Larry Jensen. Good Noise Photography photo

Friends of Port Elgin Branch Library invite everyone to celebrate National Poetry Month on Wednesday, April 26 with a Library Live! evening performance by Owen Sound area Poets Laureate Larry Jensen and Rob Rolfe. An added feature beginning at 7 p.m. will be the presentation of prizes for the annual contest for young poets. Both events take place in the elevator-accessible upper level of the library at 708 Goderich Street in Port Elgin.

Larry Jensen and Rob Rolfe have been Poets Laureate for Owen Sound and area since 2015. With sponsorship from their local library, Owen Sound Little Theatre, and several individual and corporate supporters, the poet laureate program offers opportunities for performance, advocacy, mentoring and a legacy to the city and surrounding communities. This is their first visit to Saugeen Shores.

Larry Jensen is well known as a musician and songwriter, with a portfolio of 14 CDs and one book, “Some Are Songs: A Book of Words”. The first recipient of the Owen Sound Cultural Award, Jensen creates lyrics inspired by his youth in the working-class neighbourhoods of the city. His poetry recalls the sights, sounds, smells and textures of a port city where ships’ horns and factory whistles acted as a soundtrack to daily life.

Rob Rolfe has created four books of poetry: “Hard Times”, “Beyond Mudtown”, Saugeen” and “The Hawk”. In them, Rolfe captures moods of rivers and city streets, the working world and the escape of imagination. For many years a librarian and labour leader in Toronto, Rolfe now lives in Owen Sound. His poetry celebrates the ordinary and audiences often hear echoes of their own lives and feelings through his words.

Together, they have released a legacy CD, “Mudtown Songs and Poetry”, which will be available, along with each poet’s books, at the Port Elgin event.

The young poets who are taking part in this year’s contest sponsored by the Friends of the Library are creating works in any style, following the theme of National Poetry Month 2017, which is ‘time’. Three of these writers will receive prizes and read their winning poems at 7 p.m. More information about the contest is available at public libraries in Port Elgin and Southampton.

Come browse the library’s collection of poetry books, read and add a verse to the ‘poetree’. Take home a poem for April 27, Poem-in-Your-Pocket Day. Admission to Library Live! is free, with refreshments available.

Friends of Port Elgin Branch Library, a registered non-profit group of volunteers, holds events in support of programs and amenities for Port Elgin’s 108-year old library and new members are always welcome.