Poetry Reading - Jeremy Dodds

I grabbed myself a cup of tea and joined a crowd of mostly English professors and students, as well as guests from the community. This is one thing that I love about Redeemer University; you have the opportunity to hear all sorts of poets come read.

Jeremy Dodds is probably the youngest poet I have heard at Redeemer, at 35 with one collection of poems (Crabwise to the Hounds[2008]), he has already won the 2006 Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award, the 2007 CBC Literary Award in Poetry, and the Trillium Book award for Poetry. I think that’s awesome! However this isn’t all there is to Jeremy Dodds, after all, he grew up in Orono Ontario, he studied in Iceland, knows their language, and he’s and archaeologist.

Dodds’ first poem of the night, Canada, reminded me of all those stereotypes that people make about Canada, with the beaver and everything. My favourite line in this poem that was inspired by Ginsberg’s America, was “Canada, I feel like another weather.” That actually made me chuckle. Sometimes it seems like Canada itself can’t decide what weather to be some days.

There were a couple of other great lines that came out during his reading that brought a chuckle from the crowd. One being “I’m worried about people who was their cars at night” Who does that anyway? Now the line that really made me laugh was from his poem Epileptic Acupuncture, “The Lake’s so clear you can see yourself to the door.” Seriously, people who know me, know the kind of jokes and lines I’d come up with. That one comes pretty close but obviously Dodds thought of it first.

After some time of reading, Dodds answered some questions from the crowd. I think there is an unspoken rule that the first thing you have to ask a poet is what inspired them. For Dodds his inspiration comes from anywhere and everywhere. “I steal mostly” he told us with a chuckle “Then I rewrite it to make it my own.” I guess that makes sense.

Someone from the crowd then asked Dadds about his writing process, I was a little thrown off at the passion he showed for editing his work. I never know there was so much that had to go into it. I don’t think I would have ever thought of recording myself reading a poem and then listening to it to see if there were flaws in the rhythm and the flow. It inspired me. I think I may actually try it.

If you are interested in reading more about Jeremy Dodds, there will be a more indepth interview between myself and Jeremy Dodds in Redeemer’s next edition of the Crown.

Routines

Last Thursday I attended my first English learning community event of the semester. I have not been able to make it to very many of them, which is really quite a shame, because they can be pretty fun! This time, Redeemer's English faculty hosted a poetry reading by Tom Wayman, a Canadian poet and University professor who writes a lot about life in the work force. Wayman was a very sincere, friendly and honest speaker. His poems about monotonous factory jobs and the drudgery of a 9 - 5 work day were very clever and most importantly, very relate-able (especially since I, like many others, have suffered through some pretty boring Summer jobs).

Speaking of summer jobs -- the school year is coming to a close very soon (only a month left!) and the prospect of finding steady work is weighing on the minds of many students. I think everyone will be ready for a change of pace, but there are parts of the Redeemer student lifestyle that I'm really going to miss! I have enjoyed a lot of my classes this semester and just being able to socialize with my friends at intervals during the day for coffee and lunch dates has been a real treat. Those chairs by the mini Williams Coffee Pub have served me well. It has been an exciting and challenging year for me, and I can only hope that next year is as good.

And now, I will leave you with the first verse of a poem by Tom Wayman. Check out his website if you want to read the rest.

Hopefully his poem makes getting up tomorrow a little bit easier!

Routines
by Tom Wayman
Did I Miss Anything? Selected Poems 1973-1993. Madeira Park, B.C. : Harbour Pub., c1993.

After a while the body doesn't want to work.
When the alarm clock rings in the morning
the body refuses to get up. "You go to work if you're so keen,"
it says. "Me, I'm going back to sleep."
I have to nudge it in the ribs to get it out of bed.
If I had my way I'd just leave you here, I tell it
as it stands blinking. But I need you to carry your end of
the load.