Town of Collingwood Celebrates National Poetry Month

A series of fun activities is planned throughout April

The Town of Collingwood is celebrating National Poetry Month this April with a series of creative and fun activities.

“It’s great that there’s a month to celebrate the joys of poetry,” says Day Merrill, Collingwood’s Poet Laureate, “Just as April sees new life springing forth, this is a time for words to do the same.”

Join in the celebration by taking part in Collingwood’s Poetry Month activities:

• Collingwood StoryWalk® will feature a book called Poetree by Canadian author Caroline Pignat. The StoryWalk is located along the Train Trail starting at the Station Museum, 45 St. Paul Street. Follow the Train Trail and read the pages of Poetree, displayed along the path under plexiglass. The StoryWalk is a collaboration between PRC and the Collingwood Public Library.
• “Poetry Kits” have been placed at the Collingwood Museum and Centennial Aquatic Centre. Each kit is loaded with ideas and tools for anyone to build their own poem.
• Poetry Month Display is showcased in one of the newly installed display cases at Central Park Arena. There are poems by Canadian and international authors featured, as well as a “spontaneous poetry wall” for anyone wanting to share their prose and musings.
• “Poem in Your Pocket Day on April 18 encourages you to select a poem, carry it with you, and share it with others to brighten their day,” says Tanya Mazza, Coordinator of Arts & Culture, “and if you recite your poem to staff at the Collingwood Museum or Centennial Pool you’ll receive a pass for a free swim or skate”. Collingwood’s Poet Laureate, Day Merrill, will also be out and about on the streets of Collingwood with poems in her pocket, so if you see her, share your poem, and Day will pay any outstanding library fines!
• Pints & Poems will be held on April 23. “Much like beer, poetry is an acquired taste.” Come to our first Pints & Poems evening and sample both! Hosted by Side Launch Brewing Company, and emceed by our Poet Laureate, this 19+ event is a chance to try your hand at creating a poem, reading some of your original poetry or sharing a favourite published poem while sampling some of the area’s finest brews.

“Poetry can be simple and straightforward,” says Day Merrill, “there’s an African proverb that says if you can talk you can sing, if you can walk you can dance. As a poetry advocate, I believe if you can write, you can write poetry.”

Email your poems to Day Merrill at poetlaureate@collingwood.ca, she’d love to read them, and they may be posted on our website www.CollingWord.ca

April was established as National Poetry Month in Canada in 1998 to encourage everyone to fit more poetry into their everyday lives and celebrate its place in Canada’s culture.Collingwood’s celebration comes at a time when poetry’s popularity is at an all-time high. Last year, two of the Top 10 bestselling Canadian titles were milk & honey and The Sun and Her Flowers by Indo-Canadian poet Rupi Kaur, and the final book of poems by Leonard Cohen became a best-seller when it was published posthumously in October.