What I did at the Northumberland Festival of the Arts: I wrote a flash poem at Dane Swan’s Writing Our Shadows workshop. I started a long contemplated memoir at Cynthia Reyes’ and Carol Shaw’s memoir workshop. After untold eons, I picked up a paintbrush and made a painting with Ixchel Suarez’s Fall Inspiration. Since the…
Tag: Poetry
NFOTA’s Opening Weekend–What Fun!
Northumberland Festival of the Arts opened with a fun-filled evening of music Friday at Victoria Hall. Cobourg’s Poet Laureate Jessica Outram MC’d the event. NFOTA president Gwynn Scheltema welcomed everyone to the festival. And Parliamentary Poet Laureate Louise Halfe – Sky Dancer shared her thoughts about our human need for the arts, and how everyone…
Review of Stuart Ross’s The Book of Grief and Hamburgers (by Kate Rogers)
Review: The Book of Grief and Hamburgers by Stuart Ross ISBN: 978-1-77041-656-7 ECW Press, Toronto, 2022 Reviewed by Kate Rogers Angst, denial and self-mocking humour struggle with each other in Stuart Ross’s poem-diary-essay about learning to live with grief. The poem-entries take us through the speaker’s inner process as he grapples with loss. It is…
Volunteers Needed for Poetry on Parade by Wally Keeler
On Saturday, September 17, 2-4pm, Northumberland Festival of the Arts is presenting a poetry reading, Words on a Wire. The event, held inside the grand Concert Hall of Victoria Hall, will be filled with Poets Laureate and the eloquence of Northumberland. Outside Victoria Hall will stand the Picnic Table Anthology, covered in poems from over…
Words on a Wire by Wally Keeler
Poetician1 (Wally Keeler) of the glorious imagine nation of the Peoples Republic of Poetry (PRP) and an agent poetvocateur collaborator from the Cobourg Poetry Workshop drove over to Poet Hope, without authorization, on a Sunday afternoon to propose some text be raised to the heavens, don’t ya know. It was a meme mission. Poetician1 settled…
2019 Festival Highlights: Allan Briesmaster
As we confirm the program for NFOTA’s upcoming festival, to be announced soon, we look back on previous festivals. Here is poet Allan Briesmaster reading at Words on a Wire 2019. About Allan: Poet Allan Briesmaster is a frequent visitor to Cobourg, where he has read at various poetry events over the years. He has…
2019 Festival Highlights: Antony Di Nardo
As we confirm the program for NFOTA’s upcoming festival, to be announced very soon, we look back on previous festivals. Here is Antony Di Nardo’s poetry reading from Words on a Wire 2019. About Antony Antony Di Nardo is the author of five books of poetry, with a sixth, Forget-Sadness-Grass, to be released this April…
Why Poetry? by Kate Rogers
A lot of writers and artists make Northumberland County home! One important reason my husband and I chose to settle here after two decades abroad is the many poets and visual artists who practice their craft here. What is poetry? According to Margaret Atwood, “Poetry is condensed emotion.” Poets often focus on epiphanies—flashes of understanding…