News
The Ultimate Poetic Experience; Strolling Through A Prize-Winning Poem.
March 17th, 2009
Sackville will Stroll Through A Poem on March 21st, World Poetry Day and the first day of Spring. At 2 pm on Saturday, March 21st, the invitation is extended to all those wishing to join a World Poetry Day celebration in Sackville.
Starting at 2 pm at the Bridge Street Café, local poets will read their own poetry. At 2:45 pm the (long-awaited) “Stroll Through A Poem” project will be launched from the corner of Main Street and Bridge Street, just across from the Town Hall. The inaugural “Stroll” will then proceed along the sidewalk of East Main and “Academy Stretch” to the Tantramar Memorial Veterans Civic Centre.
Poetry is in the air in little Sackville, New Brunswick. Well, actually its on the Towns utility poles, 31 of them throughout the marshside town. And the poem is Douglas Lochheads HIGH MARSH ROAD, which has won the prestigious Carlo Betocchi Prize for poetry in Florence Italy.
Lochhead, who happens to be Sackvilles official poet laureate, wrote HIGH MARSH ROAD as a daily four month diary account of life and thought beside one of the worlds great salt marshes. The 31 verses placed on utility poles cover the month of September, and bring the strolling reader close to the entrance of the Sackville Waterfowl Park. So one can stroll through a poem, in the most reflective surroundings and end up with a walk through part of the marsh, alive with geese, ducks and all manner of waterfowl. This year, the Park also contains many environmental sculptures in celebration of the Town being awarded the title of Canadian Cultural Capital. Environmental sculptors from Belgium, Mexico, France, Germany the United States and Canada have added to the mystique of this most natural park with their work, and brought even more art and reflection to the nature and life musings of Douglas Lochhead.
The poetic walk begins at the corner of Main and Bridge Streets in Sackville,across the street from Town Hall. It continues east on Main, past the Anglican Church and the Swan Pond and is finished on Main, quite near the Civic Centre. Good exercise for both body and mind. Free too.
This project has been realized with kind support of the Tantramar Pharmacy, George Murray, and Throop Signs. The Sackville Arts and Culture Policy Committee of Council is pleased to present this project to the Town of Sackville as an activity that both citizens and visitors can enjoy. It is a proud tribute to the generosity of Sackvilles Poet Laureate, Douglas Lochhead. Special thanks go to Graham Watt, a citizen of Sackville, for coming up with “yet another great idea” for our town!