Celebrated Canadian poet Don McKay will give a public reading at the Comox Valley Art Gallery on Thursday, June 30 at 7 p.m.
This is a rare opportunity to hear McKay read from his work, as he now makes his home in Newfoundland. McKay was one of the first writers-in-residence at the Roderick Haig-Brown House in Campbell River, and this summer will be one of two writers-in-residence at the McLoughlin Gardens in Merville.
A two-time winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry, as well as many other awards, McKay will be reading from Strike/Slip, a collection of poems inspired by field work on southern Vancouver Island, where the poet explored the landscape and geology of Loss Creek.
McKay’s poems combine a deep attentiveness to place with precise language and a wry sense of humour. In the poem Pond, he dwells lovingly on the characteristics of still water and concludes with a challenge to Greek myth:
…Suppose Narcissus
were to find a nice brown pond
to gaze in: would the course of self-love
run so smooth with that exquisite face
rendered in bruin undertone,
shaken, and floated in the murk
between the deep sky and the ooze?
(from Pond)
This event is free and open to the public. Come early as seating is limited. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
The Comox Valley Art Gallery is located at 580 Duncan Ave. in Courtenay.