news | Friday May 14, 2010

Talon Spring Launch at the Edmonton Poetry Festival

The ARTery

Glenn Robson
On April 22nd at the ARTery, Glenn Robson, fully equipped with a George Bowering baseball card, hosted the Talonbooks Spring Launch, doing a stellar job of commenting upon what appears to be quickly becoming an annual tradition at the Edmonton Poetry Festival.

George Bowering
George Bowering kicked off the the reading elaborating upon some experimental and playful poems before taking the audience to the very verge of his book My Darling Nellie Grey.

Weyman Chan
Weyman Chan went where no one has gone before, charming the crowd with allusive explorations of speculative fiction from his book Hypoderm.

Stephen Collis
Members of the audience were visibly moved when Stephen Collis read from On the Material, including his outstandingly profound poem “The History of Plastic”.

Frank Davey
Frank Davey shifted his listeners into peals of amusement, impressing with questions and other errata based upon strategized search results featured in his book Bardy Google.

Garry Thomas Morse
Garry Thomas Morse read grail lore from After Jack and brought the evening to a finale with the performance of an operatic piece from his lifelong epic poem “The Untitled”.

Trisia Eddy
It was great to see so many friendly faces from last year’s launch enjoying themselves, including such supportive figures of the Edmonton poetry scene as rob mclennan and Trisia Eddy. The event was also witnessed warmly by Al Purdy’s podium, replete with built-in drinks shelf.

(photographs courtesy of Jack Bawden)