Strange Places

a place to gather

Posted by Daniela Elza on Jun 13 2012

Alongside the readings and launches I have enjoyed doing workshops/talks/presentations. In March I visited an Arts Education graduate class at Simon Fraser University. In April (for poetry month) I visited a high school in Surrey. And in May I had the pleasure of giving a two hour talk on poetry at VBE Roberts and Gathering Place Education Centre.

I was welcomed warmly by the principle Leonardo Hutchinson and his staff. Sho Wiley, a poet I know from the poetry community, works there. (You can see her in a couple of the photos).

The event took place in the library. The students were attentive and present. And by that I do not just mean that they showed up. It is not easy to give a two hour talk if you do not feel people being present. And here they were. And a good number of them.

Thank you for your questions. And feedback. I was thoroughly touched by a young woman’s comment who said that her tear ducts have pretty much been cauterized, but my poem the weight of dew made her tear up. Thank you for that. At the end of the talk I was surprisingly energized. An outcome I cherish.

[All the photos were taken by Leonardo Hutchinson. Thank you.]
Since then I have done a couple of workshops with Pandora’s Collective in elementary schools and have loved every minute of it. I worked with grades 3/4 on May 30th and today with grade 5/6/7. Each time I am impressed with what the kids come up with. With the sheer enthusiasm of a good number of them. Breaking news: Poetry is inside them. It takes a little to give them permission to let it out.