Georgina
May 21, 2008 08:14 PM
By: Vicki Pinkerton
“Poetry. It’s not for me.”
Comments like this are often heard in areas where people remember the trauma of poetry class in high school.
We have learned to think about poetry as stuff we can’t understand, written in language that baffles our busy minds.
It does not have to be like that at all.
The words can live and give voice to thoughts that can’t be spoken any other way.
If you don’t believe me, venture to the Blue Bridge Festival this year and hear words in a way you have never heard before.
From June 6-8, this year’s three internationally acclaimed poets will perform magic, weaving a tapestry of words around you and the music.
Barry Dempster, Patricia Keeney and Travis Lane will inspire with their poems.
In addition to performing their works, the week before the festival, Dempster and Keeney are mentoring young poets from Sutton District High School and Pierre Elliott Trudeau High School in Markham at a poetry retreat.
These new poets will bring their enthusiastic poetry to the streets of Sutton on Saturday, June 7.
Come to the festival workshops and meet some of Canada’s best poets face to face and word for word.
Barry Dempster has been short listed for a Governor Generals Award twice in his writing career, was one of the founding editors of the Poetry Canada Review and is a talented creative writing instructor.
Mr. Dempster has published 14 books of poetry, fiction and one children’s book.
He is looking forward not only to performing his works, selected especially for the festival but to meeting aspiring writers in his workshop on the morning of June 7.
Patricia Keeney is a resident of Sutton.
Her writing has been published in six languages.
She has 13 books of poetry and fiction to her credit with a new novel expected soon.
The Blue Bridge Festival is thrilled to have her performing on stage in concert with the musicians and also teaching a workshop on the morning of Saturday, June 7.
Travis Lane will be flying from her home in Nova Scotia to join the festival poets.
Known as a lyrical poet, her written works and awards are too numerous to mention here.
Some of her poems have been set to music, three of them by Brenda Muller, artistic director of Ardeleana Music and the Blue Bridge Festival.
Ms Lane will also join the other poets on stage weaving her poetry into the music of the festival. She will run a workshop Saturday morning and add her mentorship to the work of the young poets during the Street Beat.
Poetry doesn’t have to be hard to understand or difficult to navigate.
These three poets and their enthusiastic students will change your mind if you are not a poetry lover and leave you hungry for more if you are.
Find your self in a new way of seeing and speaking the world at the Blue Bridge Festival.