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Yeti If you would like to respond to a Yeti blog entry, please indicate
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On
Saturday, February 25, the very day that that first blog appeared on our web
page, an article in the Globe & Mail Travel Section announced that a new
attraction at Disney World is a scale model of Mount Everest, with a huge,
hairy, howling Himalayan yeti in residence. True, it is mechanical; but as
Gertrude Stein once said about roses I’ll say about yetis: a yeti is a yeti
is a yeti. Welcome to Florida, Brother (or Sister, for in the Globe &
Mail article your gender was not specified). Canada’s snowbirds will no doubt
find you thrilling, and perhaps a little scary. Let me assure you that it is not our intention in this blog, despite the formidable associations of our name, to frighten; but merely to give a frisson to your literary instincts. In our blog I’ll tell you about our readings and the people who participate in them; and describe the books, chapbooks, CD’s, broadsheets and posters that we are offering for sale. There will also be a Guest Book, where you can enter whatever you want to say to us. Yetis or sasquatches may be huge and hairy but they’re thoroughly democratic. They’ve managed to tolerate humans for thousands of years, though pretty successfully staying out of sight. Smart of them. Can you imagine what a trophy hunter would give to put a stuffed sasquatch or yeti head on the wall of his or her den? * * * Our
featured guest at the last Sasquatch, on Sunday, February 26, was Carlinda
D’Alimonte, who was in Ottawa on a book tour with her collection of poetry
entitled, “Now That We Know Who We Are”, published by Black Moss Press. Her
reading was sponsored by the League of Canadian Poets and the Canada Council
of the Arts. The
daughter of Italian immigrants, D’Alimonte writes with eloquence and
poignancy of prejudice, new Canadians, identity, the vulnerability of
children, death and loss, and the emergencfe of a writer’s voice. Especially
powerful are her evocations of the struggles of the children of immigrants to
fit into the life of Canada. Immigrant parents are hard-working, struggling
to make a good life in a strange land, often consumed by nostalgia for their
homelands; their children are separated from them by a gulf of identity and
experience that is often hard to bridge. Carlinda
D’Alimonte lives in Tecumseh, Ontario, with her husband and two daughters.
She teaches English and Creative Writing in Windsor, Ontario. * * * As
always, our Open Mic was full of surprises.
For the first time ever, we heard a poem in Farsi, the stately
language of Iran. The poet was Daryoush (he explained that his name is that
of ancient Iranian emperors, known to the Greeks as Darius). He read several
other of his poems in excellent English. Daryoush said, half-humourously that
“everyone in Iran is a poet, even the fanatics”. Hearing him gave us a different take on the
life of the people of a country chiefly notable in recent years as being part
of the “Axis of Evil”. Carol
Stephen, from Carleton Place, read poems of hers for the first time in front
of an audience, expressing herself with sensitivity and aplomb. She was
nervous, she admitted, but to give herself courage wore an elegant three-cornered
hat with a plume in it. Carl
Edgar Law, of Kingston, who has recently, after a long period of silence,
started reading his work at various poetry venues, read several of his poems: serious and well-crafted. Lynne
Alsford, always vivid and original, read several poems, including haiku and a
poem about a definitive red dress. K.G.
Gordon, read a number of his thought-provoking aphoristic “Gordonisms”, brief
and sharply to the point on a wide variety of subjects. I
read a poem about the lack of balance in media coverage of the world; how the
humble and near at hand is neglected for the far away and sensational; and
how I know more about Sunni and Shia, Afghans and Kurds than abut the
homeless people of Ottawa. Jacqueline
Zena read sensitive inspirational work, with an emphasis on life-affirmation. John
Woodsworth played the balalaika and sang “Moscow Nights” and read some
passages from his translation of “The Ringing Cedars” a series of Russian
best-selling novels. Nancy
Rattle, read several of her strongly earthy poems. That
was it for Sasquatch, February 26, 2006. But
the afternoon was not yet over. As I emerged from the Downstairs Room at the
Royal Oak II pub, where Sasquatch is held, I ran into an old friend,
Alooktook Ipperle, an Innuit poet who writes with great insight and intensity
of the life of the Canadian Far North. We spoke for a long time about the
life and death of cultures, the crisis of global warming, nowhere more
evident and alarming than in the Arctic, and how his people are struggling to
preserve as much of their ancient ways as they can: for example, there has
been a renaissance in throat-singing, which had become an almost lost art. I
left the pub, feeling inspired and challenged by the cultural riches
available to Canadians. The
next Sasquatch reading is on Sunday, March 12. We will proudly feature young
writers who studied Creative Writing under Seymour Mayne at the University of
Ottawa during the 2004-2005 year. Now, one year later, they will launch an
anthology of their work entitled “Norman Drive”. The writers include: Rhonda
Douglas, Jesse Ferguson, Jeff Fry, Teresa Jewell, John Kelly, Jennifer Leap,
Wanda O’Connor, and Tree Renaud. They will be introduced by Seymour Mayne.
Readings every year by Seymour Mayne’s students are a Sasquatch tradition of
long-standing. There
will of course be an Open Mic. The
date: March 12; the time: 2:00 p.m.; the place: Royal Oak II pub, 161 Laurier
Avenue East, Ottawa. We meet on the second and fourth Sunday every month,
except July and August. There is no admission fee, only the passing around of
El Sombrero for voluntary donations. Be
There. Juan * * * The
following works are currently on sale at Sasquatch: Translations
from Russian to English by John Woodsworth of thee of the novels in a
brilliant series of novels under the overall title of “The Ringing Cedars”,
which feature a wise yet naïve, possibly extraterrestrial heroine named
Anastasia and are a current runaway best-sellers in Russia (John tells us
that in Siberia there are ancient cedar trees that on their own actually make
a humming or ringing sound); Two
chapbooks by Lynne Alsford: one is entitled “Taliban” and is an indictment of
the cruelty perpetrated against women by the former Taliban regime in
Afghanistan, a theme that unfortunately has acquired fresh relevance, as
Canadian troops battle Taliban guerillas in the Kandahar area; the other is
“Beach Plum Jam”, poems ranging from the riotously bawdy to the exquisitely
sensuous; thoughtful poems about Sylvia Plath and William Faulkner; and
hauntingly beautiful meditations about an old tree, the mysterious, vanished
Anasazi people of the U.S. Southwest, and the death of Princess Diana. There
are also richly-coloured Sasquatch posters, featuring paintings by Susan
Woodsworth and layout by John Woodsworth. For
further information regarding purchase of these items, contact John, Lynne
and Susan through our e-mail address: e-sasquat.ca. Anyone
wishing to offer literary, musical or visual art works for sale, bring them
to Sasquatch and if we think they’re good, we’ll place them on our For Sale
table and list them here. Prices are strictly up to the authors, musicians and artists.
Welcome
to our new blog. Bon giorno, buenos dias, bon jour, wie gehts, salaam,
shalom, kalimera, namaste, migwich, ni hau. OK,
that proves we’re cosmopolitan. But why YETI? YETI,
in case you haven’t been informed yet by book, blog or print and broadcast
media, is the Himalayan cousin of SASQUATCH, that legendary inhabitant of Of
course if you’re meeting us for the first time, you might justifiably ask:
Why SASQUATCH? Our home is, after all, An
example of the longevity of the sasquatch legend is a somewhat over the top
theory that the evil monsters, Grendel and his mother, in the Early English
epic poem, “Beowolf”, may have been sasquatches defending their territory and
satiating their hunger, their favorite dish being the aforementioned mammal,
a habit that the Good Guy of the tale, Beowolf, put a stop to. Our
story is much more recent and less gastronomically original, but it has its
aura of suspense too. Will a real 500 pound-plus sasquatch show up one day at
one of our readings to find out what is going on under the sasquatch label,
big feet pounding thunderously as he or she approaches our cozy den? There is
an amusing poem by To find out more about the past of
SASQUATCH, The Series, please click right here on the word history. Today,
after various changes of venue and countless comings and goings of writers
and other artists who have shared their works with us and our audiences, we
are holding regular readings (usually with musicians participating) twice
every month on the second and fourth Sunday (except during July and August,
or if one of our Sundays coincides with a major holiday) starting at two in
the afternoon in the Downstairs Room of the Royal Oak II pub, 161 Laurier
Avenue East, near the People
are welcome to drop in or leave at any time during the program, for we are
not a school or a church. But if you want to put your name down for the Open
Mic, better be there at two sharp. The In
our blog we will tell you about our previous reading and the people who
participated, and also describe the books, chapbooks, CD’s, broadsheets and
posters that we are offering on our FOR SALE table. You will also find a
Guest Book on our web page, where you can enter whatever you wish to say to
us. The SASQUATCH reading on Sunday, February
12, was attended by about thirty people. Our special guest was a lady of
great talent and beauty. Evelyn Voigt was born in what is now The
poems she recited at the last SASQUATCH, with brilliant guitar accompaniment
by Rene Gely, a native Ottawan with an international reputation as an
arranger, performer and teacher, covered a wide territory of body and soul,
ranging from the joyous freedom of a child growing up in the African bush, to
a sadly regimented little girl sent to a Dickensian boarding school, to a
sometimes world-weary contemporary woman, cherishing times of peaceful
withdrawal from a troubled planet. “Kulala…kulala….la…la…..”
Evelyn chanted softly in Swahili, describing a state of dreamlike
enchantment, and we were enchanted. As
always, there was a varied group of people who performed during the two Open
Mic periods. Carl
Edgar Law, a Valley poet, read poems of sensitive or trenchant interior and
exterior dialogue. It was not only his first reading at SASQUATCH, but his
first reading in 41 years, proving that it is never too late for a poet to
give wings to the spoken word. Susan
Woodsworth amusingly described the awesome prospect of a high school reunion
after a long separation from the place and people involved. Maureen
Glaude offered several beautiful tanka, haiku, and one free verse poem, on
themes such as love, winter and the half-moon. Lynne
Alsford showed that she can do haiku and write about cats with the same ease
and eloquence with which she deals with themes such as sex, the Virgin Mary,
and the sea. Chris
Sorrenti offered a moving tribute to Irving Layton and a poem celebrating John
Woodsworth, a poet and musician equally fluent in English and Russian
expressed once again his versatility, having read two poems set in Moscow,
and sang, accompanying himself on his balalaika, the famous Russian ballad,
“Katyusha”. Yours
Truly (i.e. Juan O’Neill, the author of this blog) sang “Rose of Istanbul”, a
song he composed in memory of an unforgettable love in that city of golden
dreams, sunlight and shadow and speaking stones. Sandra
Howard showed us once again the extraordinarily delicacy and imagery of her
work, truly poetry that one can “see”. Sharon
Liu performed, in English, sijo, which are brief vividly evocative poems in
accordance with ancient Japanese tradition, and are the form from which haiku
developed. Jacqueline
Zena presented haiku and also a rhymed poem. Her theme was “winners”, a
heartfelt celebration of people who do not give up. Michel
Sincennes read translations of “ghazals”, an exquisite form of poetry, much
cultivated in the lands of Islam for many centuries. The ghazals he read were
translations from Urdu to English. Kevin
Dooley brought the music of another language, strangely familiar yet
unfamiliar: Gaelic, in its Irish form; a language more ancient than any other
living European language, except perhaps Lithuanian or Basque. Yet the poems
he read, followed by English translations, were startlingly modern in theme
and were written by Irish women employing the old tongue in a contemporary
context. Nancy
Rattle, a Valley poet reading at SASQUATCH for the first time, recited
strongly and earthily passionate poetry with verve and eloquence. Finally,
Julie Loper, a much-loved former resident of Ottawa, here with her husband,
Don, for a short visit (they now live in Comox, B.C.), read several of her
powerfully evocative poems, and concluded with an old favorite, delivered in
a Franco-Canadian accent, about a lonely hunter living in the woods with his
true love, his rifle, and their encounter with a big, aggressive bear. Thank
you, Julie, for not making it a sasquatch. Our
next reading, on Sunday, February 26, will be at the same time and place,
barring extraterrestrial invasion, an avian flu quarantine, or the declaration of a state of national
mourning for the defeat of Canada’s men’s hockey team at the Turin Olympics
(but bravissimo to the Canadian women for their many victories in various
events, and also to the Canadian men who managed to bring home some metal!),
namely at two p.m. in the Downstairs Room of the Royal Oak II pub, 161
Laurier Avenue East, near the University iof Ottawa. Our featured guest is
Carlinda D’Alimonte, who is currently on a book tour with her collection of
poetry entitled, “Now That We Know Who We Are”, published by Black Moss Press.
Her reading is sponsored by the League of Canadian Poets and the Canada
Council of the Arts. Be
there. Ciao. Juan --------------------------------------------------- Commercial
addenda. The following works are currently on sale at SASQUATCH: Translations
from Russian to English by John Woodsworth of thee of the novels in a series
of novels under the overall title of “The Ringing Cedars”, which feature a
possibly extraterrestrial heroine named Anastasia and are a current runaway
best-sellers in Russia; Two
chapbooks by Lynne Alsford. One is entitled “Taliban” and is an indictment of
the cruelty perpetrated against women by the former Taliban regime in
Afghanistan, a theme that unfortunately has acquired fresh relevance, as
Canadian troops battle Taliban guerillas in the Kandahar area; the other is
“Beach Plum Jam”, erotic poems ranging
from the riotously bawdy to the exquisitely sensuous, thoughtful poems about
Sylvia Plath and William Faulkner, and a hauntingly beautiful meditation
following a visit to Cedar Mesa, about the mysterious, vanished Anasazi
people; Richly
textured and hued SASQUATCH posters, featuring paintings by Susan Woodsworth
and layout by John Woodsworth. For
further information, contact John, Susan and Lynne at the next SASQUATCH. Anyone
wishing to offer literary, musical or visual art works for sale, bring them
and we’ll put them on the table, whether reader or viewer discretion is
advised or not… If you would like to respond to a Yeti blog entry, please
indicate which date you are responding to, and send us an e-mail with text
inserted into the body of the message to:
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