhat hazardous to human walkers
Friday was a long and rather warm day, temperatures starting to climb into the high 20s. Technical difficulties interrupted a video session, but it was all low tech for readings in the “Ceremony, Desire, Requiem: The Poetics of Water and Land” panel. Sheri Benning kicked off with a reading from Field Requiem (starting with the beautiful “Winter Sleep” which was featured in film form on the Paris Review website last winter). Self-described “Indiginerd” Tenille K. Campbell followed with a passionate romp through poems from Nedí Nezu, and some straight talk on some realities of indigeneity in northern SK.
Saturday was a hot one, with temperatures forecast to reach 36c, so I was delighted to find we had a good following for our final poetry walk. Ariel, Tanis and I were joined by Lisa Bird-Wilson who read work about residential schools, while we read mostly environmental poems including a couple by Victoria poet Yvonne Blomer, who had planned the event but was unable to attend.
Lisa Bird-WilsonAriel reads, in the Sculpture ParkTanis reads – finally some blessed shadeAt least the pelicans could chill in the South Saskatchewan River
A virtual and geographically diverse launch event on Sunday June 5 at 11am (PST): Rhona McAdam launches Larderfrom Victoria; Mari-Lou Rowley launches Catastrophe Theories from Saskatoon; and Lisa Pasoldhosts us from Paris.
It’s a joint presentation by our BC publishers, Caitlin Press (Qualicum) and Anvil Press (Vancouver) through the magic of livestream technology.
No matter your time zone, enjoy brunch with us (11amPST) or lunch (12pmCST) or late lunch (2pmEST) or aperitifs (7pmBST) or supper (8pmCEST)— and let us feed your minds!
It will be livestreamed on Zoom – the link is here: https://fb.me/e/3d9qGnweE
(you don’t have to be a Facebook user to find the details there)
Followers of environmental news will know of the ongoing protests over old growth logging at Fairy Creek, southwest Vancouver Island. In tune with this, Christine Lowther named the substantial anthology she’s edited for Caitlin Press Worth More Standing.
Clocking in at 239 pages, the anthology is a veritable forest of Canadian poets paying homage to trees of all kinds. I am one who contributed two poems to this work, including a poem from Larder.
On Saturday May 28 I will join five other poets at the Harbourfront Library in Nanaimo to help launch this with a live, in-person reading.
This Friday May 27 I’ll be reading in Victoria at Planet Earth Poetry. Events kick off with an open mic at 7:30pm, and then Catherine St Denis will take the stage as the Poetic Opener. Catherine has read a number of times at the open mic, always impressed with her poems, and I am very much looking forward to hearing more from her. After Catherine, I’ll be reading from Larderand selling books thereafter.
The reading is live and in person! at Russell Books. For those who can’t make it in person, there’s a livestream of Catherine’s and my readings which starts around 8/8:15. For info on how to access that, it’s best to contact Planet Earth Poetry; (details in their weekly newsletter) or you can message me on Facebook.
PEP’s readings (featured readers and poetic openers) are usually recorded and posted on its Youtube channel a few days later, so you can catch us there too!
Last night was the first poetry reading I’ve given in a good long while, and the first at the Fanny Bay Fat Oyster series for about a decade.. it seems my last appearance must have been a reading from Digging the City.
Last night we were blessed with an ample and responsive audience – clearly delighted to be emerging from a couple of year’s worth of cabin fever, finally able to engage in an evening of cautious socializing – and three poets reading from new collections, all with very different styles and subjects.
Judy LeBlanc organized us and did the introductions; Brian Latta took photos, did setup and sound; and a team of volunteers helped with promotion, took tickets, set up chairs, baked cookies, sold coffee and commanded the book table – all those things that go into running a good local literary event. My thanks to all involved.
First up was local (Comox Valley) poet Kelly Madden who read from her first poetry collection, If I’d Known, a series of compact, visceral poems about loss, abuse and grief. Victoria poet Arleen Paré, my Caitlin Press ‘stable-mate’, read from her seventh collection, Time Out of Time , a series of poems written as an affectionate response to the work of Etel Adnan and her Griffin prize-winning collection Time. And then I read a selection of poems from Larder– including “Aristotle’s Lantern”, “Skunk Cabbage”, “Dog, Running”, “Gravy” and “Devil Spawn of the Devil Grass Wheat”.
Kelly MaddenArleen ParéRhona McAdamKelly reads to a rapt audience
I was delighted to have a chance to read with local (Surrey BC) poet and civic treasure Heidi Greco, a fellow foodie and activist in all good causes. We decided to celebrate National Organic Week with a poetry conversation at White Rock Public Library on September 17.
We made it a poetry conversation, alternating poems and thoughts on trees, food and matters ecological. Was busy reading and talking so not much time for photos, but here we were beforehand!
