The Spring Pulse Poetry Festival in Cobalt, Haileybury and New Liskeard celebrated its 10th anniversary this weekend with the induction of its founder and current Artistic Director David Brydges into the Cobalt Poetry Hall of Fame also known as the Spring Pulse Poetry Hall of Fame.
Brydges and a brigade of dedicated volunteers have worked hard to grow the Spring Pulse Poetry Festival into the largest festival of its kind in Northern Ontario over the last 10 years.
"In 2006, I discovered that 2007 would be the 100th anniversary of the death of the North’s greatest poet, Dr. William Henry Drummond, who died in Cobalt in 1907. I envisioned a four day festival to honour the doctor/poet’s legacy," Brydges writes on the Spring Pulse Poetry Festival home page web site."
"The festival’s mandate was to share poetry in public places, so events are held throughout Temiskaming Shores (the name for the amalgamated municipalities of Haileybury, New Liskeard and Dymond Township) and Cobalt," writes Brydges.
"Today, we’ve created a literary/arts festival where our tri-cultural community (First Nations, English and French) comes together to celebrate its past and present creativity through poetry, music, and art," he added.
"Today, the Spring Pulse Poetry Festival is Northern Ontario’s largest poetry/arts festival and this year celebrates nine years of existence — establishing Cobalt as a “petite paradise of poetry," he said.
Anne Margeson, the poet laureate for Cobalt, wrote and read a poem in David Brydge's honour on the occasion of his induction.,
The induction took place at the Paul Penna Library in Cobalt.
At three in the afternoon, the festivities moved to Poets' Park, about a 10 minute walk. Usually, the move from the Paul Penna Library to Poets' Park involves a Scottish pipe and drum band parade to Poets' Park, however this year the band was at an event at the local Canadian Legion and so the Festival participants made their way to the park and so did the Pipe and Drum band once the Canadian Legion event was over.
At Poet's Park the session was blessed by the offering of tobacco by representatives of the Algonquin First Nation who also sang a welcoming song. Attention turned to the newly installed school bell of the original Cobalt Public School which was located on the site until 1956. Four people participating on the festival attended the elementary school prior to it closing down in 1956.
Tribute was also paid to Vivian Hyland, a dynamic volunteer and group historian, who died early in April.
In a corner of Poets' Park is a headstone memorializing the White Dog of Cobalt who lived from 1998 to 2010 as a feral dog who roamed the streets of Cobalt befriending most of the community. The white German Shepherd dog was loved and cared for by the Cobalt towns people. It came to symbolize the the free spirit of Cobalt.
In 2010 it was found poisoned to death. Many in the community blame the town's Animal Services department, but a suspect has never been apprehended. Yellow ribbons were tied to a nearby tree in memory of the White Dog of Cobalt.
Finally the afternoon concluded with a poetry reading - what else?
Poets reading at Poets' Park were: Ed John Wills from the Algonquin First Nation who explained the meaning of the offering of tobacco and the welcoming ceremony. Ed also discussed the healing power of the Shaking Tent ceremony.
Victory Zurkowski from Toronto was followed by Della Dean from Cobalt. Honey Novick read two poems and sang one song.
Frank Giorno, from Timmins and Toronto read three poems from his new book of poems My Nation is a Train...Wreck! He was followed by Patsy Taylor from Cobalt.
Three youths from the Cobalt community followed - Tomassy Mathais, Tewryn Chief and Yvonne Francouer brought a youthful perspective to the proceedings at the 2017 Spring Pulse Poetry Festival.
Rounding out the readings were Kate Marshall Flaherty, from Toronto, who earlier in the Festival gave a workshop on poetry writing. John Yates read several hilarious poems on the theme of "Why did the Chicken Cross the Road."
Finally, a young poet named Sierra courageously stepped up to recite a poem she had written. It was one of her first times reading in front of an audience and she bravely overcame her shyness to read the poem to a loud burst of applause from the supportive audience.
