POETRY RETREAT~GLENAIRLEY, MARCH 2007

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What follows is a post I wrote after attending my first Patrick Lane retreat at Glenairley on Vancouver Island. I was there with three friends, Rhonda Ganz, Leslie McBain, and Pat Smekal. We were, as I recall, a little nervous to be with a group of poets who obviously had been taking poetry seriously for longer than we had (we'd met at a Victoria School of Writing workshop week with George Bowering in 2005) but Patrick quickly made us feel both welcome and worthy. I remember my first conversation with him. We discovered we were both born in the same hospital, the old one on High Street in Nelson.

And what poets were there at this, my first Patrick retreat: Isa Milman, Mary Ann Moore, Richard Osler, Ray McGinnis, Wendy Morton, Heidi Garnett, Sandra Ridley, Diane Buchanan, Dvora Levin, Joan Shillington, Martha Royea, Sue Gee. It was a transformative weekend that led to many other such weekends for all of us. The groups outgrew Glenairley and moved on to Ocean Wilderness, Rivendell on Bowen Island, and finally Honeymoon Bay, but the thread that held them together was Patrick.

Chapbooks came out of these retreats, published by Leaf Press. Patrick chose the poems that were included, all written during the weekend, and wrote the introduction.

Glenairley chapbook, March 2007

Patrick's introduction to poems in Starting With Bread

Patrick died today—March 7, 2019. He'd have turned 80 at the end of this month. The outpouring of love and respect on social media is breathtaking.

As were his words.

As was he.

RIP Patrick.

Now here's my post from my first retreat, 12 years ago this month.

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Take a former nunnery outside Victoria, BC

Add a few cabins, some geese

Tables covered with books — with Richard Osler

Good food

Prepared by a couple of amazing chefs — Wendy and Patrick

Patrick's prawns were fabulous!

Spend the next couple of days talking poetry, writing poetry, reading poetry, listening to poetry in the lovely library.

Wendy, Joan, Isa, Leslie

Mary Ann and Patrick

Sandra, Wendy, Isa, Rhonda, Leslie

Diane and Martha

Heidi and Dvora

Sue, Richard, Diane

Patrick and Pat

Isa, Sue, Patrick

Sandra, Ray, Richard, Diane, Dvora 

Diane and me

Sandra, Sue, Mary Ann

Leslie, Ray

Leslie and me

Leslie, Pat, Rhonda

Sandra Ridley

Pat Smekal, me, Rhonda Ganz, Patrick, Leslie McBain

Joan, Dvora, Sandra

Rhonda

What a weekend! I had a wonderfully productive time, made new poet-friends, hope to come again.

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