Beyond Forgetting celebrates 100 years of late poet Al Purdy, writes Shawn Conner.
1. Al Purdy.
Beyond Forgetting celebrates 100 years of the Canadian poet, who was born in Ontario in 1918 and died in North Saanich in 2000. Purdy is known for celebrating, exploring and criticizing Canada in his work. Some of his poems include Transients, which mentions “Riding the boxcars out of Winnipeg ”; Wilderness Gothic, set in the Ontario township where he built his summer home; and Her Gates Both East and West, which mentions “That grand summer in Newfoundland/when we feasted on wild raspberries/ bakeapples Screech and salmon.”
2. Rodney DeCroo and The Wise Blood.
The Vancouver singer/ songwriter will perform his dark-side-of-thedream country-noir with his band The Wise Blood. DeCroo is also a published poet who has acknowledged Purdy’s influence.
3. Book launch.
Beyond Forgetting also marks the launch of a new anthology of poems paying tribute to Purdy. Rob Taylor (organizer of Vancouver’s Dead Poets Reading Series), Wednesday Hudson (poet/Purdy fan), and Ian Williams (assistant prof in the UBC Creative Writing program) will read their poems from the anthology. Other contributors (who will not be present) include Milton Acorn, Susan Musgrave and Bruce Cockburn.
4. Howard White.
Purdy’s longtime publisher (and Beyond Forgetting editor) Howard White is also a guest. No doubt he will have some stories he can share about the irascible poet.
5. Al Purdy A-frame Association.
All proceeds from the evening will go to the Al Purdy A-frame Association and its writer-in-residence program. The association is named after an A-frame the poet built himself in the Ontario township of Ameliasburgh.