Objective
Poetic Odysseys launched in 2018. It seeks to provide a place within the Emeritus College for those who like poetry, who write poetry, or who seek an opportunity to engage with others who share that interest.
Members
All who are interested in writing, reading or listening to poetry are welcome. Poetry from our members can be found in past issues of the Emeritus College Newsletter.
New members are welcome, and those interested in attending the next meeting should contact group convenors Philip Resnick (philip.resnick@ubc.ca) or George McWhirter (gmcwubc@telus.net).
Activities
The group currently meets on occasional Tuesdays throughout the academic year. We have developed various formats for engagement including one where participants can circulate up to three poems to other members of the group and read one of them at the meeting, on which the others can then comment. Members of Poetic Odysseys sometimes communicate poems they have written or that they have published to one another by email.
Meetings
You can find all upcoming meetings by visiting the Upcoming Events page and searching for the category "SIG: Poetry".
History
Before the pandemic hit, the group would meet in the classroom upstairs from where the Emeritus College office is located. Meetings were held four times a year, twice in each term, and our format has evolved along the way. In a number of instances, participants have read poems they themselves had not written, but which had appealed to them.
With the coming of COVID and the shutdown of the campus, our group, like many others, has taken to Zoom meetings. In early December, 2021, a number of us met in a café for our first face-to-face meeting in almost two years. For some of our newer members, this was a first occasion to meet up with others.
In 2021-22 Evelyn Pinkerton contributed a Robert Burns poem set to music as a welcome musical interlude to our meetings. Also recently, group members have published collections on the COVID crisis and more:
- Bill New, In the Plague Year, Rock’s Mill Press
- Philip Resnick, Pandemic Poems, Ronsdale Press
- George McWhirter published the following translation from four books by the Mexican poet, Homero Aridjis with New Directions in 2022: Autorretrato en la Zona de Silencio / Self portrait in the Zone of Silence. George has since been the recipient of the 2024 Griffin Prize for translation.