folio : Forty-five Ottawa poets
I
really like the angles of the poles
that hold up a staircase
in a building that I drive past a lot
but never enter. I like
how unclear it is
which principle dictated the angles,
math or art.
Most questions can be answered
with one of those two words.
Why am I spending
so much on Ubers this month?
Art. Why does nobody care
that my face is on this very cool
canvas bag? Believe it or not, math.
What are the odds
that this Wurlitzer actually works?
Even though we do not know,
we put it in a U-Haul. Will you
make it home before dark?
Was I vital to the success
of this operation? Can we all
just agree that I was?
If it works, will you call me
later? Maybe play me a song?
What I’m working on at the moment:
Right now I’m writer-in-residence at the University of Ottawa, and I’m also teaching their capstone undergraduate poetry class. A real privilege. I’m only a couple of weeks in at time of writing. Already I’ve been provided with reminders of the mindset of younger writers, a mindset that had become elusive to me without me even realizing it. I think I need to reincorporate some elements of it back into my practice. When you’re starting off, it’s easier to take writing really seriously while also having a really good time doing it. I want to do whatever I need to, in my writing, in order to be doing those two things simultaneously again. “This matters” plus “This is fun,” the whole time I’ve got my notebook open. I hope I can get there again.
Ben Ladouceur is the author of a novel, I Remember Lights, and two poetry collections, Otter and Mad Long Emotion. His work has received the Writers’ Trust Dayne Ogilvie Prize, the National Magazine Award for Poetry, the Earle Birney Prize, the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, the Thomas Morton Fiction Prize, and the Archibald Lampman Award, and been nominated for a Lambda Literary Award and a bpNichol Chapbook Award. He has completed writer’s residencies at the Al Purdy A-Frame and the University of Ottawa, where he has also taught poetry.
