MELFORT 鈥� Brenda Schmidt, Saskatchewan鈥檚 poet laureate, and William Robertson, an instructor at University of Saskatoon, came to the Melfort Public Library to speak about their poetry.
Coming to Melfort for the Sept. 27 event was Robertson鈥檚 idea.
鈥淗e decided to come here and I was like, 鈥榶es鈥�,鈥� Schmidt said. 鈥淏ecause coming down from the north to Regina, we always stop at Melfort. I mean, everybody that comes from the north does, coming that way. You stop here to eat, you stop here to shop at Marks, Canadian Tire, you pick up your stuff because we don鈥檛 have the same services up there.鈥�
Robertson got to know the area from teaching a class there.
鈥淚 really enjoyed it, I loved the drive up here. I loved it, that drive up here is fantastic,鈥� Robertson said. 鈥淭his fall my teaching load isn鈥檛 as heavy so I got a hold of Brenda and asked her if she wanted to go out on the road with me.鈥�
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William Robertson
Robertson wrote his first poem in Grade 11.听
鈥淲ell, I鈥檝e always been interested in writing,鈥� Robertson said. 鈥淪ince I was a kid I thought, 鈥榦ther people are writing, I should do something too.鈥欌��
鈥淎 couple days later I showed it to my father and he was astonished.鈥�
Robertson didn鈥檛 do well in school and said he tried to convince his father the reason for it was he was 鈥渟tupid鈥� and 鈥渃ouldn鈥檛 get it鈥�.
His father proceeded to tell him this poem was evidence of him thinking and brought it into the school principal to tell him to just make his son work harder.
鈥淗e just went, 鈥榯his is evidence that you are thinking, you know, you鈥檙e using your head for more than growing hair鈥�. Which I had a lot of in those days.鈥�
Robertson spoke about his book 鈥淒ecoys,鈥� a poetry book focusing on his relationship with nature.
Each of his poetry books focuses on different aspects of his life.
鈥淒ecoys came from just the natural world in many of its wonderful guises, and I just had written poems over many years,鈥� Robertson said. 鈥淚 just put them all together for this one manuscript.鈥�
One of his other poetry books is about family and love, and another is about his children and being a stay-at-home dad.
鈥淚t鈥檚 all autobiography in its weird way, you know?鈥�
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Brenda Schmidt
Schmidt鈥檚 first publication was at a local paper when she was 14, for the youth pages.
鈥淚 always wrote as a little kid, and nobody discouraged me I guess, maybe. It鈥檚 like such a cool way to explore the world,鈥� Schmidt said. 鈥淚t helps you think.鈥�
She talked about her poetry book 鈥淐ulverts鈥�.
Culverts is a book focusing on the metaphorical aspects of culverts and all of the ways it can fit into life.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e sort of like, they鈥檙e mysterious. They鈥檙e like a portal to another way of thinking. I mean, they always make me think of what鈥檚 possible, so like, I mean they鈥檙e metaphoric potential too, like relationships.鈥�
鈥淐ulverts are what keep roads in tack, and they direct the flow, so it just makes me think of flow I guess.鈥�
