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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Friday April 20, 2007 - 23 SPRING TIRE CHANGE OVER SPECIAL Remove Tire Clean & Reseal Rim Install Summer Tire Balance Tire on Rim Only LIESA KORTMANN/ OAKVILLE BEAVER $ 99 Includes Most Cars and Light Trucks 9 Per Tire NEW BOOKS: Robert Priest, a famous Canadian author, spoke recently at Gladys Speers Public School as part of Oakville Poetry Month 2007. Priest's visit was sponsored in part by The League of Canadian Poets. With This Ad OIL & FILTER Up to 5 Litres of Motocraft Engine Oil & Filter. Plus Multi-point Inspection With This Ad Only (No Charge Brake Inspection) (No Charge Brake Inspection) Taxes Extra. Offer expires April 28, 2007 Priest pays a visit By Andrew Fruch SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER $ As Oakville celebrates poetry month, Gladys Speers Public School students had the ultimate opportunity to share in the appreciation. On Wednesday, award-winning poet Robert Priest paid a visit to share his love of poetry with the children. "I think any fairly decent poetry that is sort of alive and is spoken in a lively manner is probably a good thing for kids," said Priest, who has won such honours as the Milton Acorn Memorial People's Poetry award. "I think there is a hunger for poetry in the culture and that kids share that and kids respond to poetry." Priest made sure his appreciation of poetry was passed on to the students as he read poems from his book, The Secret Invasion of Bananas. With the poems being read and the occasional song added to the mixture, the children were enthralled with Priest's presentation and his poetry. "The kids are really in to it," said Josie D. Andrews, the teacher who organized the event. "They are engaged, and they are responding. He is really funny, he has a great sense of humour. And I think the sense of humour, children's poetry and music really makes for a good mix." Priest is the author of adult and children's poetry as well as a songwriter, novelist and occasional contributor to publications such as Now Magazine. For him, writing children's poetry is about trying to see things from a child's perspective, while at the same time trying to entertain the audience. "It's a state of mind that I come from when I write these poems," said Priest. "There's some deliberation, there is some intent to be writing for children, and therefore, something in me is accessing perhaps the child in me or perhaps the favourite child in my life. In a sense I'm trying to see the world through their delight and their dreams and find a language for that." But even with his children's poems designed to entertain, Priest does not shy away introducing children to different forms of poetry and including the occasional adult level poem in his children's books. "There is a lot of poems (in The Secret Invasion of Bananas) that I would think are very immediate," said Priest. "But they are there in a sense to be a context, for some of the other ones that aren't as immediate, that are more complex, and perhaps give a view of some of the other things that poetry can be. There are four or five poems from my adult books that are in there. They are noticeable particularly because they are not so much rhyming poems, they are more free verse. But kids get them." The students at Gladys Speers seemed to not only get the poems, but appreciate them as they were quick to ask many questions of Priest after the reading session had ended. For the school, Priest's visit was exceptional in that students enjoyed it while it also taught them about a love of literacy. "The principal was really happy to have a writer come in and talk to the kids about poetry and also to get them excited about reading and writing," said Andrews. "Next year we are thinking of expanding this so that more schools will be involved within the board," The process of inviting Priest to the school began three months ago, when Andrews, who is a member of Oakville poetry groups, was asked to represent the youth portion of poetry month. Through the League of Canadian Poets (LCP), Andrews learned about a program called Poets in the School, that brings writers into the classroom. LCP pays part of the cost. After going through the list of available writers, Andrews asked Priest to come out. "He was one of the ones that attracted my attention," said Andrews. "He writes poetry for primary students and I liked the fact that he played the guitar, and he's a performer as well and I thought that would get the kids really excited about writing." For Andrews, having an established poet visit the school was a good way to foster the love and appreciation of poetry. "I think it's really important," said Andrews. "Especially today because kids are so interested in video games and technology and television that they're really not as interested in books as they maybe were in the past. If they can find it within themselves to get excited and have fun by writing and appreciating literature then it would make for a better world." Priest views poetry and art in general as important to nurturing the imagination. "Poetry is important as in the sense that all arts are important," said Priest. "They provide a different way of perhaps accessing truth. And they keep the doors open to the imaginative faculties which often gets somewhat denigrated in our society." Events such as poetry month in Oakville are a good way to encourage the faculties that Priest speaks of, and he encourages everyone to celebrate poetry for the remainder of the month in any way they choose. "If people want to know how to celebrate poetry month, either get a book and recite some poems or read some poems or write some poems." 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