People are like plants —
we, too, have dormant nodes. When plants get lopped off, their side nodes activate new growth. Circumstances made me into a poetry activist: what if people like those in my family, with working class and farm roots, read poetry that enriched their lives? When I thought of first gen university students without a nook for creativity, I wondered, can I help create a solitary space where they can curl up and write? Why not let the world know about the marvels of Canadian poetry? How about taking page poetry into Theatre to create new audiences? Why not make older women visible? Issues of class, sexism, ageism—those are like the things that lop plants (and people) off from their main growth. But projects like these come from the dormant nodes that are spurred into action. Like tendrils that look delicate, but are tenacious, these projects have determinedly found their way into being.
