The Writes of Spring poetry competition has named twelve winners to have their poems published and shared at their gala event this weekend.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Poets from\u00a0all across\u00a0the province\u00a0submitted\u00a0their work into the 11th\u00a0annual competition on the theme of \u201cland and sea\u201d.\u00a0The winning poems by authors RYAN AD,\u00a0Jody\u00a0Baltessen,\u00a0Janine Brown,\u00a0Joanne Epp,\u00a0David J\u00f3n Fuller,\u00a0James Hargrove,\u00a0Bertrand\u00a0Nayet,\u00a0D\u00e9sir\u00e9e Penner,\u00a0proma\u00a0tagore,\u00a0Alexander Wiebe,\u00a0Jess Woolford, and\u00a0Chey Wright (aka IDIC Verse) were selected by contest editors Ariel Gordon and\u00a0melanie\u00a0brannagan\u00a0frederiksen\u00a0of Plume Winnipeg.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe deliberation\u00a0is always hard,\u201d says Gordon. \u201cIt gets hard because you know that people are sending you their\u00a0poems,\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0trusting you with their work.\u00a0But\u00a0the way that we keep it joyful and fun for us as juries… is that we read the poems aloud to each other.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Winners use literal and liberal theme translations\u00a0<\/p>\n
The theme \u201cland and sea\u201d came from the League of Canadian Poets, a practice that Writes of Spring has used most every year since the contest began. Gordon notes that\u00a0one can read different senses of water in the poems depending on where the poets are in Manitoba, whether it be the rivers of Winnipeg or Hudson\u2019s Bay up north.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe like to think of ourselves as landlocked, but we\u2019re not,\u201d she smiles, highlighting Manitoba\u2019s large lakes and conversations about water when it comes to issues like Winnipeg\u2019s drinking water originating in Shoal Lake 40 First Nation\u00a0to concerns about spring flooding.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes\u00a0a theme resonates with people, but sometimes it involves a shift in thinking, and I think we found a good mix of things that looked at our relationship with water in different ways.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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RELATED STORIES<\/p>\n
\u2018Poetry forever!\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
The grand finale for Writes of Spring takes place at McNally Robinson Booksellers\u00a0on\u00a0Sunday afternoon. Audiences will be able to hear the poems read by the 12 chosen poets after they have been published over the weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One key feature of the readings that Gordon points out is that the poems are read twice – \u201cto read, take a breath and read it again,\u201d she says, \u201cbecause audiences appreciate that ability to hear it and take it in…\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0hard to absorb everything on the first listen.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The audiences at the Writes of Spring gala are more than willing to make the reading concession as well as have\u00a0a good time\u00a0(a literary \u201clove-in\u201d,\u00a0as Gordon describes it). \u201cI make everyone heckle me (or not heckle),\u201d she laughs, \u201cput their arms in the air and say, \u2018Poetry forever!\u2019 at our events. I\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0help it \u2013 it makes me laugh \u2013 but\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0true!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n