Showing posts with label poetry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poetry. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

After One Year of COVID: Interview with Margaret Lindsay Holton


It's always so interesting to look back at various point in Time ...

In this instance, I was invited, in early April 2021, to discuss where I'm at - as an artist and author - one year after the onset of COVID. 

I remember the start of the pandemic rather vividly. It was mid March of 2020 and suddenly it seemed that everyone was going into lock-down mode. I just instinctively knew, as did so many others, that this was SERIOUS. We had to hunker down. I did not do a run out to stock-up on toilet paper, but I was struck by the disappearance of all fresh eggs from the local grocer. For two days, I literally hunted for fresh eggs - finally finding a dozen in a small convenience store. And the 'new reality' sunk in. 

Interestingly enough, James Strecker and I go back a lot further than one year ... Many years ago, when he was running a small and vibrant publishing house in Hamilton, I submitted a poem for an local anthology about 'what Life meant'. (A typical kind of artist Q&A!)  It was also one of the first poems of mine ever published. Here's the blurb for that #poetry book, This I Believe ...

 Well, time goes on ... as do writing projects ... 

Now, some 30+ years later, with three novels under my belt, numerous photo-books, two books of poetry and a social history about religion in Toronto, James and I have circled around again to each other. In the following interview, James asks, again, about 'what does Life mean' ... 

 
JAMES STRECKER: If, before the COVID crisis, you were asked for 50 words to summarize what you do, or have done, in the arts, what would you have said about your purpose and creations?

MARGARET LINDSAY HOLTON: I’ve been active in the local, national and international arts community for over 40 years now through a variety of disciplines: Canadian fine furniture design & making, painting, writing, experimental photography and short film works. Essentially, I am offering my vision of ‘how I see the world’ from this exact point – in Time and Space – on this, our amazing home planet. This has been my job … 

Read the rest of the free-ranging interview here.

Follow up with an MLH Book : https://linktr.ee/MargaretLindsayHolton

Or just follow MLH on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TrillLINDSAY

Or just drift off with some MLH Music: https://canadada.bandcamp.com 

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

MLHolton Poetry in 2021 UK Anthology

Delighted to have three of my older #poems - Shareware, Pond Life & Trading Post -  included in the '2021 Still Together' Anthology of Shorts, Edited by UK-based author, Tracy Hutchinson. 


As the cover reads, "2020 has been a long year. And now we must look with hope to 2021.We hope for a vaccine that can return the world to normal. We hope for an economy that will heal quickly, avoiding the painful recession that has been forecast. We hope for people to continue to develop the sense of togetherness that has appeared this year. We hope that 2021 will be an easier and a better year than 2020 has been.2021 Still Together is an anthology to follow on from 2020 Together. This second anthology reflects the community spirit of 2020, where writers, artists and photographers, who like you, want to continue to help our Covid-19 heroes. 100% of profits from sales of this book will continue to go to NHS Charities Together.Lockdown, Covid-19 and change has happened this year. Learning to stay safe, and helping to keep other people safe has happened this year. ... And we hope that you will enjoy reading these short, family friendly creations, while also providing funds to help our NHS heroes.Together, we can still make a difference." 

ALL proceeds go to support the tireless UK NHS - Help if you can, please.

Here's the Canadian Amazon link for the title. 

Trading Post - Poem by MLHolton


https://twitter.com/TrillLINDSAY/status/1363889138303447041?s=20
 

Friday, November 13, 2020

Shareware by MLHolton, Narrated by Mitch Bensel

So wonderful to have Mitch do this narration of an older #poem of mine, Shareware. It was originally published in my first book of poetry 'On Top of Mount Nemo'. Mount Nemo is a familiar landmark within the Golden Horseshoe region of #Burlington, #Hamont, #Milton #Halton #Ancaster, #Dundas and beyond ... Have a listen -

Original format of poem - Shareware by Margaret Lindsay Holton


Thursday, October 15, 2020

A DoDa DoDa Day: A Poem by MLHolton

Twitter can be a wonderful place, especially within the amazingly supportive #WritingCommunity. 

I am delighted to share a recent collaboration.

I first met narrator Jacqueline Belle, voice extraordinaire, on-line about a year ago. She was doing 'voice overs' of authors works and posting them on Youtube. We got chatting and soon she performed a rendition of one of my short stories - The Frozen Goose.

About a month ago, she invited me to submit something else for her to do. 

I suggested this light-hearted poem from an earlier poetry collection, On Top of Mount Nemo, published nineteen years ago, in 2001. (No longer available, other poems are available to read at the very good University of Toronto Canpoetry website.)

Jacqueine, in concert with Daniel, the producer of the visuals, assembled this sweet little piece.  -- Enjoy!  - A DoDa DoDa Day by MLHolton

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

FRIDAY, June 2nd, 2017 - Vox Humana Chamber Choir Present 'the national anthems' - with all-Canadian poem, 'Bush Chord'


So thrilled to be a part of this amazing choral event in British Colombia. 
Canadian composer Tobin Stokes has imaginatively re-interpreted my poem, 'Bush Chord', 
to create an astounding musical medley of 'sun-struck lyres' ... 


FRIDAY, JUNE 2nd - 7:30pm -



REHEARSAL of 'BUSH CHORD' - Photo by Tobin Stokes, May 29th, 2017

My poem, Bush Chord, on which new choral work, by Tobin, is based - 

BUSH CHORD

pine poplar willow and punk wood
spit and spark
while bone hard elm birch apple and oak
hum harmonious
fine hard woods - good wood to burn

these wonder instruments pressure whistle
chattering, cheering, cackling
crackling within a hesitant cyclone of light
flickering flames
of sublime delight, warming slow, they give us life

parse this minor miracle of mega bio-physics
of holy fire drawn down
from primal sun
through leaves to rugged root shoots far flung
look here now

to this instant, brilliant burn
an intense unrehearsed liquid fire
a sound symphony of sun struck lyres
complete and sacred
a rare but common gift

the honey musk smell of jumbled bush wood
burns deep into primal memory

(remember those crisp sun-filled fall days
of cutting, gathering, splitting, stacking,
carrying, piling, drying, and cursing
those back breaking loads?)

to get to this
this calm clear moment
listen

listen
to these bush chords
please


Wednesday, May 10, 2017

CD Launch & 'Brunch on the Beach' with Canadian Artist & Poet - Margaret Lindsay Holton


Opps! - ERRORS all MINE. Caesar DRINKS, not SALADS, are $5!- Includes an EGG!

It's a happenin'!
CD Launch of CANADADA: TAKE TWO 
- Come for 'Brunch on the Beach' - with me :)
SUNDAY - June 11th, at 11am 

At HARRY'S PUB on the Hamilton Beach Strip
721 Beach Blvd - with easy access to Lake Ontario beach front & boardwalk... 
Full SUNDAY BRUNCH MENU Available!
BLTs, Eggs & Bacon, Home Fries & Toast, etc. Fully Licensed. - Parking on Side Streets.
Conveniently located SMACK in the MIDDLE of the Beach Strip, Harry's Pub.
CANADADA:TAKE TWO - Spoken Word & Garageband Antics CD, by MLHolton


Monday, April 17, 2017

ODE TO MY POSTAL CODE: L8H 6Y5 by M.L.Holton



Hamilton’s self-declared dubpoet laureate, Klyde Broox, has invited local poets - of all shapes and sizes - to declare their love of place with an innovative poetry smash - ODE TO MY POSTAL CODE.

I've contributed - insisting that Klyde 'stand and deliver'.  Here's a sample of Klyde's work, and my own submitted piece, about my studio place on Hamilton's beach strip:  L8H 6Y5. 

c. L8H 6Y5 Poem by M.L.Holton, (2017)


Spoken Word Dub Fest 
ODE TO MY POSTAL CODE
Hamilton Public Library 
- CENTRAL BRANCH -
55 York Blvd, downtown Hamilton
Happening: Friday, APRIL 28th, 2-4pm 

By the way, if swinging by, give a listen too, to my sesquicentennial tribute, CANADADA: TAKE TWO
Double the trouble - spoken word AND music! ;)

Plus, check out other MLH published poetry via the great Canpoetry website, hosted by the University of Toronto.

Poster by Klyde Broox - Poets in the Hammer  - (Guess who's got a finger in her eye? ... )
Post event: Klyde - in full force - at the Hamilton Public Library, video by Ute Schmid Jones.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

'Bush Chord', new choral work, by Canadian composer, Tobin Stokes, based on poem by Canadian artist, M.L.Holton

Excited to announce the official premiere of the new choral work based on one of my poems, 'Bush Chord', by Canadian composer, Tobin Stokes, commissioned by Vox Humana Chamber Choir, from British Columbia, Canada.

Happening June 2nd, 2017 (Ticket info below.)

What was the inspiration behind "the national anthems?" 

From the program notes, by Vox Humana Chamber Choir's musical director, David Lang: 

"Every country has a history – how it came to be, how its wars were won or lost, how strong its people are, or how proud, or how sad. We group ourselves into nations, but it has never really been clear to me what that means, or what we get out of it. Are we grouped together because we believe something together and are proud of associating with others who believe the same way? 

 Or are we grouped together because our ancestors found themselves pushed onto a piece of land by people who didn’t want them on theirs? It seems that all nations have some bright periods and some dark periods in their past. 

Building a national myth out of our bright memories probably creates a different character than if we build one out of the dark.
 
I had the idea that if I looked carefully at every national anthem I might be able to identify something that everyone in the world could agree on. If I could take just one hopeful sentence from the national anthem of every nation in the world I might be able to make a kind of meta-anthem of the things that we all share. I started combing through the anthems, pulling out from each the sentence that seemed to me the most committed. What I found, to my shock and surprise, was that within almost every anthem is a bloody, war-like, tragic core, in which we cover up our deep fears of losing our freedoms with waves of aggression and bravado.

At first I didn’t know what to do with this text. I didn’t want to make a piece that was aggressive, or angry, or ironic. Instead, I read and re-read the meta-anthem I had made until another thought became clear to me.

Hiding in every national anthem is the recognition that we are insecure about our freedoms, that freedom is fragile, and delicate, and easy to lose. Maybe an anthem is a memory informing a kind of prayer, a heartfelt plea: 'There was a time when we were forced to live in chains. Please don’t make us live in chains again.' " - David Lang.

Am super excited to see what Tobin Stokes will create with my poem - 

BUSH CHORD

pine poplar willow and punk wood
spit and spark
while bone hard elm birch apple and oak
hum harmonious
fine hard woods - good wood to burn
these wonder instruments pressure whistle
chattering, cheering, cackling
crackling within a hesitant cyclone of light
flickering flames
of sublime delight, warming slow, they give us life

parse this minor miracle of mega bio-physics
of holy fire drawn down
from primal sun
through leaves to rugged root shoots far flung
look here now
to this instant, brilliant burn
an intense unrehearsed liquid fire
a sound symphony of sun struck lyres
complete and sacred
a rare but common gift

the honey musk smell of jumbled bush wood
burns deep into primal memory
     (remember those crisp sun-filled fall days
     of cutting, gathering, splitting, stacking,
     carrying, piling, drying, and cursing
     those back breaking loads?)

to get to this
this calm clear moment
listen

listen
to these bush chords
please
Have seen the preliminary score, but cant wait to HEAR it!
If in British Columbia in June, please do drop in for a unique choral experience! 

**Read more MLH poetry on excellent Canpoetry website**
(hosted by University of Toronto.)



p.s. NICE to be included in such august company!  
...  Margaret Atwood opera, another project by Stokes from three years ago  ... :) 


UPDATE. APRIL 4th, 2017: Just received the first draft of the score for this work ... WOW. 
Samples below ... 


UPDATE:  Complete sidebar, but of interest to some, perhaps: The National Parks Service of the United States of America used this poem, BUSH CHORD, in an educational park guide, without authorization by me. After I notified them of this 'copyright issue', they said they wouldn't use it anymore ... Kindly note, there was NO chit-chat about financial compensation for prior use  ... (ha! at least my NAME was on the poem! ) ... and it REMAINS on the internet Forever ...  For anyone who CARES, this is 100% WHY talented 'artists starve'. People STEAL/"borrow" other people's work for their own USE and GAIN.  Call it for what it is - THEFT and it's 100% WRONG -  See: 'Life in an Ecosystem' NPS/Gov, PAGE 28 .

Monday, August 17, 2015

Actor Jens Hansen as Canadian poet, Robert W. Service

Robert W. Service, Courtesy of Wikipedia CC.

Local actor Jens Hansen performs a spell-binding rendition of Robert Sevice's 'The Cremation of Sam McGee' ~ in the persona of the poet. This short film below has been made as a video embed for a review that I'm doing of the poet's life & major works for Brick Books of Canada: 'In Celebration of Canadian Poetry'. To be published in October, 2015.

UPDATE: October 29th, 2015 - NOW UP on Brick Books of Canada, in 'Celebration of Canadian Poetry'. 

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Brick Books Celebrates 40 Years of Canadian Poetry

The esteemed Brick Books (of London Ontario) is celebrating 40 years of poetry publications. (No easy feat in Canada's publishing climate...). To commemorate this noteworthy event they have developed a retrospective overview of living (and dead) poets who have been re-interpreted by keen readers - and listeners - of poetry.

I am delighted to say I've been profiled in Week 13 of this wonderful project. The ever-gracious Dr. Carol Soucek King, a former fine furniture design colleague, and friend, has profiled several of my earlier poems in her engaging and flattering tribute. 

Sample words by Carol follows: 'I had written some decades ago about the expertly crafted warmth, charm and wit that Lindsay brought into her award-winning furniture designs. These qualities are so deeply inherent in her Self that it should be expected that they would be cornerstones for everything else she does, especially those items produced by her writing hand.'

It is an honor - and a privilege - to be represented amongst such august poetic Canadians.

Monday, December 15, 2014

Signature Poem from 'Bush Chord', e-poetry book of 2006 ...

 

Bush Chord

Available in Bush Chord, 79 page poetry & pinhole e-book

pine poplar willow and punk wood
spit and spark
while bone hard elm birch apple and oak
hum harmonious
fine hard woods - good wood to burn
these wonder instruments pressure whistle
chattering, cheering, cackling
crackling within a hesitant cyclone of light
flickering flames
of sublime delight, warming slow, they give us life

parse this minor miracle of mega bio-physics
of holy fire drawn down
from primal sun
through leaves to rugged root shoots far flung
look here now
to this instant, brilliant burn
an intense unrehearsed liquid fire –
a sound symphony of sun struck lyres
complete and sacred
a rare but common gift

the honey musk smell of jumbled bush wood
burns deep into primal memory
     (remember those crisp sun-filled fall days
     of cutting, gathering, splitting, stacking,
     carrying, piling, drying, and cursing
     those back breaking loads?)

to get to this
this calm clear moment
listen

listen
to these bush chords
please

Thursday, February 9, 2012

BUSH CHORD: Poems & Pinhole Photography ...................... Now available as E-Book on Amazon.ca

FINALLY, 
the SECOND edition of my ever popular 
2006 poetry & pinhole photography book:
 E-Book

Front cover pinhole image: 'Grand Blue Spruce'