of small and big moments

Posted by Daniela Elza on May 01 2010

How awesome is this? My friend Rob Taylor won the 2010 Alfred G. Bailey Prize for his manuscript “The Wailing Machines,” judged by Mark Callanan. The prize is given out by the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick for a poetry manuscripts not previously published.

This is what the judge had to say:

“The poems here, whether celebrating small moments of tenderness and intimacy, or contemplating the horrors humanity so often visits upon its own, seem to answer the question posed by Mary Oliver in an epigraph that adorns the first section of this book: “how to love this world.” The answer is to find the primal, animal energy that animates our race, and to reflect back to us that energy so that we can more clearly see ourselves, in all our beauty and in all our ugliness.”

I have known Rob for a few years, and have always enjoyed sharing a stage with him, listening to his work (the way he weaves his poems, and leads me though them), not to mention his sense of humour. His dedication to the Al Purdy A-Frame Project etc. etc.

I am quite delighted at this recognition which comes after a busy putting-together-of-a-manuscript time.

It is not that we will stop writing if we do not get recognized. It just makes it a lot more real when there is some validation. And even then, sometimes, it feels unreal.

Congratulations, Rob.
Enjoy the moment.

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