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Milestones
September 2005  Launch of "Dust Free." My first book of poetry. My first book of...anything.
September 2004  John Newlove Poetry Award for "To the Moose on the 417", Ottawa International Writer's Festival.
July 2003	Publication of "To the Moose on the 417" in Bywords Quarterly Journal, July issue.
May 2003	Publication of "To the Moose on the 417" in Bywords Online


Me? Write Poetry?

As a youngster, I loved poetry - the kind of poetry that rhymed, of course, and sang, and bopped along. The kind that made you tap your foot and feel happy.

Then, in high school, we were introduced to real poetry. The kind that you had to scan to figure out what form it took. The kind that sounded like it was written by someone who looked up every word in the dictionary and selected the one that was most archaic. The kind that sounded like its words escaped from a scrabble bag and landed on a page. The kind that you had to read a million, zillion times to figure out what it was saying, and by the time you figured it out, you didn't care anymore.

By the time I got to university, I was prepared to be a little more forgiving but secretly, I still wanted to scream, "If you've got something to say, heave it out of ya. Don't make me stand on my head to figure out what you want to tell me."

And that about did it for me and poetry. For years. For maybe even thirty years, until I ran across a moose on Route 417 between Ottawa and Montreal. He unleashed something in me that found its outlet in a poem that composed itself by itself. I just held the pen.

Being the good child of the Internet that I am, I found a newsgroup, alt.arts.poetry.comments, where poets met and discussed each other's work. I was so struck by the poetry of several people on that group - in particular, Julie Carter, Karen Tellefsen, and Bindi - that I just had to know more. I timidly posted a copy of my moose poem and, to my amazement, I was thoroughly and soundly encouraged.

I saw a notice for a local poetry workshop given by Candis Graham. She was encouraging too, although I began to bump up against my own limitations. Surely this couldn't be a good sign. She told me to work through or around them or just ignore them. They would take care of themselves. She gave me tips and tricks for pulling a poem out of thin air.

The moose poem found a receptive audience at Bywords, an online poetry publication. It was also selected to be included in their quarterly journal, a paper publication that is actually sold in stores. Yahoo!

Then out of the blue in September 2004, I was informed that the moose poem had been chosen as the recipient of the John Newlove Poetry Award. Say what? If only I could repay my debt to Mr. Moose, whom I surely can call nothing else now.

Part of the John Newlove Award was the opportunity to produce a chapbook under the guidance and auspices of the Bywords team. I jumped at the chance. It will be available in September 2005 at the Ottawa Writers' Festival.


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