Poetry Textravastanza at The Meet

The Poetry Performances sponsored and organized by the Cobourg Poetry Workshop, delivered a diversity of eloquence last night at 66 The Meet that was roundly appreciated by Cobourg’s better poems and garden set. It was a textceptional evening.

Catherine Owen, dressed in darkly demure metal-petal ambiance, bearing whispers of Goth around her throat, sang and throated and brought the assembled poetariet into a love poem, into a dark poem, back to love and life again, heavily accented in medieval and modern (modieval?)

Daniel Tysdal, whom I met for the first time, face2face, and I looked up to him, a bit; 6’1.5” to his 6’2.5”. A man with a natural alpha male body bearing bon mot textosterone poetry, interactive, distributing his voice through several other voices, and ending with a call for poets to deliver a line … Now that’s texterity.

Grahame Woods, a well-awarded wordie amongst The Local Lot, launched his first book of poetry; Path Imperfect. Grahame gives good mic with soft-spoken ease.

Diversity on Display; three genres of eloquence spread over 90 minutes is more than one could normally expect out here in Cobourg. A lot of books were sold. I will review them in the coming days, beginning first with Grahame Wood’s book. Cuz he’s local, just like me.

Books bond.

Name Sensory Garden After Local Cultural Achiever

Northumberland Today columnist and poet, Grahame Woods, has written an excellent piece concerning Victoria Park in Northumberland Today. I am troubled only by his suggestion that the Sensory Garden be named after some obscure duke from the 1700’s who had never known of Cobourg in any manner.

We have Victoria Hall, Victoria Street, Queen Street, Victoria Park, and other royal references. Enough already. Let’s turn our heads to celebrate and honour our own.

Aside from royalty, other municipal buildings, streets, parks in Cobourg have been named after administrators, bureaucrats and politicos. Not a hero, nor colourful character amongst them. Dull role models.

Not a musician, nor acrobat, nor artist, nor poet, nor composer, nor novelist, nor actor, nor anyone of a cultural character that has touched Cobourg in one way or another has a street, park, building, garden, or roundabout named after them. Pity.

I had brought up an idea back in January 1988, to namestreets after poets. Interestingly, I suggested that recipients of the Governor-General’s Award for Poetry be applied – we lo and behold, Cobourg has such a recipient since that proposal was made. First, Second and Third Street should be renamed after an individual of cultural achievement.