The End of Poetry…Month.

We fast approach the end of poetry month and I feel like I’ve done my bit to add a little more verse to my verve, a few more sonnets to my sentience, a few more enjambments to essence. Seriously, how annoyed is everyone with me right now?

I read parts of a collection of Frost on the recommendation of the Poetry Concierge and have been wowed. And, this week I went to one event at the Edmonton Poetry Festival. Yes, it was only one, but one is still better than none and Rome wasn’t built in a day (insert predictable excuses here). The EPP is a 10-day event jam-packed with readings, and there are still 3 more days, so I would highly recommend you check it out.

I went to see an event called “Poem as Story” as it fit into my weird schedule and it was the most attractive title to me, aside from The Red Gala (which I sadly cannot attend), which is a sexy poetry and burlesque fundraiser happening tonight (Friday, April 25th). The first reader at the event I went to was Marita Dachsel who read from Glossolalia, her collection of poems from the perspective of some of Joseph Smith’s wives (of Latter Day Saints fame). My thoughts? Really good stuff here with really distinctive and interesting voices for each of the wives; Dachsel was my favourite of the readers. The second was Kimmy Beach, who I was introduced to as she had seen a video of the Bond choreography I had taught to Alexis, and she was reading from The Last Temptation of Bond. The reading was being held in the atrium of city hall and she seemed both tickled and a little nervous that she would be saying cock and erection into a microphone at city hall. My favourite part of the morning was probably when she was reciting part of a sex scene and a troupe of Jr. High students tromped by on their way through a tour of the building. A lovely education for them all, I’m sure. My thoughts? A fun, sexy read with some excellent points on the unrealistic expectations of men created by the Bond series of movies and books. The third reader was Rhea Tregebov, who was reading from All Souls’. My thoughts? This was a collection of very human poems about family. Honestly, I don’t think I can be objective as the last couple of poems she read were very personal to me and hit me right in the feelings. Since she managed to do that, I felt they were pretty good. The last reader was Paul Zits, reading from his debut poetry collection, Massacre Street, which recounts the conflict of the Frog Lake Massacre. My thoughts? I couldn’t get into this reading quite as much, but that might have been because he was the last reader and my attention span was starting to wane. He did read a poem from the collection he is currently working on, where he is focusing on repetition in poetry, and that one certainly kept me riveted.

After all this, has poetry become my bag? Will I now be gobbling up poetry books the same way I do epic fantasy? Probably not. But did I widen my horizons a bit, make some new friends, and introduce my eyes and ears to some masters of wordplay? I sure did. All in all, it was worth it, and I think I’ll be trying to give poetry a little love every April from now on.