By William Crooks
Local Journalism Initiative
A free poetry reading, “Enchanted April,” featuring poets from across the Townships will take place April 21 from 2 – 4 p.m. at Uplands Cultural & Heritage Centre. The Townships Sun, Uplands Cultural & Heritage Centre, Quebec Writers’ Federation, Lennoxville Library, and Write Here, Write Now co-sponsor this event in celebration of National Poetry Month.
“It’s a collaborative reading,” explained local Write Here, Write Now Coordinator Jan Draper in an April 16 interview with The Record. Readers will hail from Maple Leaf to Bromont. “We really are covering most of the Eastern Townships,” Draper said.
“Rest assured, it won’t be boring,” Draper insisted. She emphasized the event will “move along quite quickly.” Readers will only have two minutes to present and there will be no pauses between readings. A question-and-answer period will be held in the middle of the event and tea and treats will be available before and after.
The poets will select pieces of their own work that cover a wide range of topics and formats. “There will be everything from haiku to longer lyric poems,” Draper said. Some poems will be more traditional, some free verse with little punctuation.
Draper said some people consider poetry to be something they cannot relate to or understand, but that is not the way it is. “Poetry is accessible to everyone,” she said.
