[ed. note: Blaine Marchand presented a draft of this piece earlier this week as part of the Ottawa Poets Laureate reading, to acknowledge Ottawa poet Catherine Ahearn, not only Ottawa’s first poet laureate in 1982, but Canada’s first municipal poet laureate. A livestream of the event was recorded and lives online here.]
Catherine Ahearn (nee Firestone) was born in 1949 in a prominent Ottawa family. She attended Rockcliffe Park Public School (1955-1962), Elmwood Private School (1962-1966), both in Ottawa, as well as McGill University in Montreal between 1966 and 1970, where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in French Literature. She also spent a year studying at the University of Aix-en-Provence in France (1968-1969). Subsequently, Ahearn obtained her Master’s in Arts from the University of Ottawa in French Canadian Literature in 1971, and her doctorate from the University of Ottawa in French Literature in 1979, with her final thesis on French surrealism.
It was Catherine, who approached then Mayor Marion Dewar, with the idea of creating the Poet Laureate for the city. The mayor was enthusiastic about the idea, suggesting Catherine become the first to hold this position. Being completely bilingual, she was the perfect choice. And, it was the first municipal poet laureate program established in Canada, leading the way for other cities to follow suit.
In 1976, she published two books of poetry L’Âge de l’aube and Daydream Daughter, which was published by McClelland and Stewart, won the AJM Smith Poetry Prize from Michigan State University. L’Âge de l’aube appeared to good reviews in Paris. Between 1980 and 1987, she published four books of poetry. She also wrote a novel, a young adult book as well as film and television scripts.
When she became poet laureate, I interviewed her for the Ottawa Citizen. I remember that she was elegant, thoughtful, charming and witty. She moved away from Ottawa and so I lost track of her. But it seems fitting to remember her on this occasion when the Poet Laureate position is being revived thankfully through the efforts of VERSeOttawa, led by rob mclennan.
I will read a poem from her book Concha and Rezanov, which was published by Anthos Press, founded by Ottawa’s third poet laureate, Patrick White. The book explores the love between 16-year-old Concha Argüello in San Francisco and Senator Nikolai Rezanov, of Czar’s government, who had come to the city.
The Love of Us
And in the beginning
Was the womb
And the womb grew
And the womb became love.
And in the
beginning
Was the manhood
And the manhood grew
And the manhood became love.
And in the beginning
Was the word
And the word grew
And the word became us.
The womb and
the manhood
Grew into one;
And the womb
and the word
Grew into love.
And the womb said:
Love creates poetry;
Absolute love creates eternity.
And the word said:
Poetry
recreates love,
Absolute love recreates eternally.
(Concha And Reznov, by Catherine Ahearn; Anthos Books, 1987, page 76.)
Blaine Marchand's poetry and prose has appeared in magazines across Canada, the US, New Zealand, Pakistan, India, France and Ukraine. He has won several prizes and awards for his writing. He has seven books of poetry published, a chapbook, a children's novel and a work of non-fiction. He has completed a new collection, Promenade.
Active in the literary scene in Ottawa for over 50 years, he was a co-founder of the Canadian Review, Sparks magazine, the Ottawa Independent Writers and the Ottawa Valley Book Festival. He was the President of the League of Canadian Poets from 1991-1993.