April
28, 2011 Ottawa Creative Writers’
Group
launches poetry collection
A unique poetry reading evening
was held on April 23rd at the Ottawa Bahá'í Centre on McArthur Rd.,
hosted by the members of the Ottawa Creative Writers’ Group. The
evening served to commemorate the launch of a volume of poetry by the
group in a collection titled ‘Markings’.
From 1993 the group’s members have gathered once a month to share their
work with each other. The results of their disciplined efforts were
apparent in the quality of the poetry reading on Saturday night.
The audience, listening with rapt attention to more than thirty poems,
was not disappointed. From haiku to ballad, from intellectual form to
free flowing blank verse, the poets arranged themselves in order to
share their works with the assembled guests. Topics such as war, love,
life and death, common material for the written word, were presented
alongside “Fat,” ”Desolation of E-Love,” and one curious title, “Like
Night and Day Fish Go By.”
Damian Firth has been a positive influence on the group from the first
day he joined many years ago. He writes brilliant verse, full of vivid
imagery and sensitive rhythms. One poem entitled Meditation on Death at
first draws and then locks the reader with words chosen for their
gentle grace and their truth in the reality that we all must face at
some point in our lives. One feels, however, that passing
into the next world on the arm of such a poet, would be easy if not
enjoyable.
down the long grey wave of the wind sacramental in its simplicity I bear the immensity of memory and the slow demise of budding flowers
Bravo! Poets! Both your products and the process you used to create
these wonderful poems are exemplary. Carry On!
