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“On Poetry”
P.K. Page Terasen Acceptance Speech Highlights,
Terasen Lifetime Achievement Award,
Vancouver Public Library, 2004:
When I heard that I'd won the award, I thought, well, this good news... and this is bad news. It's very good news that my peers thought me worthy of this award. But it's telling me how old I am!
With me added to the list of winners, that makes three poets out of ten. And I'm happy to draw your attention to it.
I'm going to be serious now. Poetry is a vitally important literary form. It's too often overlooked in this age of fast food, fast ideas, fast acts, fast living. And who has time for it? Nobody. Or few. And yet if my fast facts are correct, there are respectable psychologists who claim that, in order to develop the full powers of the mind-now listen to this, this is important-early exposure to metered verse is essential. Some go even further, suggesting the reading of poetry develops pattern recognition, a sophisticated sense of time and timing, and more importantly, such positive emotions as peace and love. Now if they are correct, you need me. And you need all the other poets who are here... including Patrick [Friesen], who has just crept in. If they are correct, I have not spent a lifetime goofing off... although it may look like it. Being a poet requires the acquisition of a considerable armoury. No no, not weapons of mass destruction-subversive though poets are apt to be. Definition 'B' in Webster. Armoury: A collection of available resources. A treasury. Homer and all the poets since who have told us about ourselves, told us, what's more, in curious rhythms that may have been shaping our brains. I mean this is really serious stuff! Who knows what Shakespeare did to us, with his iambic pentameter. Let me end by paraphrasing an article by Frederick Turner-he's a poet, he's a polymath-and Ernest Popul, a German brain researcher. They deplore the rise of what they call 'Utilitarian Education', and the loss of traditional folk poetry, and claim this trend may have led to the success of political and economic tyranny. They conclude that, starved of the beautiful and complex rhythms of poetry, we become susceptible to the brutal and simplistic rhythms of the totalitarian slogan-or advertising jingle. I told you I was going to be serious, and I'm being serious. But we live in serious times, and I think it's perfectly legitimate to take this tact. We need all the help we can get. I'm especially delighted, for all these reasons, that poetry has been honoured, in this tenth year of the Terasen [Award]. And every time I light my gas fire, I will think of this evening, and all of you, and thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Terasen Lifetime Achievement Award,
Vancouver Public Library, 2004:
When I heard that I'd won the award, I thought, well, this good news... and this is bad news. It's very good news that my peers thought me worthy of this award. But it's telling me how old I am!
With me added to the list of winners, that makes three poets out of ten. And I'm happy to draw your attention to it.
I'm going to be serious now. Poetry is a vitally important literary form. It's too often overlooked in this age of fast food, fast ideas, fast acts, fast living. And who has time for it? Nobody. Or few. And yet if my fast facts are correct, there are respectable psychologists who claim that, in order to develop the full powers of the mind-now listen to this, this is important-early exposure to metered verse is essential. Some go even further, suggesting the reading of poetry develops pattern recognition, a sophisticated sense of time and timing, and more importantly, such positive emotions as peace and love. Now if they are correct, you need me. And you need all the other poets who are here... including Patrick [Friesen], who has just crept in. If they are correct, I have not spent a lifetime goofing off... although it may look like it. Being a poet requires the acquisition of a considerable armoury. No no, not weapons of mass destruction-subversive though poets are apt to be. Definition 'B' in Webster. Armoury: A collection of available resources. A treasury. Homer and all the poets since who have told us about ourselves, told us, what's more, in curious rhythms that may have been shaping our brains. I mean this is really serious stuff! Who knows what Shakespeare did to us, with his iambic pentameter. Let me end by paraphrasing an article by Frederick Turner-he's a poet, he's a polymath-and Ernest Popul, a German brain researcher. They deplore the rise of what they call 'Utilitarian Education', and the loss of traditional folk poetry, and claim this trend may have led to the success of political and economic tyranny. They conclude that, starved of the beautiful and complex rhythms of poetry, we become susceptible to the brutal and simplistic rhythms of the totalitarian slogan-or advertising jingle. I told you I was going to be serious, and I'm being serious. But we live in serious times, and I think it's perfectly legitimate to take this tact. We need all the help we can get. I'm especially delighted, for all these reasons, that poetry has been honoured, in this tenth year of the Terasen [Award]. And every time I light my gas fire, I will think of this evening, and all of you, and thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Submitted on July 15, 2004 in By David.
