The deed has been done, as I have been done, but not in watermelon sugar. Don’t let the picture fool you, all smiles and bearing a rib size incision after a triple bypass. I was still stoned on painkillers of the best kind.

Silly me, I thought I would be up and etching picnic table tops for at least one table for National Poetry Month, April. Then I began to look at a couple of videos and thought I would be ready to etch a table for Pride Month, June. Alas, there will be no table etching in the year 2026.

To put it bluntly, I have never been so brutalized in my 78-year-old life. I have a long row to hoe in rehabbing myself for creative purposes. The earliest I could do a table is late September, so what would be the point of that? The season would be over.

There is much physical rehabbing to do, but also major lifestyle changes, both in terms of diet to bring back strength and to maintain that strength with ‘new’ arteries. It seems stupid to have good functioning replacement arteries only to clog them up before their time and mine. I have the opportunity for another 30 years of creative life, so why diminish that personal investment poetential by clogging it with old habits.

The trade-off is to lose one year of tabletop creativity in exchange for 30 years of tabletop creativity, so 2026 will be all about Wally’s physical health, to the minutest detail.

My son, Kelly, is currently with me, and his help has been invaluable, more than I could imagine. He has been my PSW until Ontario Home and Health kicks in to do basic housekeeping, grocery shopping, getting me to appointments, doing my laundry and other small items. I will be employing a private housekeeper for heavier work going forward, especially floors.

2026 will also include major renovations inside my flat: a new media centre, a new daybed, a new twin bed, venetian blinds, shelves, a new table, and storage solutions. My son will wire up the media centre, because that is where my major creative work will be done. It will be supplemented with my cell phone and tablet in synchronous harmony. So I can take my work with me to my favourite coffeehouses in Canada’s poemtown, Cobourg.

I have a new blue mobility scooter that arrived the same day that I went to Northumberland Hills Hospital Emergency. It has remained on the palate when it was delivered, still boxed. I might be able to ride that by late spring, but that depends, of course, on everything else being optimum.

The only thing that is currently rejoicing is my spirit. There will be a special gathering in the common room of St Peter’s Court Apartment this coming September, so stay tuned.

I have endured a few months of diagnostic pokes, prods and punctures in Cobourg, Port Hope, Oshawa, and Peterborough. I imagined the cost of the health care system to keep the creativity fresh and alive; thousands of dollars and counting.

I will be getting a triple bypass for sure, and a possible fourth bypass if the doc decides, while I am on the table, that I can handle it. The date for my slice and dice is tentatively scheduled for Friday, February 20. In the meantime, I have to do a lot of carcass preparation. I will be hospitalized for five to seven days, with a few weeks of rehab to follow.

This has provided me with enough clarity to actually dream about continuing the Picnic On Poetry project. POP! Last year, we went on a binge, producing nine tables for Canada’s National Poetry Month. 2025 was a good run, ending with the unveiling of a special table at Word On the Street, Canada’s largest literary festival. That was the year when everything for me felt like a weight, not knowing anything about my heart’s true condition, other than taking it for granted.

Then came the angina attacks this fall and several more days back in Cobourg emerg, with only days to go before the surgery date announcement. Hang in there, I said to myself multiple times, you have poetry work to do. And the poetry didn’t stop.

Tubes in both arms, electrodes all over my body, wires here and there, what a tango of tangle, and these lines came to mind:

Hospitals are for broken bodies.

Asylums are for broken brains.

Taverns are for broken hearts.

I lay there imagining the fresh gush of blood fueling my body post-surgery, and of gradually being busy again, implementing the Prime Policy of Poetry Proliferation of the glorious Imagine Nation of the Peoples Republic of Poetry; Picnic On Poetry.

April is National Poetry Month. My Poemtown, Cobourg, has the opportunity to apply for govt arts grants if it holds a Poetry Month event for two years in a row. I want to meet that requirement the best that I am able. I feel confident that I can ease into that, but not with the binge of last year.

I promised a lot of tables for 2026. Certainly, I will not be able to get them all done in 2026, but there is always 2027, and they will be completed then, with many more when my health becomes robust and ambitious.

The first table that I will work on will be Cobourg’s Poet Laureate Emeritus, Ted Amsden. Some of his poetry will be exceedingly challenging format-wise, and I look forward to that. So does he. I have a profound respect for his poetic talent, and it will be a pleasure to work with him to produce a triple AAA class table to showcase his intense wit.

I recommend everyone in Canada’s Poemtown purchase his recently published book, The Golden Handshake Club, available at the Book Nook in downtown Cobourg. This is better than Leacock’s Sunshine Sketches of a Small Town. Amsden’s book has rapid-fire wit as it tells the story of a showdown between the denizens of Sloburg and Port Promise, an intense funshine sketch of our neighbourhood.

Talk to you after I am hoisted up on the repair shop at Toronto General to change my oil, rotate my tires, lube me up and send me back to my wonderful Poemtown to assault mediocrity in all its forms.

My heart is a disaster waiting to happen. The diagram says it all. 100% blockage, 100% blockage, 85% blockage, 70% blockage, 50-70% blockage and 50% blockage. I have a consultation for Jan 23 with my cardiologist to schedule my open heart bypass surgery. So I wait and wonder, hearing my heartbeat in my ears every moment for the past two years after my eustachian tubes became permanently blocked. Is it comforting to hear one’s heartbeat for every moment of their life, yes, but it is boring.

So that is the news. The muse news is that this situation has interrupted the plans of POETCHRY. The target date of the grand unveiling for Friday, April 24 may not be met. I don’t know when the surgery will happen. If it happens after April 24, I will not be able to etch because my cardiologist advised me to keep my activities stress free. Damn. If the surgery happens before that date, I will be advised to take things easy for two or three weeks while healing. When I learn more things, I will be able to provide a more accurate assessment of when Picnic On Poetry will go fully forward.

I am well equipped to sit on my butt and keystroke to my heart’s content. This means I can receive poetry and prose and format it from text to laser text. Last years’ experience was novel in every regard, but with that I now possess the knowledge of how to format. This is the necessary prep work before the actual etching begins. So all the curators out there can continue to acquire poetry for the picnic tabletops and forward them to me.

All the tables this year have a maximum limit of ten poems each, and each poem not to be longer than 30 lines. In the first year POETCHRY accepted every poem received, which resulted in two tables of one theme to catch the overflow.

This is Spotlight 7

It was an especially inspiring event organized by Kate Hoodgendam with Shannon Linton and Saskia Tomkins. It was a magical collaboration of poetry, music, and the Great Lakes watershed. It was about my birth turf, and the birth turf of Katie, who was born and raised in Michigan on the shore of a great lake. The sustained metaphor was the Morel, a shroom with the configuration of a pale plant brain, that was carried through Kate’s journey.

Many of Katie’s references triggered my childhoodlum experiences, when four free-range small town boys, aged 13, walked the shoreline to Port Hope and hitched-hiked back. We were without adult supervision all afternoon, hours. Poof! I’m back in the art gallery, and Shannon’s voice enters my consciousmess like rich warm syrup and sweeps me away. Just to top it off, it was powerful. I like powerful things, poetry, art, music, voice.

Saskia’s handling of a violin produced sounds incredibly appropoetic to the images of morels and more, more species, plant and animal. It was mesmerizing. But not as mesmerizing as the closing performance dedicated to the naming of all the endangered species that inhabit the Great Lakes Basin.

Get a load of this: Kate does a bunch of diligent research to gather all the names of endangered species within the Great Lakes Basin. Then, she provides the names to several children to hand-write each name on one white card. In some instances, the child looked for an image of the named species and drew it onto the back of the card. These cards were distributed to the audience members. As Saskia and Shannon provided a soundscape that felt like warm steam rising off calm water, and Kate asked the audience members to speak out the name on a card, on our own individual impulse. And so it happened. There were no loud words, just softly spoken from each member. It was a gentle cacophony. I can still feel it reverberating in my sensibilities.

That was a well-performed work of conceptual art, well-applied, well presented. So Wow!

At the first instance of a question, I raised my hand. I was so over the top about that performance that upon behalf of POETCHRY, I invited her to collaborate on a picnic table top that will contain the names of every endangered species around the Great Lakes Basin. The names will be written by children in handwriting, scanned in, and formatted appropoetically onto a picnic table. The table top will remain raw, and Kate will paint the bench, legs and cross beams appropoetically to her vision.

The unveiling of this table will take place at the next WOW, Words On a Wire, a biannual Textravastanza of poetry performances this coming fall.

Kate, Shannon and Saskia, what a great gang of collabs.

2025 Annual Report to Cobourg Town Council

It’s been a year since POETCHRY embarked on the task of multiple World Firsts, 16 picnic tables. We have tables of women’s poems, nature poems, peace poems, student poems, abled poems from disabled poets, Town Crier poems, Ontario Superior Court Judge poems, poems of Susanna Moodie, Archibald Lampman, and the Bard himself. 135 poems from 89 poets and eight short stories from writers across Canada, the USA and abroad, blended with the regional and very local.

It began October 2024 in the Cobourg Ecology Garden. 29 poems were submitted, and five poems were selected by the Cobourg Ecology Gardeners. I asked the Gardeners if they had ever dealt with poetry in any manner since leaving high school. None had. Community engagement. The Susanna Moodie table now graces grounds of the Cobourg Museum. Community engagement. POETCHRY will be outreaching to various community groups to engage their involvement in curating a table themed on their interests.

This year’s Picnic On Poetry project ended like an exclamation point in David Pecaut Square, in the bull’s eye Centre of the Unit Verse of Toronto for WORD ON THE STREET, Canada’s largest literary festival. Going forward from here, Blue Denim Press, Cobourg’s only independent book publisher has placed dibs on a published book about the entire project for next year. There is a future and POETCHRY and poetry will be part of it. Links are being made, the notion of picnic tables with poetry will catch on in other municipalities. (They will find this project technologically difficult to duplicate)

Word On the Street was thrilled by the notion of poetry on a picnic tabletop in their food court for maximum textposure of a multifunctional anthology of poetry. Imagine all those vacant picnic tables in parks across the nation that are now available as a venue for the poetic arts. Imagine Picnic Poetry Publishing Inc. Manulasering Canada’s Poemtown, 1stanza@atime. Visit Cobourg, Read Our Tables.

So what does POETCHRY plan for 2026?

More of the same, only different, of course. Nature poems, peace poems, student poems, canon poems, and a bit of prose thrown in because it is a sibling of poetry. Diversity of voice. Diversity of genre. Diversity of imagination. Diversity without restriction or textclusion.

New for 2026

Pete Fisher will curate a ‘HIGHWAY OF HEROES: True Patriot Love’ table. What will that entail? At this moment, only the notion exists to do such a table, soooo, stay tuned. It will be good and profound and something for which Cobourg can be proud. (In a future tranche there will be a table of poetry dedicated to First Responders)

A WOW table will be an anthology of poetry curated by Felicity Sidnell-Reid. WOW (Words On a Wire) is the premiere poetic event of the Northumberland Festival of the Arts, held every two years. Felicity has volunteered her skills in various levels of organization of the Northumberland Festival of the Arts and the Spirit of the Hills, Writer’s Group, and nurtured young writers. This table will be unveiled at the WOW Textravastanza as part of the Northumberland Festival of the Arts in the fall of 2026.

Bänoo Zan has agreed to curate the world’s first multilingual, multicultural picnic table of Persian poetry in English and Farsi. Bänoo Zan is a self-exiled poet, librettist, translator, teacher, editor and poetry curator, with numerous published pieces and three books. She is the founder of Shab-e She’r (Poetry Night), Toronto’s most diverse poetry reading and open mic series (inception: 2012). She is the recipient of the 2025 Writers’ Union of Canada Freedom to Read Award.

A TED AMSDEN table of course. He is a Cobourg Poet Laureate Emeritus (2011-2018). Ted engaged the community in many off-the-page poetry projects and events. (Cobourg News Blog of December 13, 2018 enumerates these) Bloated with wit, & nimble of mind, he was a very active hoodlum ornament for Poetry In Cob(our)g Spaces, while I was its Creative Director. I have every textpectation that he is going to have some very difficult, creative demands for his picnic table display. Challenge accepted with textreme tenacity; his work is worth it.

A JESSICA OUTRAM table also. She is another Cobourg Poet Laureate Emeritus (2019-2022). Jessica presented the community not only with the voices of her people, but the learnings of nature. Her poetry shone with intelligence and empathy, and a table dedicated to her poetry will glow in any park setting.

PINK PRIDE PICNIC POETRY, The Pink Café has offered to host a picnic table of Pride Poetry on its patio adjacent to Victoria Hall. The unveiling will be June 1, the beginning of Pride Month. The picnic table will be painted pink except for the tabletop which will remain raw.

THERE WILL BE A WALLY TABLE, JUST YOU WAIT FOR IT!

A last note concerning the Cobourg/Toronto table. It was with the invaluable assistance of Kate Rogers, that we solicited specific Cobourg & Toronto poets to grace the table. The design for the centre Title Board included the QR codes for the offices of the Mayors of Cobourg and Toronto.

That picnic table now resides in Dufferin Grove Park, Toronto, near the Children’s Learning Centre. Skylar Hill-Jackson, who had been a reporter for the Cobourg Sentinel-Star in the late 60s, lives adjacent to the park and has volunteered to be its regular caregiver. There is a group assembled who are going to curate a table of poetry for Dufferin Grove Park for next April, 2026. They buy the boards, we etch them, ship them at their expense. Lasered in Cobourg, Canada’s Poemtown.

“Well, imagine that!”

That was my mother’s expression whenever a new gadget appeared in a tv commercial. So, I grew up amongst imaginary things. The Imagine Nation is tariff free, tax free. The Imagine Nation is larger than ten universes in a gnat’s eye. The Imagine Nation is textpansionary. The Imagine Nation is ungovernable. The Imagine Nation is the fury and fire I always wanted to play with.

Well, imagine this: a small town positioned on the stiff upper lip of a great lake becomes the locus of an organically original cultural manifestation; poetry on picnic tabletops. When I returned to Cobourg 15 years ago, I heard that Cobourg was a “Poetry Place”. That slogan has alliteration going for it, but it doesn’t rise above mediocrity. COBOURG: Canada’s Poemtown. That utilizes a homophone (hometown), but adds possessive ownership, whereas ‘place’ has all the warmth of a suburban strip mall. So . . .

Canada’s largest literary festival, Word On the Street, was waking up in the centre of the unit verse (David Pecaut Square) in the centre of the universe (Toronto) last September 28. The sun was dawning behind the backs of POETCHRY, as it transported a picnic table ladened with poetry down a super textpressway.

This was a profoundly personal experience for me, returning to the metropolis where I had lived and worked for 37 years. It really felt like a poemcoming as the freeway went from three lanes to four, to five, to six lanes, to collector lanes, gliding towards the curvaceous DVP where the tips of skyscrapers begin to appear. That turn onto the Gardiner Textpressway, with the sun boomeranging off pillars of glass was striking. The streets were quiet as Dave Glennie pulled up to the gates in front of The Royal Alex Theatre and unloaded a literary novelty, a picnic table with laser-etched poetry. Positioned in the food court, the table became quite a locus for conversation throughout the day

All around David Pecaut Square, stood the centre core skyscrapers. The location felt like a sheltered nest of Canada’s literary best, surrounded by shiny new skyscrapers. A shiny new picnic table seemed most appropoetic in this location. I want to give a shoutout for Kate Rogers, who was able to contact many of the Toronto poets for this project. Kate is a very effective organizer of poetry readings in Toronto, so her contact list is quite thorough. POETCHRY is textceedingly grateful for her curatorship of two picnic tables of nature poems: POETRY, NATURALLY.

The great anticipation of the day, was the visit of the Mayors; Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow and Cobourg Mayor, Lucas Cleveland.

In the meantime, the table was visited by some exceedingly talented poets. Kicking off the morning with Antony Di Nardo, who just happened to be in Toronto that weekend. What a coincidence. Surprise! Here he expresses his unbridled happiness that his poem, “Under A Poplar Tree” was etched into spruce for the wood wild world to see.

Here is a segment of Antony’s charming poem,

“There’s no hurry in a poplar’s urge

to fill the space and spread the word.

It’s meant to max out time,

the kind of time that’s meant to last,

heart-shaped leaves that cling

and speak in the slightest breeze.

The poplar’s soul is pure and green

and the chlorophyll’s enchanting.”

That was only the beginning of visitors to the table.

Jennifer Hosein was hanging at the Canadian League of Poets’ tent when she wandered over to check out her poem, “STREETS”. It’s a raw urban experience, so we will let the opening lines tell …

“The mean streets of the suburbs

when I was fifteen

were as ugly as sin to me

and I was as ugly

as the mythical monster

the brown-hued devil

that lived beneath the bridge.”

Jennifer Hosein is a Montreal-born writer, visual artist and educator of Trinidadian and South Asian ancestry residing in Toronto. Her debut collection of poetry, A Map of Rain Days, was longlisted for the 2021 Pat Lowther Memorial Award. This morning it was a pleasure to meet her and award her with a poeticized coaster for a glass of absinthe. It would be a wonderful idea if the League of Canadian Poets could curate an anthology of poems for their headquarters or for a Toronto park.

Bänoo Zan is another Toronto poet who showed up absolutely delighted to be published on the table as I was absolutely delighted that she was on the tabletop and showed up. Her poem, MOSHA’EREH, is a powerful poem, blending poetry with the despair of losing identity. It reads in part:

“I lost the line who gave me my name

and the one who gave me breath

I lost my words—my land

wrote myself in another script—

was lost in struggle

Writing abandons intent in translation

I am an unheard pronoun

on this tongue of infinite idioms”

I knew of her poetic work only from afar. I left Toronto in 2008. It was when she set up a poetry reading series that emphasized multiculturalism, that I took notice. That was 2012 when she started the series and it continues to this day. But what an opportunity. So I offered a curatorship of a table for the 2026 spring launch of Picnic On Poetry, and she took the offer. She will curate Cobourg’s first multicultural/multilingual table with poetry in both English and in Farsi.

In the middle of negotiations, another poet shows up to marvel at the table top, cuz BLUE PYRAMIDS. It takes up two boards. It’s a hefty poem, worth its weight in words composed by Robert Priest. I love this man’s poetry. It is exceedingly accessible and deliverable. Robert has a wonderful performative quality poetically and musically, and does he ever know how to extend metaphors. Matter of fact, he should be a feature of Words On a Wire, hint hint, nudge nudge.

“We should build pyramids on Yonge Street

Cut blocks out of blue mountains in Collingwood

by traditional methods

and have them dragged here on logs by the unemployed.

Pay them well. Pay them $22.50 an hour.

This would get them back to work at a wage they could buy houses with.

Build pyramids and then build houses.

From all over the world they would come to see these pyramids.

What a tourist attraction! Blue pyramids in Toronto!

and look -- people with houses!”

Robert Priest’s poetry is often mischievous, lets us see moments in life with crystal clarity, like a child uncorrupted of consensus reality. Of course, it is no wonder that he is the author of many children’s books, as well as a long list of poetry collections. It should be noted that of 29 poems presented to the Cobourg Ecology Gardeners, they chose five to grace the table. Two of those five were composed by Robert Priest. It was a pleasure to have had his presence during the unveiling of the first picnic table in this unique municipal project, Picnic On Poetry. The Robert Priesthood also has a couple of poems on the PEACE ETC picnic table unveiled last April. Perhaps Cobourg should have a table dedicated to Robert Priest’s poems, and we can present him with a blue cake in the shape of a pyramid.

Of course there were politicians mingling with the poeticians. Toronto Mayor, Olivia Chow, arrived early to check out the Cobourg/Toronto table. She was quite touchie feelie with her fingertips sliding over a line of poetry here and there. Poetry has tactility that fingertips can read. She was impressed with the QR code that worked and took poeticians directly to the Office of the Mayor of Toronto.

I shared a memory with her. She represented my turf on City Council. I lived near Bathurst/Queen in Alexandra Park Housing Co-op. Across the street was a vacant parking lot that one day hosted a 4X4 truck. It became a drunk den and drug den with lots of violence. I got a petition of couple hundred signatures and presented her with the request to have the truck removed. Two weeks later it was towed away. She got the job done and the neighbourhood voted for her again. Politicians don’t often get credit. In this instance, She earned it. Good for her.

Okay, okay, what about the Cobourg Mayor? He showed up mid-afternoon and delivered a statement to the assembled word warriors, poets, authors, etc. There’s some gush in the statement, and I like gush. Makes me giddy. Yes, Giddy Gush, that should be the name of a cocktail. This is a generous section of Cobourg Mayor, Lucas Cleveland’s statement to Word On the Street.

“Cobourg has long been known as the “Feel Good Town,” a title that reflects more than just its scenic waterfront and charming downtown—it speaks to the spirit of the community itself.

“At the heart of that uplifting atmosphere is a thriving arts scene, shaped and sustained by the passion of local artists. From painters and musicians to writers and performers, Cobourg’s creative minds have helped cultivate a cultural landscape that inspires connection, expression, and joy. Their contributions bring colour to the town’s identity, making Cobourg not just a place to live, but a place to truly feel good.

“And today I am exceptionally proud of our very talented local artist, writer and poet, Wally Keeler. Within the last year, Wally has been working tirelessly, putting his heart and soul into the “Picnic on Poetry” project. A project which brings art and literature into everyday public spaces, inspiring curiosity, creativity, and a meaningful appreciation for local culture and language.

“The Town of Cobourg is incredibly proud to display these 16 “Poetchry” picnic tables all across our Town, showcasing the beauty of literature, and the dedication to craftsmanship.

“More recently, Wally featured poems from members of the disabled community, thoughtfully etched onto the surface of an accessibility table—an inclusive and functional piece of public art that now resides in the Cobourg Ecology Garden. This initiative not only provides a space for rest and reflection but also elevates voices that are too often unheard, integrating them into the natural and cultural fabric of the town. The table serves as a permanent testament to the power of art to foster inclusion, dialogue, and community healing in a shared, accessible space.

“In closing, I’d like to acknowledge the incredible efforts of everyone who contributed to the Cobourg/Toronto picnic table—a true symbol of community, creativity, and collaboration. A special thank you goes to Wally Keeler and Kate Rogers for their vision and dedication in curating such a meaningful and beautiful piece of public art.”

Yes indeed, a special thank you to all the poeticipants.

Jessica Outram, Cobourg Poet Laureate Emeritus, 2019-2022, composed a poem entitled, The Poetry of Our Town. A poem that lyrically enumerates the touchstones of Cobourg, ending with these lines;

“generations of performers

embraced by a vision of arts

this experience of Cobourg

the landscape is the poetry

seasons of our town, a story

blooming on the shores

of Lake Ontario.”

Lillian Allen, Toronto Poet Laureate, 2024 - , composed a poem entitled, On Losing the Eaton Centre / On Losing Our Bearings. This is a fun poem with profound implications;

“I am not lost

I am right here, where I am.

It’s the darn Eaton Center that is lost.”

And then again, where it has always been

What can we possibly lose in our beautiful City

between here and there

between the people and their desires

between their pocketbooks and expectations”

A.F. Moritz, Toronto Poet Laureate Emeritus, 2019 – 2024, composed a poem entitled, The Wren. It’s a small poem but it packs a punch,

“From deep inside,

the smallest wren hops near, just to its edge,

and jerks and flutters, peering out, being glimpsed,

withdrawing again—into the thick of the doll forest

to be guessed there, its existence, the sighting of it

doubted, a legend of memories and hints”

Jim Johnstone was a young and rising poet when I first fell in love with his exceedingly visceral poetry. I recall reviewing one of his first books, revealing a wrist fetish, among other things. He composed a chilling poem entitled 20/20;

“the new vampires walk the streets

in broad daylight, offend

by not offending, wound

with words as if words

can change the world. The world

has changed, though it’s been

a slow drip, each bloody

mouthful a sentence fragment.

Each bloody mouthful

a renunciation of the old ways,

the full-bodied marbling

that’s inevitable in all made flesh.”

Marie-Lynn Hammond, with a voice as smoothly warm as heaven, graced this table with a poem entitled, A Canada Goose Pens a Sonnet. The Cobourg Ecology Gardeners selected this poem as one of five from a pool of twenty-nine to grace their picnic table. This table was the very first in the world with laser-etched poetry unveiled last October 2024. Back to the lament of the Canada Goose;

“Nothing is how it used to be:
old patterns shifting by degree.
As ancient wetlands disappear,
The lake, we hope, will persevere.

And so we rest, and watch, and wait,
like Earth, uncertain of our fate.”

Kim Aubrey, a resident of both Cobourg and Toronto, composed a deeply thoughtful poem, White Walking. The poem opens;

“Dionne Brand writes about waiting in line

while white people consistently cross in front

of her and a friend, as if possessing right

of way through black women’s energy fields”

Kate Hoogendam, lives so far north of the 401 that there is no off ramp to her community, but that hasn’t prevented her from composing some of the best organic authentic poetry of the personal made universal. The poem, dedicated to her son, is entitled The Hole;

“My son, nine years old

last summer dug a hole.

Sheer winsomeness, no purpose

he maneuvered the shovel

with the grace of a Zen master.

No agenda.”

Kate Rogers, another Cobourg/Toronto resident, composed Peregrine, a visceral poem, think dentist, talons, gums pierced, numb;

“The bird revolves,

slow, scanning the park

for the plump startle of a pigeon.

I imagine its hooked hunger,

talons piercing warm flesh.

A man in a green tent

unzips his silver flap, waves.

Look up! I say. He scans the sky

and grins, gap-toothed”

Kate Marshall-Flaherty, Toronto, composed, Lead, an exquisitely tender poem about being leashed and longing to be unleased but perhaps not, perhaps a bit;

“This dog is not stingy on joy, nor

reluctant to share all that she is with any passerby—like me.

I want to be more dog-like, in the moment

like this pup, eager to see every scented being,

eager to sniff out connection. I want to follow

her lead, fully alive in each lick of air—

as if the leash is not even there.”

So there you have it. Well not yet. Following the speech, Mayor Lucas became a vlogger live streeeeemer. Cell phone camera zooming from face to table top and back, and the mayor delivering his spiel at the speed of a teenage girl. Check it out; it’s on the Mayor’s Facebook site.

It was a good day, a very good day.

The Cobourg/Toronto picnic table was retired to Dufferin Grove Park in Toronto. It was installed there in the early Sunday evening hours of September 28. It is located at the entrance of the Children’s Learning Centre portion of the park. Park staff have chained the table to this location for all the neighbourhood families to enjoy and where the Toronto poets who had participated in this project can bring their friends, fans and family.

Skylar Hill-Jackson, former Cobourg resident and reporter for the Cobourg Sentinel-Star in the late 60s lives adjacent to the park and has agreed to be the table’s care giver. She recently reported that friends and acquaintances of Dufferin Grove Park will curate a picnic table of poetry for spring 2026. Here the table sits in floral glory.

All of this in accordance with the ++Prime Policy of Perpetual Poetry Proliferation of the glorious Imagine Nation of the Peoples Republic of Poetry.

P O E T R Y I S P O E T E N C Y

Before I let you go, below is my poem, COBOURG FEELS GOOD . . . composed just for this table.

This image of the tabletop laid out on the workshop floor before heading to Cobourg’s picnic table assembly centre.

Well, it’s done, the accessibility table, the world’s first accessibility picnic tabletop containing the well-abled poetry of disabled poets from USA, Scotland and Canada. It was a task in every sense of the word – it took two takes. Currently, the table is nestled in its new home, the accessibility section of the Cobourg Ecology Garden.

Carol Anne Judd was the curator for this table; she is more than a disability, but an exquisite vocalist, poet, multi-faith minister, nurse, all informed with a fine sensibility for the creative arts. Her reach for poetry was local, national, and international; all appropoetically brought together on one table, eloquence, articulation of voices seldom heard.

The table was unveiled September 3 on a warm sunny afternoon as part of the People’s Republic of Poetry’s project, Picnic On Poetry. Poetic tapestries were laid out on several tables with a wonderful picnic spread designed by The Market & Smør. Organic air conditioning provided by a natural blend of breeze skipping off the surface of a great lake.

(Our Poemtown has an unique downtown consisting of a typical old retail area dominated by the majestic Victoria Hall, a spacious recreational safe harbour for training kids about watercraft, a premier Victoria Park and sandy beach for tourists. Also downtown is a meadow, A Meadow! It is appropoetic that the Cobourg Ecology Garden acts as both concierge and sentry.)

Now let’s introduce the poets and their poems that have been etched into this tabletop. Here’s the opening lines of a splendid poem, AUDIENCE by Sandra Alland currently residing in Glascow, Scotland and who has visited Cobourg on multiple occasions of artistic events.

There is music that echoes from poetry scorched into wood and from wood formed into a cello. Emily K. Michael adorns the table with her poem, CELLO, which reaches into the soul of sheltering trees;

Emily is a blind poet, musician, and writing teacher living in Jacksonville, Florida. She is the poetry editor for Wordgathering: A Journal of Disability Poetry and Literature at Syracuse University.

Her insightful words, “I borrow Milton’s words and ‘consider how my light is spent.’ I reflect on my abilities, perception, and experience – and find ways to direct that light outward, to nurture a spirit of genuineness, imagination, and empathy. I write about my disability because I value that experience. As a writer, I draw from my life because it is mine. I write about disability because there aren’t enough voices talking about disability in a way that encourages people to acknowledge our equal share in humanity. My experience is valuable because it is a different perspective among people who are equally different.”

Emily wrote the poem, BACKYARD BY EAR, detailing the rich and ululating audioscape of a backyard. A deficiency in one sense (sight) is often accompanied with a heightened other sense (hearing). Any back yard is a cacophonous symphony as poetically captured by Emily. Just close your eyelids and listen and listen and listen, just listen as long as you can without opening your eyes.

Sean J Mahoney introduces himself; “I have had work published at Poets Reading the News, The Good Men Project, Nine Mile Literary Magazine, and Wordgathering among others. I write when I need to. I write when…anything. I live in Santa Ana, California with Dianne, her mother, 3 dogs, and 4 renters. There is a large garden and two trees with big bitter oranges that look more lemon-like. I run the Disability Literature Consortium booth at the annual AWP bookfair.”

Sean’s poem, ONE CANNOT SEPARATE CULTURE FROM HISTORY, engages the notion that disability is not restricted to individuals, but includes government, society, culture.

The Last Poets reciting poetry to beats

And the question for you and I my love

In our ruins of shame: do you dig us?

Of course, the question is, do you notice us? As the 21^st century unfolds, the voices are beginning to be heard. Sean doesn’t offer comfort, but brutal insight. He continues with another poem, THE VENUS OF WILLENDORF;

Carol Anne Judd provided one of my favourite poems of hers. It illustrates a simple dilemma for a wheelchaired person facing the bookshelves of poetry in the World’s Biggest Bookstore. Her poem,

WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBILITY POETRY, opens…

Carol Anne Judd blind-sided me with this project. And this, after I had already announced her curatorship of the world’s first Accessibility Poetry Table. Surprisingly unexpected, she asked for a poem from me. She has known me for years, and recently I need a mobility scooter. My Lamborghini legs have become jalopies. So I had to face my predicament. The poem is called DISSING ABILITY

Ability: run, jump, leap, FREEDOM

Ability: skate, tumble, sing, FREEDOM

Ability: hear birds, smell lilacs, FREEDOM

Ability: escape custody, dive, FREEDOM

Ability: somersault, see beauty, FREEDOM

Ability: give voice, climb trees, FREEDOM

Ability: climb cliffs, run rapids, FREEDOM

Ability: trampoline, pirouette, FREEDOM

D I S < = = = = = =

DISadlliyt: trampoline, pirouette, feedom

DISbialtiy: climb cliffs, run rapids, feedom$

DISabliity: give voice, climb trees, feedom$

DISabiltiy: somersault, see beauty, feedo$$

DISability: escape custody, dive, feedo$$

DISadility: hear birds, smell lilacs, feed$$$

DISability: skate, tumble, sing, feed$$$

DISadility: run, jump, leap, FEE$$$$

A big thank you to all the poets engaged in this project and for providing voices and insights seldom heard or known. Welcome to Cobourg: Canada’s Poemtown.

POETRY RAISES THE STANZA OF LIVING

it had better not come at all"

John Keats

When I began to take an interest in poetry, I immersed myself in the canon poets, the Romantics, Keats, Shelley, Byron, My favs. I was fresh from a stint in northern Ontario, north of Sault Ste Marie, my first glimpse of a real forest. All my young life I lived and played south of the 401. So a real forest had quite an impact while at the same time that poetry made an impact on me.

I say this to introduce Kate Roger’s outstanding curatorship of POETRY, NATURALLY, casting a call for poems, and they came in abundance, from a wide assortment of poets, some as far afield as Nova Scotia and British Columbia. So much poetry from so many poets, 31 of them, demanded two picnic tables to accommodate the poems.

As the first curator of the world’s first picnic table of nature poems, Kate named this ongoing series, POETRY, NATURALLY. This series enriches our Poemtown, already renown for its boardwalk along it’s natural beach park, for its reconciliation of an industrial harbour to one of natural recreation. Our Poemtown has a tree canopy like few other towns in Canada.

Our Poemtown is grateful for the presence of Kate Rogers, an empresario of poetry readings in the Centre of the Unit Verse, Toronto. She is a natural, with abundant enthusiasm.

The following poets contributed a poem to POETRY, NATURALLY. Click on the links to find out the accomplishments of each individual poet, and they are considerable. They all represent the best of diversity of mind and tongue.

Kim Goldberg, Nanaimo, BC

Susan Wismer, Collingwood, ON

Lisa Reynolds, Durham Region, ON

Vera Constantineau, Greater Sudbury, ON

Irina Moga, Toronto, ON

Emily De Angelis, Woodstock / Manitoulin Island, ON

John Drudge, Caledon, ON

Marc Nair, Toronto, ON

Blaine Marchand, Ottawa, ON

Josephine LoRe, Calgary, Alberta

Yvan N. Dalcourt, Sudbury, ON

Jean Eng, Toronto, ON

Jim Libiran, Scarborough, ON

Linda H.Y. Hegland, Clarence, NS

Laura Foreshew, Sudbury, ON

Chantel LaVoie, Kingston, ON

Kirsteen MacLeod, Kingston, ON

Donna Langevin, Toronto, ON

John Oughton, Toronto, ON

Karen Lesli, Salmon Arm, BC

Chad Norman, Truro, NS

J.C. Sulzenko, Wellington, ON

Richard Yves-Sitoski, Owen Sound, ON

Elisha Alladina, Toronto, ON

Marie-Lynn Hammond, Cobourg, ON

Kate Rogers, Cobourg, ON

Antony Di Nardo, Cobourg, ON

Catherine Richards, Cobourg, ON

Anne-Marie Jackson, Cobourg, ON

Wally Keeler, Cobourg, ON

Linda Hutsell-Manning, Cobourg, ON

So, I asked GROK: “Who is Mandy Robinson, Cobourg?”

What a wonderful read, well detailed, and very current. Almost like an intelligence briefing. Mandy Robinson was appointed Cobourg’s first female Town Crier in 2015 and she remains in her role, a voice of inspiration for freedom and community. In the full flourish of her gown, she is a rose on the lapel of the community as well as an active relic of British culture providing continuity to the community.

Back in 2019, I asked her if she would portray Susanna Moodie and recite a Susanna Moodie poem for Words On a Wire, the poetry extravastanza of the Northumberland Festival of the Arts. We went to the Northumberland Players costume centre for a proper costume to transform her into Susanna Moodie, a proper British subject subjected to the indignities of Roughing It In the Bush.

Her performance was spot on. She brought with her a small bouquet of wild flowers in a common glass jar. That was just the touch of modesty and humility that highlighted her performance of Susanna Moodie. Once again, I was pleased to bring Susanna Moodie to attend the unveiling of the picnic table of Susanna Moodie poems curated by Cobourg Collegiate Institute students. But better yet, we unveiled a table of Mandy Robinson’s Catalyst Poetry.

It is one thing to read her poetry on a picnic tabletop, but quite another to listen to her delivery, either in person or on-line. Uplifting, dramatic, individualistic, motivating, civic minded, are a few tags I would apply to her. Tenacity. Her vocal performance carries many of her poems. Now there is a tabletop of her Catalyst Poems gracing Our Poemtown’s Victoria Park. For example:

FIRE

Fire purges

Defines the rough cut diamond inside

Fire cleanses

and replenishes new growth.

Fire destroys,

The old to make way for the new.

We are tried by the fires

That we must walk through.

Fire also ignites from within,

We ARE the driver of our lives!

How we choose to stay the course and drive through our fires,

Determines our strength and growth!

Retired Superior Court of Ontario Judge, former Cobourg Town Councilor, James Clarke, born 1932, travelled from Guelph to see his poetry etched onto a picnic table top. Cobourg Mayor, Lucas Cleveland, showed up, along with the current Town Councilors. A judge, a municipal councilor, and a poet as well? Yes, it’s unlikely, but lo and behold …

My first encounter with James Clarke was after my first book of poetry, Walking On the Greenhouse Roof, was published in 1969. Mr. Clarke, thought it would be a good idea to arrange a poetry reading for me at the Art Gallery of Cobourg, on the second floor of the Cobourg library on Chapel Street. The evening came, I showed up with a friend, and that was it – one audience member. This was my first poetry reading – what an impressive start to my poetic career. Mr. Clarke forgot to publicize my event. I failed to do the same.

We became friends in poetry. The years passed, many of them, then came the moments when Mr Clarke was on a publishing roll, book after book of poetry. His poetry is easily accessible, often with a heavy dose of judicial irony and conundrum. The poetic subversive element remained alive in his spirit. Abbie Hoffman was a dissident spirit in the USA during the late 60s who authored a book with the title, Steal This Book. So many people did just that. Not to be outdone with the audacity game, James Clarke published a book entitled, “How to Bribe a Judge” written by a judge no less.

Judge Clarke’s poetry often refers to his role as a judge, the perplexities, the ironies and all too often, justice that seems insufficient. His poetry is rich with insight into the human condition, and the application of mercy. One example:

CHECKMATE HOUR

For years the judge

scrawled his signature across

page after page of

grief & guile. Now,

as an old man

cold and shuddery, he wonders

if the apple

on his bedroom windowsill,

yellow & wrinkled,

still dreams of orchards,

a lost sun.

So, it was a no brainer to invite Judge Clarke to contribute to the first tranche of the world’s first picnic table anthologies. A few days later, he showed up at my door, bearing a bag o books, all of them containing his poetry. I asked for five or seven poems, he gave me his published library and said, “You chose.”

My brain cells exploded at this blindside. It was so unexpected. It was also an honour to be trusted to curate his table. I did several deep dives into his poetry books – hundreds of poems, hours go by, immersion into insight to select only the best of the best. Dog-earing the pages of good poems. So many.

And there was tragedy; his wife of many years lay on her back and floated over Niagara Falls, just like that. I was 14 when my father did himself in with his own hand, so I was more than receptive to the anguish, the guilts, the emotive vortex that sweeps a soul away in grief. Read Judge Clarke’s poems, and absorb the redemptive power of his poetry, clearly articulated, concise, and to the heart of human justice.

Just to give you an idea of this wonderful task of selecting his poems, here’s the list of publications by this prolific poet:

The Quality of Mercy (JHC Press, 2016)
Winter with Flowers (JHC Press, 2016)
Marginal Notes (Legal Studies Forum UWV, 2016)
Fugitive Light (Legal Studies Forum UWV, 2015)
Old Wine/New Skins (Legal Studies Forum UWV, 2015)
Reluctant Witness (Legal Studies Forum UWV, 2015)
The Juried Heart (Pleasure Boat Studio, 2015)
Designated Dreamer (Legal Studies Forum UWV, 2014)
All the Broken Pieces (Legal Studies Forum UWV, 2013)
The Kid From Simcoe Street (Exile Editions, 2012)
The Juried Heart (Legal Studies Forum UWV, 2012)
Dreamworks: New and Selected Poems (Exile Editions, 2008)
A Mourner's Kaddish (Novalis, 2006)
Forced Passage (Exile Editions, 2005)
How to Bribe a Judge (Exile Editions, 2002)
Flying Home Through the Dark (Exile Editions, 2001)
The Way Everyone Is Inside (Exile Editions, 2000)
The Ancient Pedigree of Plums (Exile Editions, 1999)
The Raggedy Parade (Exile Editions, 1998)
Silver Mercies (Exile Editions, 1997)
L'Arche Journal (Griffin House, 1973)

The JAMES CLARKE poetry table was the first of the Living Canadian Poet series. This series will be curated by Wally Keeler and will be unveiled during National Poetry Month year by year.

To date, POETCHRY has produced 14 picnic tables with poetry etched into their tabletops. That’s as many lines as in a sonnet. There are tables of nature poems, women’s poems, peace poems, Town Crier poems, short stories from Blue Denim Press, and from Spirit of the Hills Writer’s Group, from retired Ontario Superior Court Judge, James Clarke, from canon poets, Archibald Lampman and Susanna Moodie. The Bard Table of 14 Shakespearean sonnets.

The Susanna Moodie picnic table curated by Cobourg Collegiate Institute students now resides on the grounds of the Cobourg Museum. Tables are distributed throughout Victoria Park, Rotary Harbourfront Park and the Cobourg Ecology Garden. One more table was added to the mix on Canada Day.

The Cobourg Collegiate Institute Student Anthology was unveiled in front of thousands of poetriots and the Poetburo of our Poemtown community. The “I Put the Lit in Literature” tapestry was lifted high to unveil the new picnic table. Minutes after the ceremony, it was swarmed by curious citizens. York Bell-Smith, emceed the ceremony, exhorting the people to search out the tables throughout the waterfront.

Unveiling at 4:44 mark. Video by Pete Fisher.

POETRIOTISM ON PARADE

It wouldn’t be Canada Day without a parade; likewise, it wouldn’t be a full and complete parade without a Poetry Float. So, in the middle of the parade, a shiny red pickup truck appeared with a picnic table of poetry mounted on the back at a tilt so people could see the tabletop with the etchings.

Units of Verse of the Universe, Carol-Ann ‘Rainbow’ Caswell and Caroline Towler display the message

Thousands of Poemtown citizens, the Poetariet, cheered on the picnic table of poetry as it passed though the main street of Our Poemtown. Two students carried the banner reading, PICNIC ON POETRY, and a mini-bicyclist ran circles around the truck with a bright sign reading POETRY IS POETENCY as it went down the main street. Of course, there was the placard, POETRY RAISES THE STANZA OF LIVING, which is etched on the edge of the tabletop.

Unit of Verse of the Universe, Gage Towler, runs textciting circles around the truck bearing the motto of the glorious Imagine Nation of the Peoples Republic of Poetry

Poetriots On Parade, 2012 was the first time that the Creative Intelligence Agency of the glorious imagine nation of the Peoples Republic of Poetry put Cobourg’s Poet Laureate, Ted Amsden, in the parade in a Porche convertible. https://cobourgtown.blogspot.com/2012/06/poetriots-on-parade.html.

Heather Glennie poses by the shiny red truck before the parade begins.

Dave Glennie, arborist & half of POETCHRY waves to the crowds

Poetry as show business. Why not? Poetry is a brand, just like milk. There are many sub-brands of milk, but collectively they brand and promote milk. Likewise, poetry should be a brand embedded into the social fabric of a community via picnic tables, park benches, sidewalks or other public domain venues. Wherever there is a surface is a poetential venue. Create the unexpected. Who ever expected to discover poetry etched into a picnic tabletop? It’s serendipity in a public park.

This is not a table of poetry, but a table of prose, short stories, four of them. This table is included in the mix for the PICNIC ON POETRY project, based on the premise that prose is the sibling of poetry. In bookstores and libraries prose dominates, but not in Our Poemtown parks. POETCHRY will dedicate one table annually to prose.

TABLE TALES was curated by Shane Joseph, editor and publisher of Blue Denim Press, Cobourg’s only independent book publisher. They are “a trade publisher committed to publishing quality literary prose. We focus on novels, short stories and selective non-fiction.”

Shane made the call to his textpansive network of authors, and POETCHRY received four short stories composed by four accomplished authors:

PAM ROYL, wrote God Sky, the story of a mother stricken with cancer, of a mother of an autistic child. The mother is tormented with real life decisions, but a God Sky opens, and the answer appears on a bench by the Yacht Club.

SUSAN STATHAM, wrote House Proud, with a blockbuster beginning, “Hetty would have a full house today. She looked so happy. Did it matter that she was dead?” This is a well spun yarn about a ghost in the historic Barnum House Museum. It has many ghost visitors.

LIZ TORLEE, wrote Orion Winked; the opening line: “I heard from Danny tonight, one year after he died.” Another ghost story? Nope. A love lament for Danny, a disarmingly authentic short story about how a passed loved one reaches out to the loving living. Tenderness.

JANET TRULL Wind Chimes doesn’t start off with a death sentence, but a living sentence, however the story revolves around a dead father, and the ‘daddy issues’ that ensued. This a heartfelt story of familial love and personal relationships. The word ‘death’ does show up in the last line of the story.

TABLE TALES is the world’s first picnic table of published short stories. Skinny narratives, long tall tales 4.75 inches wide and 45 inches long. It’s difficult to spin a yarn in that space, but it has been done and will be done again, more efficiently, and definitely with longevity in mind.

Shane Joseph is no stranger to world firsts. This year he held the world’s first prose contest to be judged by artificial intelligence. Criteria were established, the prose poured in, and viola, we have a winner. Creativity prevails. Shane’s most recent novel is in keeping with his textceedingly alert mind, Victoria Unveiled. It’s quite the cyber romp presenting the dilemma of confronting our creations and coming out human.

They provided enough content to fill two picnic tables, one of poetry, the other of short stories. This is not amazing amongst this group of word warriors of all genres. They are prolific in all that they do for arts and culture, and they do a lot.

The Spirit of the Hills Arts Association is “composed of more than 140 artists, artisans, performing artists, photographers, writers, and patrons, … embraces all art forms and traditions including the performing and visual arts, media, design, and literature. Our goal is to build and sustain the Arts and Artists in Northumberland County.”

The Writers Group is quite a chunk of the Arts Association, 78 members currently. It has by an energetic crew of independent, creative women, Felicity Sidnell Reid, Gwen Scheltema, Susan Stathem, Cynthia Reyes, Jennifer Bogart, and Kim Aubrey. They set their sights on Northumberland, a place of gentle hills and as many spirits and created a bi-yearly anthology of poetry, short stories, non-fiction

They organize the bi-yearly Northumberland Festival of the Arts, which showcases, WORDS ON A WIRE, a poetry performance textravastanza, bringing in the Parliamentary Poet Laureate, the Ontario Poet Laureate and other award-winning poets.

The participants of the Writers Group are all accomplished authors in various genres, history, memoir, novel, short stories, biography, and poetry. I was immediately attracted to this group of people. They were fierce individuals, independent and all with nimble minds.

That same spirit led them to poeticipate in the very first picnic table in the world to display poetry. And, to participate in the world’s first Poetry On Parade (POP), in which a picnic table was a float in a parade. They are adventurous souls, and POETCHRY is proud to have them produce content for an annual picnic table of poetry and prose for the PICNIC ON POETRY Project.

A picnic table bearing four short stories has recently been released into the public domain of Victoria Park in time for the Canada Day Crowds. The authors of the stories are Antony Di Nardo, Reva Nelson, Karen Walker and Sharon Stevens.

The past few years have seen a rapid rise in warspeak amongst political leaders, the rhetoric of belligerence and aggression, and the overwhelming ghosting of dissident voices. Peacespeak is the antidote to warspeak. The Ministries of Truth Tell Tales, tall and small. Doublethink doublecross. Newspeak is Nospeak at all. So here we are, a quarter century into the 21^st Century, and the drums and chants of war rumble and mumble over the horizon of our ever-alert imagine nations.

PEACE ETC is the First-in-the-World picnic table with peace poetry laser-etched onto the tabletop. PEACE ETC will be an annual table curated by Wally Keeler. The call for submission of peace poems requests that they not be political, but poetical. This call will eventually to textpand other imagine nations, poets of other languages.

PEACE ETC has made its first appearance in Our Poemtown’s premier Victoria Park, ready to be read by thousands that swarm Victoria Park on Canada Day, every summer day after day. 24/7.

Next year this table will be replaced with a new PEACE ETC picnic table, and the first one will be retired to Our Poemtown’s Peace Park, where they will accumulate until there is peace, rapprochement, detente, binding treaties, that kind of stuff otherwise known in the glorious imagine nation of the Peoples Republic of Poetry, as dipoemacy. It is implemented by the Poetburo in the interests of the Poetariet.

Peace Park is located looking over Cobourg Creek as it lyrically winds into a great lake, the scene is serene, where peace prevails. Bunches of birds use its still waters for shelter and breeding. Peace Park was so-named back in the mid-80s, after a group of Cobourg peace activists had lobbied Town Council. PICNIC ON POETRY will request that all PEACE ETC picnic tables be retired in the serenity of Peace Park, a park that had no voice other than its name, will soon have many voices of poetic peacespeak.

PICNIC ON POETRY is honoured with a great line-up of contributing poets for the First-of-its-Kind-in-the-World picnic table with peace poems laser-etched into the tabletop. It is also a great line-up of poetry, tabletop poetry, foods for thoughts. Check out the brief textcerpts below:

ROBERT PRIEST,

“Go, gather up the love

I know now what we must do

It is in your eyes and my eyes

Go, and gather it up, look by look

gaze by gaze”

ANTONY DI NARDO

“Peace when you’re home

And the only beating is that of your heart”

PATRICK CONNORS

“whatever side of whatever fence you

are on, whether we agree or disagree

or agree to disagree, we all must find

the way to peace.”

MIA BURRUS

“beneath the poppies row on row the buried

soldiers do not dream of torches passed

someone’s homeland up in flames no, they rest

within the dreams in which they fell forever”

MARIE-LYNN HAMMOND

“not war brides but peace brides

not war babies but peace babies

not going to war

but

going to

peace”

Ben Nuttall-Smith

“what a world this world would be

where i'd need you and you'd need me

and everyone we met would smile

and call us "friend",

if we hurry, we'll just make it,

change the world before they break it”

PENN KEMP

“Calm came clear

of cloud

early one morning

before things started”

In the fall of 2024, just after the first picnic table of the Picnic On Poetry project was unveiled in the Cobourg Ecology Garden, POETCHRY approached Rebecca Frise, the Lead Teacher of English and English as a Second Language at Cobourg Collegiate Institute. She gathered a group of students with a love of poetry to meet with POETCHRY.

POETCHRY tasked the students with providing content for four picnic tables. They delivered.

THE BARD TABLE, students selected 14 Shakespearean sonnets to be etched onto a single tabletop. Shakespeare is the Poetriarch of an Elizabethan Rhyme Family, the pinnacle of English poetry, don’t ya know. He The Man. BARD TO THE POEM! It seemed fitting to kick off such a project in which poetry is central with an homage to The Bard. 14 sonnets were chosen with a salute to the number of lines in every Shakespearean sonnet. (The number 14 will show up often as events unfold over the years ahead)

SUSANNA MOODIE, students were tasked with selecting five of her poems that they felt represented her work and composing a 100-word biography of the poet. Susanna Moodie arrived on Our Poemtown’s dock in 1832. Her book, Roughing It In the Bush, inspired one of Canada’s greatest poets, Margaret Atwood. This table currently resides at the Cobourg Museum grounds for all to see and read.

Cobourg’s Town Crier, Mandy Robinson, dressed as Susanna Moodie, for the formal unveiling of the table in Victoria Park in celebration of National Poetry Month, April, 2025. She spoke of Moodie’s trials and tribulations, personally and poetically. Susanna Moodie is now one of Canada’s canon poets, and her brief residency in Our Poemtown deserves to be the first of many poets of the Canadian Canon to grace Our Poemtown’s parks.

ARCHIBALD LAMPMAN, students were tasked with selecting five of his poems that they felt represented his work and composing a 100-word biography of the poet. Archibald Lampman briefly resided in Our Poemtown, attending Cobourg Collegiate. Lampman went on become one the leading poets, known as the Confederation Poets. Again, another Canadian canon poet with an Our Poemtown connection, worthy of homage in the first tranche of Picnic On Poetry. The above three tables were curated by Cobourg Collegiate Institute students: Cadence Brak, Sofia Cooksey, Gigi Lees, Leanna Michaud, Afiat Taiyeba, and Kripa Thomas.

COBOURG COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE, STUDENT ANTHOLOGY beckons back to the mid-1960s, when Wally Keeler organized an annual chapbook, Refraction, of student poetry involving students of both CDCI-West & East. The publication continued for five years. Some of the student poets in that chapbook went on to accomplishments and awards of assorted kinds. Poetry raises the stanza of living.

Our Poemtown’s Picnic On Poetry project provides students with their first opportunity to publish their poetry for the viewing public. Cobourg District Collegiate students were tasked with composing their own poetry and curating a table of those poems. Those students under 18 are required to obtain their guardian’s waiver before publishing. The poems on this table were composed by the following students: S.M., Anonymous, T. Hawley, Emersen B., Leanna Michaud, K. T., Adeanna Noel-Campbell and A. L.

(Many students have a mother tongue, not English, spoken at home. It is certainly worth exploring a picnic table of multilingual poetry. POETCHRY will raise this opportunity to the students in whatever manner they might conceive.)

GOING FORWARD

POETCHRY will be approaching St Mary’s Secondary School in the fall of 2025 to request their poeticipation in the Picnic On Poetry project, selecting a Canadian Canon Poet and their own student anthology. Stay tuned, tba.

THE CANADIAN CANON

The project of having students choose the Canon poet and their own anthology provides the opportunity to experience eloquence, articulation, the economy of words, endless permutations of language, all to Make Meaning. And then to find it on picnic tabletops, easy to reach, a short walk from home, birds chatter, a light breeze to tease, a cup of tea and poetry.

This is how poetry becomes approachable, woven into everyday life, not a loud nor garish commercial presentation, but serenely comfortable with the organic setting of a public park. Poetry in bright sunshine, poetry under the stars, stanzas and pizzas, spilled milk, ice cream cone punctuating a poem, bbq sauce smearing the couplet, life, love, out loud, POETRY! The Voice of Choice!

The end result of this part of the Picnic On Poetry project will be a complete library of sample poems from all of Canada’s Canon Poets, those poets that have made a mark on Canadian literary heritage. The research process involves:

• Historical Contextualization: Students explore the poet’s life, era, and role in Canada’s literary landscape using library resources, online archives, and public domain texts. They identify key events, influences, and contributions shaping the poet’s work.

• Biographical Synthesis: Students distill their findings into a concise 100-word biography, practicing critical analysis and clear, engaging writing to capture the poet’s essence and significance.

• Poem Selection: Students read widely from the poet’s oeuvre, evaluating themes, style, and impact to choose five poems that best represent the poet’s legacy. They ensure each poem is under 30 lines, refining their ability to assess literary quality and relevance.

• Collaborative Review: Working in teams, students peer-review their drafts, ensuring accuracy, coherence, and alignment with the project’s goal of public accessibility. Teachers guide the process, offering feedback to enhance research depth and presentation.

Picnic On Poetry, the Complete Canadian Canon Poets

1. It transforms public spaces into vibrant, open-air libraries celebrating our nation’s early literary voices.

2. innovative blend of art, education, and public space enhancement strengthens our cultural identity and inspires future generations.

3. fostering intellectual growth, creativity, and community connection

4. It hones research, critical thinking, and creative decision-making skills while instilling pride in Canada’s literary heritage.

5. students leave a lasting cultural legacy, connecting with their community and future generations through public art.

A POEM OF ONE’S OWN, The Voice of Women In Poetry.

This picnic table will be an annual series. The first curator for this table was Kate Hoogendam, aka, Merkat. She captured my poetic heart years ago when she launched her first chapbook, in a community hall in a village, nay, a hamlet, north of the 401 no less. This was astonishing because I had become such an urbanbot from decades of living in the centre of the unitverse. A chapbook launch in a hamlet north of the 401 seemed am audacious idea. I spread the word to other local poets, mooched a ride, and listened to Katie talk about her poetry, her life, her poetry, family and poetry.

I was struck by her authenticity. Her poems were visceral, organic, untouched by the conformities of academia. That was refreshing. It was also refreshing for a group of women poets that collaborated in poetry production, that, in turn, lead to the launch of another chapbook of poems, Liminal Spaces, composed by Kathryn MacDonald, Felicity Sidnell Reid, Gwynn Scheltema. And Kate Hoogndam. Their chapbook can be purchased at Reader’s Nook

So there you have it; Katie is strongly independent, without being distant, she has the spirit and energy of a crackling campfire, and she has a feature that I value in humans, nimbleness of mind. That is what compelled me invite her to curate the world’s first women’s Picnic Table of women’s poetry. I am so glad I had done that.

Katie was tasked to call for the submission of poems from her stable of women poet friends and contacts. POETCHRY set the line limit for poems, because there is only so much real estate on a picnic tabletop. She was further tasked with selecting the tapestry that will be used to cover the table at unveiling ceremonies. The privilege of first continued with the task of naming. She got to name the series going forward.

Every year, POETCHRY, will produce A POEM OF ONE”S OWN, the Voice of Women In Poetry. Katie has one remaining task as curator of the women’s table. She must select another woman who will consent to curate the next table of women’s poetry. Who and where this will go over the years is anyone’s guess, which is the beauty of it. So, stay tuned.

The following are the list of poets and the titles of their poems that appear on Volume 1 of A POEM OF ONE’S OWN, the Voice of Women In Poetry:

Jennifer Trefiak, Baamaapii (See You Again)

“ I love you.

Those words thrown like glitter

coated us in iridescence

too numerous to ever brush away.

Marie-Lynn Hammond, Because

“because the dim moon made a woman in a bare room weep

because the bare room and its dreams once held her lover

because some dreams had sharper edges than the others

because sharp edges soften when time calls to them”

Jamie Ashforth, Grief

“Grief is the distance

between motherland and pillow

the ache of every beauty

the space between wanting and forgetting”

Nik Bea, Homecoming

“remember, roots and wings can be entwined and untangled

So when – and if – you’re ready, you can always come home

For it will always hold space for the person you became.

And the person you have yet to become.”

Linda Hutsell Manning, My Eightieth Year

Kate Hoogendam, Ode to All Women Everywhere, for My Daughter

“It’s not a holiday, not even a Saturday, not even midnight—

just another Tuesday, quarter past two

the minstrel singing is the dishwasher humming

the trumpeters blaring are Vs of geese honking

and God, I can’t imagine

a more beautiful human

as human, as beautiful

as you.”

Meghan Sheffield, Summer Comes In

“Here night ends,

from here all the edges are golden.

Wherever you are, know that there is

good coming which you cannot see.”

Lyss Warmland, Through The Fog

“as it rolls over these hills in this

place we live where

I raise my son where

the forest canopy softens the gusts of

wind that threaten to destroy the tent canopy

Marie Prins, Yard Work In April, a poem for a daughter born on Earth Day

Where? The Pink Café, 205 Third Street, Unit 6, Cobourg, ON.

Print your favourite poetry meme on a cup of cappuccino. What a way to pass the day sipping on your favourite poetry meme, or personal meme, if inclined. I am going to make it my summer pastime to have regular cappuccino with a poetry meme. Here are some examples: POETRY IS POETENCY, POETRY RAISES THE STANZA OF LIVING, STANZA ROOM ONLY, POETS PRACTICE UNSAFE TEXT, SLAM POETS LIKE ROUGH TEXT, BETTER POEMS AND GARDENS, and so on and forth. Enjoy summer at Cobourg’s charming and poetic PINK CAFÉ.

I’d like to thank my son for setting up this Substack, where I can compose and publish to my heart’s contentment without fear of having the cyber rug pulled out from under me; the dreaded cancellation, the memory hole, the gated minds, the anti-dissidents. He also set up the ability to accept funds into the not-for-profit POETCHRY account. So now it’s over to me.

Write now, I can announce that four tables will be unveiled in front of the bandshell in Victoria Park, Cobourg, circa 1pm, July 1, Canada Day. The tables are:

1. POETRY, NATURALLY, curated by Kate Rogers, the second table of that series

2. SPIRIT OF THE HILLS WRITERS GROUP, second table consisting of four short stories composed by Reva Nelson, Antony Di Nardo, Sharon Stevens, and Karen Walker

3. PEACE ETC, a table of peace poems curated by Wally Keeler,

4. The Cobourg Collegiate Institute, Student Anthology.

The Cobourg Collegiate Institute, Student Anthology table will be presented in the Canada Day Parade, departing the Cobourg Library 11:30am, July 1, travelling down the main street. It will be transported in a shiny red truck decorated with poetic memes. It will be led by a banner reading, PICNIC ON POETRY. Wave an open book as it goes by. Wave an open book as each table is unveiled in Victoria Park.

And the accessibility table? Where is it? When will it be done? POETCHRY has received five boards, each 12ft long and highly unwieldy. They appear to be flat and straight. Heavy equipment must be moved around to plane the boards, bevel the boards, sand the boards. It requires that the garage door remain open. This requires good weather. We have yet to get this completed. It will have its own sole unveiling; perhaps fitting, because it was always to be designated as the Feature Table of the Year! Time and location tba.

This site is where I will maintain photos, vids, links, etc to the PICNIC ON POETRY project in Cobourg, Canada’s POEMTOWN. I have been away from social media for some time, so I will have a lot of catching up to do. I want to stay current, of course, but I must also refer to the past; past? POETCHRY is not yet one year old. Using lasers to burn poetry into picnic tabletops was an idea I had for a long time, just an idea until …

I identified the “xTool d1 pro 120w diode laser” as the perfect machine for such a project. And then I had a wonderful meeting with Dave Glennie, who agreed to partner in Project POETCHRY. We received the laser in kit form, learned to assemble it and turn it on. The machine had rail extensions, and risers to lift it high enough to burn poetry on the edge of a board. Dave bought a laptop to serve as his command post to the laser, then we both downloaded xTools Creative Space software, installed it in our respective laptops, then learned how to use it. Steep curve that was.

So … another steep learning curve this summer; monitoring the condition of the picnic tables, and learning the protocols of applying 1. UV protection, 2. Waterproofing, 3. Epoxy sealant, clear satin finish. Learning application protocols. Learning curing rates. Learning annual maintenance procedures. Ensuring the application of these substances can be done safely.

Please subscribe. Please recommend on your social media. Spread the Word. This is the place for all things POETCHRY and the municipal project, PICNIC ON POETRY.

Now, we shall see of I know how to make this my first Substack post.