April is Poetry Month in Canada and Yorkton is jumping on board in celebration.
Established in April 1998 by the League of Canadian Poets (LCP), National Poetry Month brings together schools, publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, and poets from across the country to celebrate poetry and its vital place in Canada's culture. The year 2014 marks the 16th anniversary of National Poetry Month in Canada.
Building on the success of the Mayor's Poetry City Challenge in 2013, the theme this year is Poetry City. As such, Regina's mayor challenged his fellow mayors in communities across Canada to have a local poet read a poem at the opening of a council meeting in march or April.
At the Monday April 14 meeting in Yorkton local poet Dale Winnitowy was invited to council to do just that.
Mr. Winnitowy graduated from the U of S, travelled and became an English teacher, teaching in Yorkton for many years. With a passion for rock' n' roll and travel he has since retired and discovered the joys of poetry, photography and international cuisine.
The following is the work he wrote and read to council entitled "Poetry and Politics."
the day poetry met politics
should have been a day
that all hell broke loose
but au contraire
with their initial awkward platitudes
these masters of words
seemed like dancers searching for a pattern in the other's footsteps
the alderman, who didn't have time to waste,
volleyed with a classic opener
"how's your day been?"
expecting, somewhat hopefully, an innocuous two or three word reply followed by a simple "and yours?"
but poetry had, as they say, miles to go before sleeping
poetry began the day at ten
listening to Tomorrow Never Knows
by the Beatles... ten times...
then he headed out
to a field of dried flowers
to contemplate the breathing of the earth's winds
and to sing praises
to the eternal shape-shifting ballet of clouds
he called it methodical dreaming
the alderman thought
he'd better up the verbal game
to justify his position
so taking the kids to school
and mere-ribbon cutting could not be the order of the day
instead he focused on relaying his pre-ritual of canvassing the intellectuals at the Trailstop Cafe
to learn what was transpiring in the hearts of the populace regarding taxes, water problems, potholes,
health and education
crime and economics
here he discerned the fears and frustrations of his constituents
methodical listening
he called it
a time when blossoming words appeared from the coffee-stained lips of ancient soothsayers
after sipping from the cups of wisdom
he elegantly excused himself and hit the streets of his city with super-hero zeal
smiling, hand-shaking
conquering another day
a nine-headed dragon overcome
another Odyssey completed
the poet smiled knowingly at the Homer reference (and not the Simpsons one) the alderman had
verbally played his trump cards well each had, like a fisherman,
reeled in the respect and a smattering of envy from the other and as they parted both walked away not knowing who had taken the low road and who the high...
but the poet quickened his step for he had to rush home to write a poem about the day poetry met politics
- Dale Winnitowy, April, 2014
