Hear this story as reported on Tantramar Report:
As part of our poetry month series, CHMA put out several public calls looking for poets and poet enthusiasts to chat on the air.
Keagan Hawthorne certainly fits that bill, as a long-time lover of the literary craft and a writer himself.
He’s also the owner of a micro press, and publishes limited edition poetry broadsides.
Hawthorne was one of the first to reach out and share his fondness for poetry, which he says goes all the way back to his adolescence.
“I remember the moment in high school when I discovered poetry for the first time. I had a massive crush on my older friend, and he was into poetry,” Hawthorne reminisces.
“I grew up in a house where there was a lot of books, and we were encouraged to read, but I remember the moment when [my friend] showed me a poem. He mentioned that in order to enter into the world of a poem, you have to do something different with language than you do to enter the world of a novel… I still remember sitting on the grass outside the cafeteria on the in the hill this 16-year-old besotted afternoon learning about that, but I actually didn’t start writing poems myself until I was probably in my late 20s. It was something I loved, but it wasn’t something that I thought I could do myself.”
Hawthorne is not a poet by trade, but frequents the Ralph Pickard Bell Library on Mount Allison campus as an access services assistant.
Surrounded by books and pencil scratches, he finds his work to be a nice compliment to his poetry practice.
Since he doesn’t write for a living, there isn’t any pressure of deadlines or publishers which makes the process more enjoyable.
Hawthorne studied folklore in university, which he says informs his enjoyment of poetry and his creative process.
“Part of the degree was going around and collecting stories,” Hawthorne explains. “You’d go to a shed, and people are sitting around just yakking, but when somebody starts to tell a story, and they’re really telling a story, you can almost feel a shift in the in the air. You can tell that language is being used differently here, and so it kind of sets a space aside. I think something similar happens when you’re writing a poem.”
Hawthorne describes crafting a poem as a limitless activity.
“Writing poems is quite akin to a potter who goes into her studio to make some pots,” says Hawthorne. “You also do all kinds of different pots, mugs, plates, and bowls, and you play with form. You’re free. Every time you sit down to make a thing, a small self contained thing, you’re pretty free to do what you want to do, and you can do anything with it.”
Hawthorne will be moderating a discussion between two poets, Geordie Miller and Marilyn Lerch, on April 22nd.
Expect to hear interviews from those two poets later this week.
Keagan Hawthorne was kind enough to record several of his original poems, and some of his classic favourites, in CHMA’s recording studio.
To finish off this poetry segment, here’s Hawthorne reading his own poem, Arrival.
