RCLAS Dec 2015 E-Zine, Wordplay at Work
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December 2015 RCLAS Wordplay at work E-ZINE Issue 30, ISSN 2291-4269, 53 pages. AGM, Board News, Fred Cogswell Award for Excellence in Poetry Awards Event. Dec 2015 Writer of the Month: Dominic Di Carlo, 8 poem feature plus RCLAS ongoing events and upcoming Workshop with David Blinkhorn. Margo Bates & Celeste Snowber Workshops in Review by Sonya Furst-Yuen. This issue presents work by RCLAS members on the themes of Winter, Peace and Christmas. Our 30TH ISSUE showcases the writing of Candice James, Andrew Parkin, Joyce Goodwin, Carla Evans, Ruth Hill (Chetwynd, BC), David J. Delaney (Australia), Lisa Strong, Kathy Figueroa (Ontario) Visit our website www.rclas.com
Transcript of RCLAS Dec 2015 E-Zine, Wordplay at Work
More on the AGM &
Christmas Party in our
January 2016 issue.
What do we love more than
a parade?
An Award Show, of course!
The first was last year. The second is
behind us. We are now creating a tradition.
And next year it is our hope the 2nd Annual
Fred Cogswell Award Show for
Excellence in Poetry will become the third of many more.
On Saturday November 21 at the new Anvil Centre, three deserving poets were
honoured by this year’s Keynote Speaker and Adjudicator, George McWhirter, the
affable Northern Irishmen who was Vancouver’s inaugural Poet Laureate.
Candice James, New Westminster’s very own Poet Laureate and Founding Member
of RCLAS, introduced George. Both Candice (who owes a debt of gratitude to Fred
Cogswell for shaping her own writing career) and George reminisced about their
involvement with Fred. McWhirter described him as a triple threat: a poet, a teacher,
and a tireless promoter of young poets across Canada.
Also at the podium was Kathleen Forsythe, Fred’s daughter, who regaled us all with
the tale of how she gingerly handled a three-ton rental truck from New Brunswick to
New Westminster, accompanied by her then elderly father and his library of over
10,000 books.
George McWhirter then introduced this year’s three winners, who along with their
deserved accolades, each earned a medal and a cheque. Third place and $100 went to
Bruce Meyer for his The Seasons (The Porcupine’s Quill). Second place and $250
was awarded to Jane Munro for her Blue Sonoma (Brick Books). This year’s first-
prize winner and the recipient of $500 was Cara-Lyn Morgan for her first book-
length collection, What Became My Grieving Ceremony (Thistledown Press). Her
proud mother, Terry Kerr, accepted the award on Cara-Lyn’s behalf.
James Felton, RCLAS’ new President, also recognized two business owners in
particular for their generosity and support by being host venues to various RCLAS
programmes. Susan Greig, owner of 100 Braid Street Studios, along with Paul
Minhas, proprietor of the Heritage Grill, were presented with Recognition
Certificates.
In a touching tribute, RCLAS Director Janet Kvammen made a special presentation
to a long-standing but seriously ill RCLAS member, Max Tell. The host and
facilitator of RCLAS’ Writing for Kidz was honoured with a framed photo and a
medallion. Accepting the award on his behalf was Max’s wife, Estelle.
As is our poetic tradition, an Open Mic followed with readings from the audience. Our
RCLAS President then wrapped up the afternoon’s award show with a sincere thank
you to two talented musicians, Enrico Renz and Lawren Nemeth who provided
beautiful acoustic guitar music during the show. Acknowledgements were also
extended to RCLAS’ resident videographer, Ken Ader and to all the hard-working
RCLAS Board Members who contributed to making the second (of many more) Fred
Cogswell Award Show the success it was. See you at next year’s show!
~ James Felton, RCLAS President
George McWhirter, Candice James, James Felton, Kathleen Forsythe
2nd
Annual Fred Cogswell Award
For Excellence In Poetry
Video Playlist HERE
Fred Cogswell
The Royal City Literary Arts Society proudly presents the Second Annual Fred Cogswell Award
for Excellence in Poetry Event. Named after one of Canada’s literary giants, the Award Show
honours poetic excellence in the same way Fred Cogswell did through his iconic press,
Fiddlehead Poetry Books, and the still-running literary magazine he founded, The Fiddlehead.
The Winners Circle
CARA-LYN MORGAN
What Became My Grieving Ceremony (Thistledown Press)
1st Place Fred Cogswell Award for Excellence in Poetry 2015
Cara-Lyn Morgan was born in the thick of winter on the Saskatchewan
prairie. A seventh-generation Métis on her mother’s side, and a first-
generation Canadian on her Trinidadian-born father’s side, her work often
explores the parallels of colonialism existing between these distinct cultures.
She graduated from the University of Victoria’s Creative Writing
Programme, and currently lives in the Toronto area. What Became My
Grieving Ceremony is her first book-length collection and was released by
Thistledown Press in 2014.
JANE MUNRO
Blue Sonoma (Brick Books)
2nd
Place Fred Cogswell Award for Excellence in Poetry 2015
Jane Munro is the author of five previous books of poetry. Her work has
received the Bliss Carman Poetry Award and the Macmillan Prize for
Poetry, and was nominated for the Pat Lowther Award. She is a member of
Yoko’s Dogs, a poetry collective whose first book, Whisk, appeared in
2013. She lives in Vancouver. Blue Sonoma is her sixth poetry collection
and it won the 2015 Griffin Poetry Prize.
BRUCE MEYER
The Seasons (The Porcupine’s Quill)
3rd
Place Fred Cogswell Award for Excellence in Poetry 2015
Bruce Meyer is author of 47 books of poetry, short fiction, non-fiction,
literary journalism, and pedagogy. He is the 2015 winner for Best Single
Poem in the Gwendolyn MacEwen Poetry Competition. Among his most
recent books are A Chronicle of Magpies (stories), The Arrow of Time,
Testing the Elements, and The Seasons. His work was also short-listed for
the 2015 Montreal International Poetry Prize. He was the inaugural Poet
Laureate of the City of Barrie. He is Professor of Creative Writing at
Georgian College and Visiting Professor at Victoria College, U. of
Toronto. Bruce lives in Barrie, ON.
Fred Cogswell, born in East Centerville, New Brunswick,
was a prolific poet, translator, editor and scholar and was
dubbed “a Friend of Poets – Amis des Poètes” for his
lifelong commitment to poetry and those who write it. He
was the author of 33 books of his own poetry and nine
books of poetry translation. He also wrote and published
many learned articles and reviews. His poetry was
published in magazines, journals, anthologies, and
textbooks and has been translated into several languages,
including Chinese, Romanian, Spanish, and French.
In 1958 he founded Fiddlehead Poetry Books, where he
published 307 titles. His publishing house is now one of
Canada's more important small press publishers, operating
as Goose Lane Editions. In addition, Fred Cogswell was a
Founding and Life Member of the League of Canadian
Poets, a Life Member of both the Association of Canadian
Publishers and the Writers' Federation of New Brunswick. Dr. Cogswell was inducted into
the Order of Canada in 1981. He spent his final few years in New Westminster.
George McWhirter is a Northern Irish-Canadian writer,
translator, editor, and teacher and in March 2007 was
appointed Vancouver’s inaugural Poet Laureate for a two-
year term. He received his MA from, and became a full
professor at, UBC in 1982. He headed the Creative
Writing Department from 1983 to 1993. He is a Life
Member of the League of Canadian Poets; a Member of
the Writers’ Union of Canada; author and editor of
numerous books and the recipient of many awards. His
first book of poetry, Catalan Poems, was a joint-winner of
the first Commonwealth Poetry Prize, along with Chinua
Achebe’s Beware, Soul Brother.
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POETIC JUSTICE --- DEC 2015/JAN 2016
Calendar and Bios at www.poeticjustice.ca
NEW LOCATION
ORIGINAL'S Restaurante Mexicano, 800 Carnarvon St. at New West Station (Enter from Carnarvon, just west of 8th Street, behind Old Spaghetti Factory)
Co-Managers—Franci Louann [email protected] & James Felton [email protected]
Media Manager/Photographer—Janet Kvammen [email protected]
Poetic Justice: New West on Facebook and group https://www.facebook.com/groups/poeticjusticenewwest/ Twitter@poeticjusticenw
December 6 Sunday 3 – 5 pm
Poetic Justice featuring AIDAN CHAFE, RUTH HILL & DEBORAH L. KELLY Host: James Felton
December 13 Sunday 3 – 5 pm
Poetic Justice featuring FRANCI LOUANN & BRANDON PITTS (Debut Feature) Host: Renee Saklikar
December 20 Sunday 3 – 5 pm
Poetic Justice featuring ANNETTE LEBOX (Debut Feature) & CASSANDRA METCALFE Host: Candice James
Happy Holidays
Poetic
Poetic Justice Returns JANUARY 10, 2016
Poetic Justice featuring ROBERT MARTENS & HENDRIK SLEGTENHORST (Debut Feature)
RCLAS WRITER OF THE MONTH
Dominic DiCarlo
Dominic DiCarlo was born and raised in Montreal where he
received advanced degrees (M.A. & Ph.D.) in religious studies
from Concordia University after having completed a major in
psychology at the University of Montreal. Dominic is a teacher
by day and a musician by night – in intervals (when dreaming)
he crochets words into poetry although he prefers reading
while trying to avoid stepping on sleeping organisms (whether
real or imaginary) in beautiful British Columbia where he makes
his home in the city of Burnaby. He moved to the west coast in
1995 with his family and has been teaching philosophy and
history at Coquitlam College since then. He has also taught at
Concordia University, Bishop's University, and Simon Fraser
University. He published his first collection of poems called The
Cycles of an Inflamed Mysticism (Friesen Press, 2014). He has
recently joined the RCLAS board as a Director.
Christmas 2008 Remembered © Joyce Goodwin
As everyone knows, Vancouverites panic when snow hits the streets. We love it on
the mountains and boast of its beauty. When it hits the streets, we hit the panic
button, hit the skids, skid into signposts and sidewalks, chaos reigns. When things
return to normal, we slush about happily in the rain that inevitably follows.
Not this year. Snow keeps falling in a very inappropriate and non-West
Coast way. We are freaking out, few have snow tires, and chains are out of the
question. Christmas is coming and shopping cannot be done—the roads are
impassable. Here on the North Shore, we have to dig out the snowplow one day
because it gets stuck outside our house, for heaven’s sake. Then it leaves and never
comes back. We have reverted to digging out the neighbours. The small dog has to
be carried home after walks with iceballs on her feet, and we cannot let the cat out
or she may suffocate in the snow. Our trees groan in a scary way. Will they topple,
we wonder. This is serious.
Christmas Eve arrives and the hydro goes out at 3pm, and stays out all night,
rather like a truant teenager. In a state of disbelief, we play board games by
candlelight with our adult kids, huddled in front of the fire, until our eyelids drop
from the effort of keeping up with them. We retire with the candles, followed by
ghostly shadows. One fire downstairs burns logs all night. Upstairs a gas fire has
been turned on for days, just in case it won’t restart.
Christmas morning arrives cold and powerless, the way we feel. We can’t
boil the kettle or cook breakfast until someone in desperation suggests we use the
barbeque. We set to work and out come the sausages, eggs and bacon; the
barbeque is hauled protesting onto the driveway; champagne and orange juice set
the heady tone. We toast ourselves while grinning like idiots. The dogs stare at us
in disbelief. We have started a new family tradition: Christmas Day barbeque
breakfast. The abandoned turkey has to wait. We are delighted with ourselves,
having beaten the odds, found a way, made it happen. Despite a few false starts the
hydro remains out for over twenty-four hours. We survive, we make it through.
Who says Vancouverites cannot adapt to snow?
Previously published in the Lynn Valley Literary Society Anthology "Wintertide." 2009.
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Open Call for Submissions - RCLAS Members Only
Poems & Prose Call for Submissions on the following themes/features:
January Themes: New Beginnings, Winter Solstice, Peace.
Deadline Dec 16.
February Themes: Haiku, Love, The Colour Purple.
Deadline January 6, 2016
Open Call: Poems, Short Stories, Book excerpts & Songs are welcome for
submission to future issues of Wordplay at work.
Submit Word documents to [email protected]
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Thank you to our Sponsors
Arts Council of New Westminster
Judy Darcy
The Heritage Grill
New Westminster Public Library
City of New Westminster
Renaissance Books
100 Braid Street Studios
Original’s Restaurante Mexicano
See upcoming events at
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December 2015 Wordplay at work ISSN 2291- 4269
Contact:
[email protected] RCLAS Director/
E-zine Design
Winter solitude by Matsuo Basho
Winter solitude -
in a world of one color
the sound of wind.
