When listening to one recording from the SGW Poetry Series (1966-1974), it can be hard to hear its place amid the reading series as a whole. One can visualize its place on a list or on a calendar but it can be harder to sonically hear the seriality itself, except when someone on the recording, most often the host, refers to the previous or following reading. For this Audio of the Week, as we near the end of 2019, I have selected two clips from December readings in which there are announcements for the next readings in January.
Audio of the week, ShortCuts, SPOKENWEBLOG | 1967, 1968, Katherine McLeod, SGW Reading Series
As I listened to December readings from various years in the SGW Poetry Series – to mark the end of this year, 2019 – I started exploring the reading by Daryl Hine. At first, I considered selecting his reading of the final poem, “The Trout,” but then I noticed something else: a note for one timestamp (00:42:19) indicating that Hine introduced and read “an unknown poem.” As I listened to his introduction, I realized that he was preparing the audience for the now-famous poem “Point Grey,” which, at the time of this reading, was not published. In fact, the introducer of Hine at the start of the reading mentioned that Minutes, the collection that contained “Point Grey,” would be published in 1968.
Audio of the week, ShortCuts, SPOKENWEBLOG | 1967, Daryl Hine, Katherine McLeod, SGW Reading Series
A weekly session for exploring and experimenting with different modes of listening. Each week our practice will be guided by an expert from SpokenWeb. What is listening? What are we listening for when we are listening? What are listening techniques for different disciplines? Join us, once or weekly, for Listening Practice. All are welcome!
Workshops | Anglophone Heritage Network, Concordia University, Katherine McLeod, Listening Practice, Montreal, Quebec, SpokenWeb, workshop
Daphne Marlatt starts her reading with poems from Vancouver Poems (1972), a deeply local collection that she had not yet published when this reading took place at Sir George Williams University (now Concordia) in Montreal. She tells the audience that she will explain the local references as she goes along, starting with the first poem that refers to Lost Lagoon in Vancouver’s Stanley Park. What Marlatt could not have anticipated is that the poems would become pathways to revisit the city when republishing many of them years later in Liquidities: Vancouver Poems Then and Now (2013).
Audio of the week, ShortCuts, SPOKENWEBLOG | 1970, Daphne Marlatt, Katherine McLeod, SGW Reading Series
A weekly session for exploring and experimenting with different modes of listening. Each week our practice will be guided by an expert from SpokenWeb. What is listening? What are we listening for when we are listening? What are listening techniques for different disciplines? Join us, once or weekly, for Listening Practice. All are welcome!
Workshops | Concordia University, Jason Camlot, Katherine McLeod, Klara du Plessis, Listening Practice, Montreal, workshop
Curious about what SpokenWeb is, who’s involved, and what we have planned for the year ahead? Thinking of collaborating with us or maybe just attending one of our events? Our student team would love for you to stop by our table to have a chat, share some treats. Find out how you can get involved […]
Workshops | Andrew Roberge, Chelsea Obodoechina, Concordia University, Emma Tolero, Jason Camlot, Katherine McLeod, Klara du Plessis, Listening Practice, Montreal, Yuliya Kondratenko
Curious about what SpokenWeb is, who’s involved, and what we have planned for the year ahead? Thinking of collaborating with us or maybe just attending one of our events? Our student team would love for you to stop by our table to have a chat, share some treats. Find out how you can get involved […]
Workshops | Andrew Roberge, Chelsea Obodoechina, Concordia University, Emma Tolero, Jason Camlot, Katherine McLeod, Klara du Plessis, Montreal
Curious about what SpokenWeb is, who’s involved, and what we have planned for the year ahead? Thinking of collaborating with us or maybe just attending one of our events? Our student team would love for you to stop by our table to have a chat, share some treats. Find out how you can get involved […]
Workshops | Andrew Roberge, Chelsea Obodoechina, Concordia University, Emma Tolero, Jason Camlot, Katherine McLeod, Klara du Plessis, Listening Practice, Montreal, Yuliya Kondratenko
Curious about what SpokenWeb is, who’s involved, and what we have planned for the year ahead? Thinking of collaborating with us or maybe just attending one of our events? Our student team would love for you to stop by our table to have a chat, play some audio trivia, and maybe even record some poetry […]
Workshops | Ali Barillaro, Chelsea Obodoechina, Concordia University, Eerika Koskinen-Koivisto, Emma Tolero, Hilary Orange, Jeffrey Weingarten, José Alavez, Katherine McLeod, Klara du Plessis, Lea Kabiljo, Lilyane Rachédi, Listening Practice, Montreal, Pharo Sok, Piyusha Chatterjee, Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network, Rod MacLeod, Sarah De Nardi, Sébastien Caquard, Steven High, workshop
After reading for about eleven minutes, Earle Birney pauses to ask if there is any water to drink. There is a glass and a pitcher (audibly present) but nearly empty, and thus the evening’s host George Bowering heads out into the hallway to find Birney a cold beverage. This interlude of extra-poetic speech reveals that, despite it being mid-February, the room temperature feels more like summer and, more importantly, the humourous nature of the extra-poetic speech attunes the listener to the sociality as well as to the poetry.
Audio of the week, ShortCuts, SPOKENWEBLOG | 1968, Earl Birney, Katherine McLeod, SGW Reading Series