PurdyFest article: "Central Hastings News" by Judy Backus

article in Central Hastings News
Thursday, August 8, 2013
page 13
by Judy Backus

Purdyfest continues to attract poets

Aug 08, 2013

A two-daylong celebration of poetry took place in Marmora with the seventh annual and increasingly well attended Purdyfest. The weekend began with a Friday evening potluck held at Zen River, the home of local poet Chris Faiers.

A Saturday afternoon symposium, held at the William Shannon Room, provided insight on the work of Canadian poet Dorothy Livesay from a variety of perspectives. Presenters included visiting poets, Marsha Barber, Paulos Ioannou, Anna Yim and Terry Barker.

The traditional Saturday afternoon open reading by the dam site resulted in many of the more than 25 who arrived from as far away as Hamilton and Ottawa, gathering in the shaded area, one by one standing to read from their works. Prior to that, local musician and poet Morley Ellis provided a musical interlude, accompanying himself on his guitar, while the crowd enjoyed the tunes, with some singing along while they rested on the grassy knoll.

With the music playing in the background, Faiers, commented that the people's poetry movement seemed to be growing in Canada, mentioning that he had spent time
over the past two weeks in Ameliasburgh, initially helping to prepare the Al Purdy A frame which is going to become a writer in residence location. Of the project, he said, "This will be the first time in Ontario that we will have a [famous writer's] residence that has a writer in residence associated with it."

With regard to Purdyfest, he said, "There's a back and forth between us and the A frame and we support the fund raising ... It's just good that people's poetry, and poetry in general are getting more acceptance, and growing and becoming more recognized by the public."

 

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Aug. 17/13

Hi Chris, each and all,
It was good to meet with you again. What a wonderful feel there is around the dam and Zen river. thanks for making this happen.

It was fascinating to learn about Livesay. That poem Marsha was fab! I'll look for your book.

Thanks for the summary and haiku Chris and the copy of the copy of your write-up on Livesay, Paulo.

We already read aloud your book to each other, Ann B; it was wonderful! Simon and Melanie, what was the name of the puppet theatre? (I think I wrote it down but it's probably one of those illegible squiggles.)

I too took a few photos. I seem to have paid more attention to the dogfolk than I realized at the time. There's an album on Flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pearlpirie/sets/72157635064055432/

Brian hasn't gone thru his photos yet.

just back from the trip after,
Pearl

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Dorothy Livesay: A Feminist Lyric Socialist (Paulos Ioannou)

 
 
Dorothy Livesay:  A Feminist  Lyric Socialist

Introduction

I came across Dorothy’s name a few years back while I was doing some research on the state of Canadian literature. At that time the only thing I knew about her was that she was a poet, a critic and a reviewer  and that in fact she was a  Winner of Governor General's Awards for her collection  Day and Night (1944) and Poems for People (1947).

I was intrigued of course by the fact that she was twice awarded the Governor General's Award but at the time my interests were mostly focused on the literary magazine scene.

It was a few years later when I fortuitously obtained her collection “The Woman I am” given to me by a friend, who discovered it in a second hand bookstore along with a copy of “The Self-Completing Tree”. Subsequently, I also came across a number of her other poems along with some of the many interviews she provided that it became evident to me how important she was and how powerful her poetry, remaining  so relevant to to-day.

Dorothy: Life and Work

Dorothy was born in 1909, in Winnipeg and died December 29, 1996 in Victoria, British Columbia. She started writing at a very early age, for as she put it. as a personal expression. When she was around fourteen her mother sent one of her poems, without her knowledge, to the Vancouver Province. It was published and she was paid $2.00.


As far as I can ascertain Dorothy published more than 26 books of poetry and prose. She is considered a social realist, in more simplistic terms, but no less accurate, a socialist.

She studied at the University of Toronto  receiving a B.A  in modern languages with follow up studies at Sorbonne in Paris, France, receiving  a Diplôme d’études supérieures.

While in Paris she got very interested in Marxism philosophy, social justice and fairness which were later reinforced on her during the depression years.

Upon returning to Canada, to study at the School of Social Work at the University of Toronto, she joined the Communist Party.

She worked as a caseworker in Montreal, Vancouver and other locations outside Canada and taught in Zambia between 1959 to 1963.  At the same time, she was active in leftist artist organizations such as the Progressive Arts Club and was regional editor of the socialist New Frontier in Vancouver in 1936-37. In her interview with Doug Beardsley and Rosemary Sullivan, however, she admitted that she got disenchanted in the fifties with communism but she remained a dedicated socialist because in her words “I don’t believe in the capitalist system”

In addition to her Governor General’s Literary Award she was also awarded the Royal Society of Canada’s Lorne Pierce Medal in 1947 for distinguished contribution to Canadian literature and the Queen’s Canada Medal in 1977.

Despite her awards Dorothy remains almost unknown outside academic circles and to a growing but select group of serious poets. But this is the same fate of so many other Canadian greats, even though, in her case, some of her books are still being reprinted and individual poems are presented and analysed in several blogs.

Canada has produced many great poets, both imagists and modernists, and the poetic tradition is very strong and flourishes in the many poetry groups in and around the country.

It is to the credit of Terry Barker and Mosaic Press that James Deahl, with their support, has put together a remarkable selection of Acorn’s work. To my knowledge no such publication exists for Dorothy unless we consider as such “The Self-Completing Tree”, which is a compilation of what she considered her best work.
Dorothy follows a long line of early women pioneers in modernist   Canadian poetry. Her poetic work is permeated with lyrical sensitivity and a revolutionary fervour for social justice, antiauthoritarianism, the predicament of women both socially and sexually and the conservation of nature. Dorothy is not as polemic in her ideology as Milton Acorn but that may be a result of her being more refined and reflective  in comparison to Acorn as well of course in living and experiencing different historical periods.

In several interviews she indicated that initially she was mainly influenced by American poets such as Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson and others stating that it was the whole imagist movement that started her off. Imagism as a poetic movement began in early 20th century and it is characterised by free verse, clear and sharp language thus avoiding excess verbiage which opened the road and formed the impetus to modernism.

Her first collection of poetry, Green Pitcher, was published in 1929 when she was only nineteen. But it was her collection “Day and Night” which won the Governor General's Awards in1944 that  launched her as a major talent. In 1987 she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Philip Hewrett , minister emeritus of the Unitarian Church of Vancouver,  in his paper on Dorothy, dismisses her early poetry for being “passionately ideological” and considers them as not of high quality. While the quality of these poems may not be as high as her later work in the 60s and 70s what Hewrett does not acknowledge is that these poems cement Dorothy’s entire career  as themes that permeate her poetry throughout, the thematic in fact remains the same except now is done by a mature poet who is on top of her creativity.


Of particular note are her collections “The Unquiet Bed” “Ice Age”, "Call My People Home", “The Woman I Am” and the “Self-Completing Tree”. Certainly different researchers and readers may compile a different set.

“The Woman I Am” deals mainly with poems of love and female sexuality.
Dr. Perm Varma believes that “The Unquiet Bed” is most central to the undererstanding of Dorothy's  love poetry as  "the protest of a woman who refuses to be subortinated  simply because she has a submissive role in sex".
Dorothy tells us that prior to writing “The Unquiet Bed” she fell deeply  in love and the poems spang out of her loins". The book  includes her Zambian poetry for which Antje M. Rauwerda  in her contextual  analysis writes that the "Zambia" cycle  raises questions about a white Canadian’s apprehension of Zambia and it elucidates Dorothy's use of nature/culture, man/woman, sun/moon, light/dark and black/ white oppositions as a whole, and especially in "Zambia." Antje proceeds further to suggest that " These binaries evoke racial and gender stereotypes, but, by considering Livesay’s use of them as part of the development of her ideas about binaries themselves rather than about colonial or gender politics, one can assert that they are not as reductive as they may first appear".

The  "Call My People Home"  collection published in 1950 is a long documentary dealing with  the mistreatment of Japanese Canadians during World War II.
In the Ice Age the theme is mostly dark the idea of life, death, loneliness, enviromentalism.
"The Self-Completing Tree” was first published in 1986. It encapsulates the essence of Dorothy’s poetic creations and remains to my opinion the best of what she had to offer without devaluing any of her poems that were left out.

Tanya Butler  on her paper  about  "The Self-Completing Tree" suggests that Dorothy uses the metaphor implied by the title — a tree, half verdant, half in flames — to symbolize the androgynous self". Furthermore, that " this is the theme of much of Livesay's work and a central metaphor for the most definitive collection of her poetry. The result is a spiritual autobiography charting the fascinating domains of her own life and the universal struggles we all share".


 British Columbia’s major poetry prize is named in Dorothy's honour.




Dorothy's Saying

I had high hopes for the grass roots poets in Canada like Milton Acorn, Al Purdy and Pat Lane. And Pat Lowther was certainly very much a committed poet before her murder. And Tom Wayman. It would seem to me that these poets and those that follow with them are speaking out, but there isn't anything like the commitment of the writers in the thirties. We were so stirred up by what was happening in Spain. The takeovers by Mussolini and Hitler created an anti-Franco situation in Canada which was very strong.

  

References:


An Interview with Dorothy Livesay, conducted by Doug Beardsley and Rosemary Sullivan
Politics, Gender, and New Provinces: Dorothy Livesay and F.R. Scott by Peggy Kelly
Interview/ DOROTHY LIVESAY #2 by Twigg, Alan , 1978,  Athabasca University English-Canadian Writers Dorothy Livesay.
Dorothy Livesay: CANADIAN CREATOR OF LITERARY CULTURE Phillip Hewett, Emeritus Minister, Unitarian Church of Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Ken Moffatt: Poetics of Social Work by University of Toronto Press, 2001.

The Love poetry Of Dorothy Livesay  by  Dr. Perm Varma

The task of  poetic mediation: Dorothy Livesay's early poetry by Diana M. A. Relke
Upsetting an Already Unquiet Bed: Contextualizing Dorothy Livesay’s "Zambia." by Antje M. Rauwerda
Dorothy Livesay’s Poetic Re/vision: Reading Binaries, Lesbian Love, and Androgyny in The Self-Completing Tree by Tanya Butler
The Self-Completing Tree: Livesay's African Poetry by Fiona Sparrow
University of Manitoba Libraries
The Writing Livesays, Connecting Generations of Canadian Modernism by Ann Martin in Wider Boundaries of Daring, The Modernist Impulse in Canadian Women's Poetry, edited by Di Brandt and Barbara Godard

A New Genealogy of Canadian Modernism by Di Brandt in Wider Boundaries of Daring, The Modernist Impulse in Canadian Women's Poetry, edited by Di Brandt and Barbara Godard





           Paulos Ioannou

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On Wed, Aug 7, 2013 at 12:28 AM, Chris Faiers <zenriver@sympatico.ca> wrote:
Hi Paulos,
Thanks again for doing all the research on Livesay & then presenting it in both this paper & at the symposium.

I'm forwarding this to Anna Yin, as Anna knows how to embody attachments within an email. This is the only way my system will allow me to cut & paste so I can post it on my blog. 

peace & poetry power!
Chris ... & Chase Wrffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff!

mini-LivesayFest in Montreal courtesy of Katharine Beeman

 
On 2013-07-08, at 12:15 PM, Katharine Beeman wrote:

Hi Chris (and Chase) and Tai,

Well, I was hoping the work I took on would be finished in time for me to organize myself to come but it isn't, sigh. Next year for sure!!!! So, here I will participate in the First Peoples Festival again 3rd August, AND, later that week I would like to organize a small reading in my patio, in honor of Purdy Fest and the CCLA Fest, inviting as many as will fit (11-12) to bring appropriate stuff, including Dorothy Livesay poems, a Petit-Festival-Purdy-CCLA-Q(uebec), so I can feel myself with you and also imbue some more people here, who never particpated in either, only heard me talk about it, with the sense of it. What do you think?

Of course, I will miss you, and patting Chase and the sound of the River sleeping in a tent, but it's something...

Big hugs, Katharine

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Hi Katharine,
(sniff) We'll miss you yet again at PurdyFest. Every year I mow
the special campsite you created at the river's edge on the easternmost
corner of ZenRiver Gardens. One of these summers you'll enjoy camping
there again & listening to the river dakinis singing all night  :  )

Holding a mini-Purdy/Livesay/CCLA/People'sPoetry Fest in Montreal
is the ultimate compliment for our fests. Great idea! I helped my friend
Sylvia dig a small garden in her front yard this week, & we saved as many
of the spring bulbs as we could find. There were also tiny bulbets in the
earth, & we saved these as well, for they are future spring flowers.
MontrealFest is a bulbet from our Hastings County Purdy Country Fests,
& this is the nicest tribute we could hope for! Best wishes for
a great FIRST Montreal/People'sPoetryFest!!!

We'll be thinking of you & our Quebec poetry comrades all during this summer's
'LivesayFest'  :  )

peace & poetry power!
Chris & Chase wfffffffffffffffffffff (a deflated wfff from Chase, who'll miss getting his delightful bellyrubs)

Raven's Nest resting: Jim Larwill update (haibun)

 




After the Raven
Robin’s nest impaled
on Beaver stump spike.

Hey Chris,

The signs seem to be strong these days.   Hawk flew right by my ear the other day in the woods while I was raking my poetry walk trying to clean up after last winter.


breath of fantail stripes
wisps sepia shades
past my knowing

The long and the short of it is don’t count on me for this years Purdyfest/Livesayfest.  No good reason.  Just I seem to be going more to ground than usual even for me.  It was a real winter this year and I can already feel the next one coming on.  The gardens and next winter’s wood seem to be moving me from breath to heart-beat.


my yellow snake
in these woods, drips
with new paint

The post on your blog about the Waverly Hotel in Toronto got me thinking about past and present.  It seems to me if I am only going to read once a year I should do it here and the passing of the Waverly got me thinking that the Black Sheep Inn here in Wakefield is a venue still alive for now and may only last as it is for a while now the 4 lane highway is coming from Ottawa.


our water source
hippies in trees
Canadian Shield blasted
I will try and send people to Purdyfest, only I don’t think I will make it myself this year.     Other years I have certainly felt the need for the calm and gentleness of Zen River Gardens.  Now I think I more need to be here at the Raven’s Nest. This weekend it is Quebec’s national holiday.


Gerald Godin beats Bourassa
People’s Poet becomes MNA,
but not in Canada, influences USA

I have not heard wolves for a while, for now my Raven’s are still with me, at least the coyotes haven’t moved in yet as far as I know, I guess no matter what, when the crows show up I will continue to try and read the signs written in the rocks.

Take care and all the best.



Mystic Self Eater


We last few totems of the pack
retreat to our hilltops
our howls silent,  Now
mere mist rising
on a morning lake
to disappear into their
hum of yellow light.

I am the carcass of a wolf
they would build their
caves of honey into.

I will leave to find my path
back to the dream time,
as I grieve for the Way
that is no more in this world.

Dancing in the stars
drumbeats of the heart
guide my last steps.

My ears flat on my head;
tail - question mark between
my feeble arthritic legs:
I know when I am defeated
and must lay down on rock.

Jim

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Hi Jim and Chris,

This morning i just posted " there might have a dancing party on the camping night... "

https://www.facebook.com/#!/events/346282755500661/

I am trying to get a few families or poets come...to the Nature....

But I do hope Jim you are there to protect us...and Han as well, i will facebook him...

BTW, the haiku and poems are wonderful...


Anna

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PurdyFest #7: LivesayFest (update for Quinte Arts Council)

Purdy Country LitFests (PurdyFests) held in Hastings County are
Canada's first and longest running People's Poetry festivals. Several
other communities across Canada have followed our example and
are now holding their own annual events. On this summer's
August long weekend we'll be celebrating fest #7. This year we'll
be honouring the legacy of seminal People's Poet Dorothy Livesay.
Professor Joyce Wayne will emcee our Saturday Symposium on
Livesay, and Ryerson journalism prof Marsha Barber will present
tapes and a talk on an interview she held with Dorothy Livesay.

This summer's "LivesayFest" will again be held in the Marmora
area, with events beginning with a Friday night  (Aug. 2nd)
POTLUCK SUPPER at ZenRiver Gardens retreat in the pioneer
hamlet of Malone. Free rough camping is available at ZenRiver. 

Events continue on Saturday with the SYMPOSIUM on Dorothy
Livesay in the William Shannon Room at the Marmora Public
Library. Saturday afternoon ANOTHER DAM POETRY
READING will be held on the islet in the Marmora Dam.
Marmora singer/musician Morley Ellis will kick off the round
robin reading. Everyone is encouraged to bring their poetry and
read at the dam.

On Sunday afternoon events return to ZenRiver. Tai Grove,
President of the Canada-Cuba Literary Alliance and the publisher
of Hidden Brook Press, will emcee two readings by CCLA members
and Hidden Brook Press authors.

For further info on times and locations, please contact Chris Faiers:
zenriver@sympatico.ca
613-472-6186.  

 

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Hi Chris--

Returned last night from doing the Poet in the Schools program and attending the fabulous Spring Pulse Poetry Festival up in Cobalt.

Just to let you know that although people at Ryerson have done their best to boost the quality of the Livesay cassettes, the sound quality is still really poor.  So I'll play a couple of minutes just so people can hear Livesay's voice, and then chat about the interview process, what Livesay talked about, and the experience of living with and working for her on Galiano Island in the late seventies. I'll include a couple of poems about that time as well.

Looking forward to LivesayFest.

Marsha

               
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Congratulations Chris, on your ongoing festival successes!
I'm tied up taking care of my son and very aged parents while
being dragooned into serving as dept. head for a year,
otherwise, I'd be there. But am happy to see you're keeping it going!

Wishing you all the best!
Karl


Dr. Karl E. Jirgens, Editor, Rampike Magazine
Dept. of English Language, Literature & Creative Writing
University of Windsor
401 Sunset Avenue
Windsor, Ontario
Canada N9B 3P4

Poet Founding Fathers: D'Arcy McGee and Jose Marti (topic for PurdyFest #7?)

Honourable Thomas D'Arcy McGee
Last Thursday evening Terry Barker and I got together at the Hanoi 3 Seasons Restaurant in Toronto to begin planning PurdyFest #7. We agreed an interesting theme would be a comparison of the 'founding father poets' D'Arcy McGee (Canada) and Jose Marti (Cuba). We both feel that the first six PurdyFests have covered a sufficiently wide range of Canadian People's Poetry, and that perhaps it is time to 'go more international' with the fests. Your input on this proposal appreciated. Terry is keen to present a paper on McGee, and we hope Tai Grove (President of the Canada-Cuba Literary Asociation - CCLA) and perhaps Lisa Makarchuk (of the Canada Cuba Friendship Society) would be interested in presenting papers on Jose Marti.  Thumbnails of the first 6 PurdyFests PurdyFest #1 evolved from a series of "Controversies" regarding Canadian People's Poetry organized by poet James Deahl and Terry Barker. PurdyFest #2 then logically focused on our namesake poet, Al Purdy. PurdyFest #3 had a haiku theme, and haijin Terry Ann Carter and Claudia Coutu Radmore led a renku session. Fest #4 focused on the legacy of Toronto People's Poet Ted Plantos. Special thanks to Kent Bowman and Mick Burrs. #5 focused on resurrecting the legacy of seminal Canadian poet Raymond Souster. This led to a widely attended tribute evening at Runnymede Public Library, Ray's home library branch. And the recent #6 focused on resurrecting and restoring the legacy of Canada's greatest poet, Milton Acorn. * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * ** * * * * Conrad DiDiodato has left a new comment on your post "Poet Founding Fathers: D'Arcy McGee and Jose Marti...": Hi Chris I love the new 'international' emphasis and the D'Arcy McGee/Jose Marti nexus. Congrats to you, Chris, for putting Cdn poetry on the map. I hope one day you'll write a sort of biography of the movement: which might turn into a sort of 'manifesto' text Canada-wide. My only concern is that Purdyfest not become too 'academic': discussion yes, and participation from everyone but I hope you'll avoid the temptation to go the "specialist"'s route, poetry for "experts" only. This is antithetical to the People's Poetry ideal. Posted by Conrad DiDiodato to Riffs & Ripples from ZenRiver Gardens at 25 August 2012 13:35 * * * * * ** * * * * * *  * * * * * * * * Thanks for the support, Conrad  :  ) The ideal person to write such a biography would be James Deahl, or perhaps a co-authorship with Terry Barker. No threat of PurdyFests becoming overly academic. The Symposiums (ia?) give the fests some focus, but as Anna Yin wisely noted, "PurdyFests are vacations for poets!" There's just too much energy from the Shield, from nature and nature spirits, from the collective energy of so many great Canadian poets just hanging out & reading together ( and of course the occasional magickal libation from the LCBO) to keep everything from getting 'too' serious. - Chris/cricket ... and Chase ... Wrfffffffffffff! * * * * * * * *   * * * * * * * * * * * * * Conrad DiDiodato has left a new comment on your post "Poet Founding Fathers: D'Arcy McGee and Jose Marti...": "PurdyFests are vacations for poets!" I like that! Posted by Conrad DiDiodato to Riffs & Ripples from ZenRiver Gardens at 25 August 2012 15:42 * * * * * * ** * *   * * * * * * * * * * first reaction. really? not a single woman did or said or was anything? Pearl Infinite Diversity, Infinite Beauty; Blog it all. http://www.pagehalffull.com/humanyms * * * * * * * * * *  * * * * * *   ** * * Interesting point, Pearl. Maybe we should do a Symposium on women People's Poets, starting with Dorothy Livesay. - Chris * * * * * * * * ** *   * * * * * * * * * email of Sept. 3/12 Dear Friends, I was honoured to be invited in on your discussions in regard to the suitability of Darcy McGee or Louis Riel at Purdyfest. It is an interesting dilemma and one in which the introduction of the potential of honouring Jose Marti bears consideration. I think if we were to ask Milton Acorn or Purdy himself they would have some pretty strong opinions, especially when it comes to McGee. I have been researching Riel for well over 25 years and although I have great admiration and respect for his work as well as his poetry I would be challenged to recommend him as a major subject at Purdyfest as his subject matter is largely religious and his political poems, word-plays are very often in French and dated in their connotations. In regard to McGee I am agreement with Katherine that he leaves a great deal to be desired politically especially if he is to be compared to Marti, and although he left behind a significant amount of poetry it too is dated and frankly maudlin. Purdy would be looking for youth and vigour, poetry to lead us into the future.  I am including a short booklet from my research into McGee & Riel, it is a follow-up to The Prophet and the Apostle of the New World, Louis Riel & Jose Marti, my tribute to two great revolutionary leaders of the Nineteenth Century. I have sent this work to Cuba and hope to have a Spanish-English version available for 2013. Warm regards from the Great NorthWest, and please feel free to share this e-mail with your CC list. David Doyle * * * * *  * **** * *** * ** * **** * * *