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James
Pickersgill - Creator of POW! - goes into rambling auto-bio mode...
I am a poet. I have been composing poetry as a personal avocation for
over 4 decades. I have had more than 135 poems published in Canadian literary
periodicals and anthologies. Also, when I was still quite young, an established
publisher put out a chapbook of my poems (this book is now out of print).
I have given public poetry readings all over southern Ontario. A list
of the cities would include, Kingston, Belleville, Peterborough, Toronto,
York Region, Niagara Falls, Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Windsor
but many smaller towns, too, from Picton to Waterford and places in between
- like Cobourg!
I am an editor. For over a year, I have edited and published p o e t r
y'z o w n, a small "weekly" dedicated solely to poetry. In 2009,
it gave readers 308 poems by 50 different poets, and, it continues each
week in 2010. p o e t r y'z o w n has attracted the attention of poets
from outside Cobourg and so has been able to present poems composed by
people from all over Canada, including some of its best known poets today
- e.g. one nominated for the 2009 Governor General's Award for Poetry
- and people from other places as far away as England or New Mexico.
In the past, I was the poetry editor for a monthly literary magazine,
which featured poetry less than it featured short stories, essays, plays
and so on, but which was quite successful -according to the definition
of "success" among Canadian periodicals, I mean - in that it
continued over a period of more than 12 years. In that role, I also managed
all the magazine's correspondence, exchanging letters with a lot of poets.
Many of them were just "starting out" then but have gone on
to be among the best-known figures in Canadian writing today. I have also
been involved in the production of many other poets' books for a number
of Canada's most prestigious literary publishers, performing all tasks
in the continuum of jobs that create a book: conceiving and approving
a project, accessing provincial or federal Arts funding, collaborating
in editing the manuscript, cover and page design, typesetting, layout,
process camera work, printing, coallating, bindery, organizing book launch
events, seeking sales outlets, driving the truck that brings the books
to the bookstores, setting up Meet the Author sessions, chauffeuring the
poet to those book signings, direct sales, doing bank deposits and remitting
royalties to the author.
(When looking at
book shelves while visiting a friend's home, a used bookshop or a Public
Library, I am often able to point at something and say, as an aside to
my wife, "Oh, remember that one? You and I coallated that together"
or "Hey, didn't I typeset that?" and so on.)
I am a fully
paid-up, annual dues-paying member of the Cobourg Poetry Workshop (CPW).
For many years, I have been identifed as the group's convenor.
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In this role, I ensure
that the organization's practices adhere to all the decisions the group
has made in the past, that all its on-going activities continue - for
example, monthly Poetry Readings for the public in addition to monthly
gatherings just for the CPW poets to develop their own poetry - and, that
business meetings occur as necessary to take care of administrative tasks
and organizational questions. Another part of my role is to book both
local poets and Guest Poets from out-of-town who are to be the Readers
on each year's schedule for our 3rd Thursday Reading series - monthly
public poetry events.
I am one of the 2 people who have been proposed by the Cobourg Poetry
Workshop (CPW) to serve on the "Nominating Committee" to identify
a candidate and then recommend the selected person to Town Council to
be Cobourg's second Poet Laureate.
I am an ethusiast about the importance of the position of Poet Laureate.
Recently, I have been a member of the Ad-hoc Committee that drafted the
"Terms of Reference - Poet Laureate" for the Town of Cobourg.
Long before that, I have given active assistance and support to Eric Winter,
the Town's First Poet Laureate. In much of what I do for poetry in Cobourg,
I take counsel from Mr. Winter and he has reciprocated, often including
me in the circle of representatives of the public from which he sought
advice about his activities.
I am a poetry activist. I am the creator and organizer of the annual poetry
weekend in Cobourg, which is called the POW! Festival - P o e t r y'z
O w n Weekend Festival. My long standing interest in poetry has allowed
me to create a network of contacts and friends among poets all across
our country and around the world. It is significant that these extensive
contacts of mine include a number of people who are Poets Laureate, past
and present, from all provinces and also comprising 2 who have been the
Parliamentary Poet Laureate of Canada.
I am an adviser about poetry groups. Many such organizations keep in close
contact with the CPW through me and listen when I tell them what we have
found to work well and what is a pitfall.
In other places, I have been a member of poetry groups similar to the
Cobourg Poetry Workshop but never one that sustains its membership as
well, has been continuously in existence for so long or has raised the
quality of the work of its members in such a successfully nurturing manner.
I have organized
public poetry readings in many high schools, colleges, universities and
municipalities, beginning over 40 years ago. You could easily guess: I
have attend many readings organized by others, too.
I have lived in Cobourg
continuously since 1981. Just previous to that, there was a 7-year period
where I lived elsewhere but before that break, I lived in Cobourg also.
I have variously
made my home on John St, Buchanan St, and Durham St in our Town. My wife
and I purchased our home on College Street in 1986. Our children lived
here all their lives until leaving home to attend university, get jobs
and live their adult lives. This is the home where we still live.
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Incredibly,
the world has seen 5 of my children born and I now have 5 grandchildren.
My 6th grandchild will be born in 2010.
To avoid ballooning to 275 pounds, I run.
… and run (and run). My wife and I participate in a few public running
events each year, such as the Sporting Life 10K in May in Toronto, the
Wolfe Island Classic in July, Muskoka Rocks in August and the Oasis Zoo
Run in October. For a lot of years, we have also run the Terry Fox Run
as a fundraiser and recently, we have done that in Peterborough, to be
sure I do not miss the chance to push a little girl around the route in
a running stroller (see the picture below of Jane, my wife, Khloe, our
granddaughter, and I from September, 2008). Well, she doesn't seem so
little near the end of 10k of pushing her.
I am
also a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.
I am a voracious reader. My reading habit is not solely dedicated to poetry
but even other poets and poetry "fanatics" who I know tell me
that I have read more poetry than anyone they have met. In terms of what
personally appeals to me as poetry, my tastes are very broad. Many people
I know like a particular poet or a specific school of verse but I do not
tend to be like that: I delight in a huge percentage of the poetry I read
or hear. As a teen, my first introduction to poets was E. E. Cummings,
Dylan Thomas, Leonard Cohen and then all those in the Beat movement. Since
then, I have moved like a persistent breeze through waving tallgrass,
reading poetry from all historical time periods and most countries, developing
a knowledge of what different schools of poetry exist and have existed,
what the history is of their debates, rivalries and controversies, and,
happily becoming a connoisseur of this wonderful Art.
I am a student of poetic device. For a long time, I have admired the craft
that must go into a good poem and the urge to understand that deeply is
always with me.
I am also a teacher of poetry: I want others to understand that poetry
cannot be just a simple expression of deep-felt human emotion in words
made to sound unlike prose. That can be a good start, certainly. However,
the poetics must be there. We must know and use poetic device. Otherwise,
the reader is simply being allowed to read something akin to a diary entry
- heartfelt, genuine, worth knowing and something that should be accessed
in the course of the reader keeping sacred trust with the writer - but
not poetry.
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