Through the Jane’s Walks organization, I planned a five-venue walking tour of the West End on May 3rd with five poets, starting at the Roedde House with Rahat Kurd reading from her various books of poetry as they relate to art. We walked down to Nicola and Nelson, where Justyna Krol read poems written for that very intersection. From there, we went to Alexandra Park, where Natalie Lim read her delightful poems beneath a tree. We then skipped into Denman Mall for Marc Perez to recite his poems from memory in front of the art hanging at Lost Lagoon Frames and we finished by King George Secondary where Kevin Spenst (me, the walk reader!) read some elegiac poems from my last book of poetry about my friend Jeff Steudel who was a teacher at that school (and as the world always works in circles, who also happened to teach Rahat Kurd’s son many years ago.) As we moved from place to place, we listened and observed what was around us through the assistance (and insistence!) of poetry. There was also conversation galore! It was a fun afternoon of people getting to know one another (about 25 in total).
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