Kimmy's Garden

An afternoon class of writing poetry last week was quite an adventure. The instructor was Sheri-D Wilson, a fantastic Spoken-Word artist, one of the first & best as a matter of fact . If you do not know what Spoken-Word is, you simply must attend the Edmonton ROAR festival this September.

Anyway, I won’t ruin the magic by telling you in detail what we did all week in order to create, but it was a great week. Pick a theme, do some prompts, learn about others’ poetry, get inspired by each other, sharing our works of art, talk about what makes it soooo gooooood, and take it farther. The poem which I posted on June 8 is something I wrote from one of Sheri-D’s prompts using Anne Waldman’s “Fast Speaking Woman” poem. The next generation of poems you find posted here will be the product of the seeds of the vision that was planted in my brain (S&G) during this course led by Sheri-D through the Faculty of Extension.

Further to the poetry in Edmonton, I was always aware of the Stroll of Poet’s Society , the Stroll (October), and the 12 Days of Poetry (January). Then later I find out that I know Jocelyn Verret-Chiasson, the former President, who put on an enjoyably intimate suite of Monday night readings at the Upper Crust for $5 – and let me tell you, best entertainment a five spot can buy you. A great evening of poetry, socializing, and dessert with coffee!! I recommend this series of events to everyone.

This winter, again, I found out too late about the Raving Poet’s Society who were having readings as well on Wednesday nights at the Casbar (basement of Yianni’s on Whyte). Ah! Next season, I am there!