Ken Norris : POEM FOR CLAUDIA

Claudia Lapp (1946-2026)

 

 

Honey, and horses,
and bright days
rich in sunflowers. 

The ecstatic
joys of youth. 

Where do we go now,
no longer earthbound? 

Out into the universe?

All of my realizations
always come slow. 

But I’ll see you now:

in the twinkling of stars,
in undefinable moments,
in the half-mad river of crazy dreams.

 

 

 

 

 

Ken Norris was born in New York City in 1951. He came to Canada in the early 1970s, to escape Nixon-era America and to pursue his graduate education. He completed an M.A. at Concordia University and a PhD in Canadian Literature at McGill University. Norris became a Canadian citizen in 1985. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Maine, Where he taught Canadian Literature and Creative Writing for thirty-three years. He currently resides in Toronto.

Penn Kemp : For You, Dear Friend and Fellow Poet

for Barry Dempster (January 17, 1952-November 27, 2025)

 

 

Thank you for your being, Barry, for
your care and kindest attention to all
whom you encountered, with grace.

I applaud your life’s work and a life so
elegantly experienced in its entirety.
Thank you for your acute perceptions,

especially for such exquisite poems:
they will continue to resonate forever
through our eardrums and our souls.

I applaud the choice to join your Love
in your own time, in your own way.
Thank you for your time here, with

the knowledge you will live on in us,
this community you’ve created of all
those who dearly love and admire you.

Thank you for how you so thought-
fully considered life: considere, to
be with the stars that now await you.

*

What courage it takes to cross
the boundary, the borne no-one
evades. We celebrate Barry, this
fiercely gentle man in his choice
to leave, lion-hearted to the end.

From Plymouth Brethren to brother
and mentor to so many, beloved
Barry leaves us in floods of love
and light for the final freedom of
surrender. In his passing, he’s still
the consummate teacher and poet
surrounded by all those he loves
and who love him, near and far.

 

Love and Blessings on your way,
Penn

 

 

photo from Words Aloud, Owen Sound Ontario, October 2023. Barry is to the right of the sign. The other poets are from the left Richard Sitoski, Stuart Ross, Penn Kemp, Barry Dempster, Daniel Lockhart and Kim Fahner.

 

 

 

 

Penn Kemp has been celebrated as a trailblazer since her first publication of poetry (Bearing Down, Coach House, 1972). The League of Canadian Poets honored her with their Inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award (2025), as Spoken Word Artist of the year (2015), and as a foremother of Canadian Poetry. Recent collections include: Ordinary / Moving (Silver Bow Publishing, 2025); Lives of Dead Poets (above/ground press, 2025); INCREMENTALLY (Hem Press, 2024); POEMS IN RESPONSE TO PERIL, an anthology for Ukraine (co-editor, Pendas Productions, 2023); P.S. (with Sharon Thesen, Gap Riot Press, 2022). Penn is active across the web with multimedia collaborations: see pennkemp.substack.com and pennkemp.weebly.com.