On Saturday, Prince Albert poetry lovers had a chance to celebrate words about summer.
The second Pop-Up Poetry Walk wound its way from the start of the Rotary Trail by Riverside School towards Diefenbaker Bridge with nine poems displayed along the way.
Lillian Donahue and Laurie Muirhead are two of the poets on display who read their poems on Saturday.
Donahue took part in the first Pop-Up Poetry project and was eager to be a part of it again.
“I think any artist wants to somehow communicate, whether you’re a painter or photographer or a poet,” she explained. “You’re not doing it for yourself. You’re hoping to maybe give something to somebody else, and that was kind of what motivates me.”
Donahue’s poem is called “Summery Porch” and is the first poem on the walk. She said observations about life inspire most of her poetry and art.
“I don’t really think of myself as a poet exactly,” she said. “I just write observations and I remembered an old verandah where my grandparents used to sit and rocking chairs with cushions on them, and it just made me feel very much at home. It all kind of came together in this poem.”
Muirhead’s poem is called “One Last Treat” and is about her family’s trips to the Prince Albert Exhibition.
Laurie Muirhead read her poem “One Last Treat” during the Pop-Up Poetry Walk along the Rotary Trail on Saturday.
Lynda Monahan read her poem during the Pop-Up Poetry Walk along the Rotary Trail on Saturday.
“I am making a collection of poems called Soul Sister, and it’s about growing up in a family of 10 with five girls, five boys, so it’s about my sister and I and our survival on the farm,” Muirhead said.
The poem is part of a larger project that Muirhead said is in the works. Each poem in the project tells a tale of the family’s life at that time.
“There’s probably about 60 poems, so I’m going to either have to make a chapbook and peel it down to around 30, or write some more and bring it up to 80,” she explained.
“You (have) got to remember, we were children of the 60s and 70s and it was a lot different than now, and I want to preserve that. I want my grandchildren to know about that and anyone else who was not from that era,” she said.
Like Donahue, Muirhead was happy to take part in the Poetry Walk.
“I’m so pleased to be here on this beautiful summer day,” she said. “I just thought this was a great opportunity. It’s always good to share your words with other people.”
The Pop-Up Poetry Walk was put together as a continuation of the “Hope” poetry project by local poet Lynda Monahan. This year the project focuses on the nine poems along the Rotatory Trail. Monahan read the poems of others who could not attend and read from her own work during the walk on Saturday.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
