sending
love, gratitude & condolences from here on unceded coast salish territories
to ken belford’s peeps. ken is dearly missed by so many. over the years i could
always count on ken for insight, humour, and generosity of spirit. the example
of his well-lived life teaches us how to be a good man, a great poet, a humble,
honest soul. ken lights a path for those who look to return to the land, to
connect in whatever broken, messy, healing ways we can in this late day and
age. ken understood watershed mind, watershed spirit, in deep, embodied
ways. i’m grateful for all that he wrote
and shared, all that he did to respect and care for the land, and his everyday
ways of just being a loving, no-nonsense yet creative, open kind of guy. the
world is sadder and lonelier for his passing, but also enriched and nourished
by his legacy of poetry.
Rita
Wong
is the author of five books of poetry and an associate professor in the Faculty
of Culture and Community at Emily Carr University of Art and Design on the
unceded Coast Salish territories also known as Vancouver. She co-edited the
anthology, Downstream: Reimagining Water, with Dorothy Christian.