After I talked about what a poet laureate is and does, I showed them some examples of my concrete poems since they had been working on concrete poems in class too. Some of the students came to the front to read their work! I bestowed a special honourable mention certificate to each of the two classes for sending in their poems to the contest.
Afterward, Kate’s class celebrated the unveiling of Morning Chirps, Morning Songs, a wonderful compilation of students’ work. Proud parents listened intently as their kids pointed out their poems and illustrations. I was very honoured to receive a copy too, which students came up to sign. You can find out more on Teacher Kate’s blog.
Thanks to the Vancouver Writers Festival’s wonderful Writers in the Classroom program, I had a chance to visit Magee Secondary last Wednesday, accompanied by VWF’s Senior Education and Development Coordinator, Leena Desai.
Each of the twenty-six grade eleven students in Helen Kuk’s classroom used an ordinary object as a writing prompt. It was very cool to hear about the variety of objects that served as a lens or portal into their writing–a toy soldier, a candle, a toothbrush, a lucky red envelope (usually distributed to kids at Chinese New Year), a hoodie, a cell phone, a calligraphy brush, a cookie cutter, a shell, and more. A very creative group! Helen has told me about all the talent in the classroom too. I am really looking forward to reading the work generated by the classroom exercise!
I was honoured to be invited to visit Stephanie Leechik-Belonio’s terrific grade 11 class at my alma mater, Eric Hamber Secondary, on May 3 through the wonderful Writers in the Classroom Program organized by the Vancouver Writers’ Festival!
I was delighted and impressed by the draft poems that some of the students shared with me that were generated by the in-class writing exercise. (She’ll be forwarding me some more poems to comment on soon too!)
Stephanie prepared the class in advance by showing a couple of my poetry videos made in collaboration with recent animation graduates of Emily Carr University of Art & Design (“Omelet” and “Plasticnic“). I described my journey as a writer and the position of poet laureate, and read a few poems. I also talked about the revision process, establishing a sustainable writing practice, doing public readings and publishing your work. At the end of the session, there were lots of excellent questions during the Q & A. It was a lively exchange!
When I attended Hamber from grade 8 to grade 12 decades ago, the lockers were painted orange and yellow, but everything else was the same–the office, the showcases in the main foyer, the names of top students in athletics, citizenship, academics. (I wasn’t a star in anything, by the way–just a geeky, nerdy, socially awkward introvert who wrote a lot of morbid and angsty poems.) I’m pretty sure I had a class or two in Room 209 too (probably French with Mr. Herring.) A new earthquake-proof building is being built where the track used to be, so this current building probably won’t be around too long. The demographics of the student body and faculty appear to be quite different too than when I was there.
Thanks to Leena Desai, the Senior Education and Development Coordinator at the Vancouver Writers’ Festival, for facilitating the visit and for taking photos! I’m looking forward to visiting Magee next week.
It was wonderful to bring in the Year of the Tiger and celebrate the resilience of the Chinatown and Asian Canadian communities with two online events! In the early afternoon, Bruno Dias, Communications, Engagement and Events Manager at the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens, emceed an hour-long reading featuring six local poets: Catherine Lewis, Isabella Wang, James Wang, Lucy Yang, Jaeyun Yoo and myself. We read and discussed an array of poems about love, feasting, family, ancestors, dinosaurs and more that you can listen to on the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Garden’s YouTube channel here.
In the evening, Todd Wong hosted his annual Gung Haggis Fat Choy banquet which celebrates both Robbie Burns Day and the Lunar New Year. Todd and Elwin Xie showed video clips about the new Chinatown Storytelling Centre, as well as an excerpt of the new Chinatown opera that premieres with City Opera this fall. Most of the performers were live on stage at Floata restaurant in Chinatown while the audience watched online. (I zoomed in to read “Ode to the Plate.”) There were terrific music performances throughout (vocal, guitar, violin, and of course bagpipes), plus a great reading by Janie Chang from her novel, Library of Legends. Floata provided special haggis dumplings and other delicacies for take-out.
On January 20, 2022, I visited the Downtown Eastside Writers Collective for their weekly Thursday gathering at the Carnegie Centre. Led by member Gilles Cyrenne, the group writes together in response to writing prompts, and then shares their work. This time, we focused on specific sites in Vancouver. I set out a number of images of historic Vancouver sites for them to choose to write about (each image had a descriptive paragraph on the back). I also brought some wonderful map guides of Chinatown, the Japanese area of downtown and the west side of downtown produced by the Vancouver Heritage Foundation. The brochures included photos of specific heritage buildings and their historical background. I ended the session with a discussion of how poetry differs from prose in the use of imagery, sound and structure, and ways of varying lines to engage readers.
Last November when I visited the group, we used the prompts “home” and “not home”, which led to some powerful draft pieces. At the end of that session, I shared some pointers about revising poems.
By the way, the Carnegie Centre is one of Vancouver’s historic heritage buildings. Did you know there’s a stained glass window featuring three legendary English poets of note?
