It’s not all pretentious poetry

April 16, 2009

Poetry night in Jasper and Hinton

Though we might not realize it, poetry surrounds our daily life, according to Dymphny Dronyk, Alberta representative for the League of Canadian Poets.

Dronyk will be in Jasper on Sunday, April 26 as part of National Poetry Month to give Jasperites an opportunity to hear some of Canada’s finest poets read their poetry as part of the 2009 Western Swing Reprise tour.

If you instantly pictured a stuffy library full of pretentious highbrow poets, you might be happily surprised that Dronyk suggests the evening will “end up feeling like a little bit of a party.” Dronyk said her personal aim for events like this is to remove the stigma associated with poetry in North America which she said comes from people not quite knowing what to make of poetry.

For Dronyk, events like this, which is the first of its kind in Jasper, are about “bringing it to the people [so] then it wont have that same stigma that it does now.”

“Infiltrate and convert,” she said. “I have noticed that when I say I write poetry you do sometimes get that deer in the headlights look. You can sort of hear them thinking, ‘Oh God please don’t start reciting it’. I’m always looking for more ways to make it more accessible and joyful.”

To demonstrate, Dronyk said she would ask people, “How many of you have an iPod? and what’s on your iPod? Songs? OK, so what do you think the song lyrics are? That’s poetry, man. Poetry is all around us and is also in book form and spoken word,” she said.

The event will showcase nine poets from Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta who will come to Jasper to be part of the evening, but there will also be a local flavor to the evening with Jasper poet Paulette Dubé’s presence as well.

The poets will have about 10 minutes to present their poetry to the audience which will demonstrate an array of work about the bible, the aboriginal community and classical poetry. “We’re all very excited to be coming to Jasper,” said Dronyk.

To be a full member of the league, a poet must have at least one published book that the Membership Committee believes is of “sufficient poetic achievement to merit membership,” according to their website. There are currently about 700 members in total.

For aspiring poets in Jasper there will be an open mic segment to the evening for which people can register in advance by contacting Dronyk at 780-814-4057 or dymphny@telus.net.

The poets will also be part of the Yellowhead Rotary Arts Festival in Hinton on Sunday, April 26 at 1 p.m. at the Hinton Centre. The Jasper performance begins at 7 p.m. at the Sawridge Inn and Conference Centre on April 26.

The following two poems were written by Jasper poet Paulette Dubé. About them, she writes, “The first was written the day I arrived in Jasper. The second was written 16 years later... you tell me what living here has done for my soul. I think we write from where we live; literally and figuratively, I love living here!”

The new place:

day one

birds are trilling

tilling the blue-green glass air

so clear and fresh and lovely

robins

are there robins here?

are there sparrows?

people tell me there are hummingbirds here

those birds make me nervous

restless like poodle nails on linoleum

give me a worm sucking robin anyday