Fighting Words: A Cure for War Fever
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George Elliott Clarke, Poet; and Gary Geddes, Poet
Coach House, Green College, UBC
Thursday, September 29, 5-6:30pm, with reception to followin the series
Green College Special EventDon’t miss this dynamic duo, Gary Geddes with his gripping narrative poems and seamless impersonations and George Elliott Clarke with his stunningly eclectic poems and high-octane vocabulary, two consummate performers who refuse the notion that "poetry makes nothing happen" (W. H. Auden). In these times of war and climate crisis, their unique and engaged approaches make a strong case for poetry as both a call to action and a source of healing, speaking to the wound in each of us, that part which is so often in ruins. Their anti-war poetry not only flies beneath the radar, nests in the ear and bloodstream and alters the brain chemistry, but also achieves what Dylan Thomas calls “that momentary peace which is the poem."
Tea and coffee will be available in the Piano Lounge at 4:30 pm.
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Painting of George Elliott Clarke is by Abigail (paint on paper, 2022)
The 4th Poet Laureate of Toronto (2012-15) and the 7th Parliamentary/Canadian Poet Laureate (2016-17), George Elliott Clarke was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia, in 1960. A professor of English at the University of Toronto, Clarke has also taught at Duke, McGill, UBC and Harvard. His recognitions include the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Centre Fellowship (US), the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Fellows Prize, the Governor-General’s Award for Poetry, the National Magazine Gold Award for Poetry, the Premiul Poesis (Romania), the Eric Hoffer Book Award for Poetry (US), and International Fellow Poet of the Year, Encyclopedic Poetry School [2019] (China). His acclaimed titles include Whylah Falls (1990, translated into Chinese), Beatrice Chancy (1999, translated into Italian), Execution Poems (2001), Blues and Bliss (selected poems, 2009), I & I (2008), Illicit Sonnets (UK, 2013), Traverse (2015), and Canticles II (MMXX) (2020).
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Unless otherwise noted, all of our lectures are free to attend and do not require registration.
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6201 Cecil Green Park Rd
Green College, UBC
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1
Canada
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