Many thanks to our lovely and talented features Oct 25th at the Poetry Salon at Urban Gallery, Niki Koulouris, Ellen S. Jaffe and Pat Connors, as well as those on open mic, Norman Allan, Catherine Raine, Heather Roberts Cadsby, Trixie Gleason (Margaret), Albert Shepherds (taken from video, his name a bit unclear) and Adam Abbas! Here are a few photos. It was a wonderful afternoon of poetry, hot apple cider and Girl Guide Cookies! - thank you Pat!! And thank you Urban Gallery for nurturing, promoting and supporting this event!
Heather Cadsby was born in Belleville, Ontario and moved to Toronto at a young age. She obtained a BA degree from McMaster University and taught elementary school for a number of years. In the 1980s she helped organize poetry readings at the Axle-Tree Coffee House in Toronto. A co-founder of the poetry press Wolsak and Wynn, for several years she served as a director of the Art Bar Poetry Series. Her fourth book Could be was published by Brick Books in 2010.
The poems Heather read:
0.35 "life drawing"
1.38 "drawing the face"
3.14 "what does she think about when she's up there sitting still for so long?"
Pat Connors' chapbook, 'Scarborough Songs,' was released by Lyricalmyrical Press last year. He was also recently published in Belgium, India, and Timmins. He was literary juror of Big Art Book 2013, a digital project of Scarborough Arts. He recently performed at the Austin International Poetry Festival, Stellar Literary Festival, Blue Coffee Reading Series, and, for the third time, at The Art Bar Poetry Series. He is a manager for the Toronto chapter of 100,000 Poets for Change.
Pat says, “I am a People's Poet, in the tradition of Milton Acorn and Raymond Souster. I want my work to be read, listened to, and have relevance for everyday people and everyday life. Mick Burrs, who is editing my first full manuscript, likens my reading style to giving my audience a hug.
However, it shouldn't be so good that it reaches only a few people.”
The poems Pat read:
0:00 The Beginning of Forever
1:41 To the Point
3:04 When My Worlds Collide
4:24 Me With You
5:58 Teenager
7:07 Bleeding Blue and White
7:35 Buds
9:41 Order
11:26 Epic
There is more video from this Salon, but the poets probably don't like their videos because there are almost no viewcounts at all. Go here to see what's available.
I took lots of video and spent 3 days and nights editing and applying noise reduction (which renders so very slowly - a 20min video took nearly 7 hours, frame by frame I guess) and uploading - it was exhausting - and then two of the women wouldn't allow me to post their videos. Because of the amount of work these (I guess) fairly boring videos are (no-one really likes the way they look in video and so most of the poets don't promote the Poetry Salon videos), I've decided to stop doing it whole-hog. I've been trying to figure out livestreaming from my iPhone, but so far haven't managed it. I, myself, would like a record in case I ever decide to review any of the poets' readings and so I have to figure something out that works for me without having to go through the all-too-often thankless and arduous task of editing and uploading and all that entails when, hey, we don't look like Beyonce, nor do we have her budget or production team, we're actually pretty ordinary. That's kind of beautiful it itself, I feel.
It was a truly wonderful Salon! Don't get me wrong. My gripe over the video and how much work it is is in no way a reflection of the readings, the poets or the lovely warmth of the Salon.
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