Nation’s poet laureate to address speech utterance

The Language of Contemporary Poetry series presents Canada’s poet laureate, Fred Wah, for a free public discussion on the importance of speech utterance for the 1960s poets associated with the widely influential poetry and poetics newsletter, TISH.

TISH Poets & the Utterance” is set for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 6, in the CAW Student Centre’s second-floor boardroom.

Wah was a founding editor of TISH. He is the author of more than 20 books, including most recently is a door, Sentenced to Light, and The False Laws of Narrative.

Tuesday’s discussion will encompass not only on Wah’s poetry, but also the poetry of the 1960s, especially in Vancouver, and the widespread turn in North American English-language poetry toward forms of everyday speech.

Coordinated by students in Louis Cabri’s graduate course “Colourless Green Ideas Sleep Furiously: Poetry & Linguistics,” the Language of Contemporary Poetry series receives support from the Humanities Research Group and the Department of English.

Wah will also perform a public reading, hosted by Windsor poet laureate Marty Gervais, at the Capitol Theatre on Monday, March 5, at 7 p.m. The Capitol Theatre is located at 121 University Avenue West in downtown Windsor.

Gervais’ publishing firm, Black Moss Press, has produced a video, “Do it without guilt.”