Kevin Spenst on the Beauty of Poetry

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Q. How did you get into poetry?

First of all, thank you for giving me this chance to share some of my story with everyone at Alexander College.

I’ve been lovestruck with poetry at least twice. When I was fifteen, I bought a paperback anthology in Toronto when my family was in Ontario for two weeks visiting my older sister, and her husband, who was an evangelical minister.

I had just stopped going to church months earlier and this small anthology of poems from the distant past into the 1950s offered a new direction for my faith.

I could believe in the effort of language to communicate wild imaginations, all depths of love and grief, and most importantly an openness to the diversity of the world. I fell in love with poetry and wrote a bit but some years later, after I moved from Surrey to Vancouver, I shifted my creative energies to theater and film.

When I went back to university in 2009 to do a Masters in Creative Writing at UBC, I intended to focus on short fiction, but it was in a poetry class with Keith Mallard where I was reminded of the exciting openness of poetry and that’s when I fell head over heels in love with poetry again.

I haven’t stopped writing it since.

My most recent chapbook is called Windowful and I’ll be reading from it April 19th at 5pm at the Tech Gallery, which is located at SFU Harbour Centre. I’ll be reading with Marc Perez and Andrew French.

Q. How would you describe your style of poetry?

A poem is a bucket under a leaky ceiling. A poem catches the small moments that continuously fall from an imperfect world.

What I mean by this is that my poetry is open to daily life and thoughts, and to extend the above metaphor, the bucket itself has been molded out of the poems of the past.

I read a lot of poetry old and new and so when I start working on a poem it’s influenced by all the various elements of craft that I glean in my readings. (Take English 102 if you want to know what is meant by “craft”!)

Q. What advice would you give to aspiring poets?

Read as much poetry as possible, especially the poetry that speaks most deeply to you, but also read widely so you can see poetry’s many forms, traditions and rebellious breakouts. The Best Canadian Poetry series is a good place to start.

Q. At AC, we have a poetry club. If students are interested in getting more involved with the local poetry scene, what would you recommend?

Vancouver’s newest poet laureate is Elee Kralji Gardiner and on her website there are many resources for finding out about poetry in the Lower Mainland. The best place to start is https://versevancouver.ca/a-guide-for-local-poets/

I’d recommend reading this interview with Elee Kralji Gardiner and the previous poet laureate Fiona Tinwei Lam: https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2024/12/27/Sample-Magic-Poetry-Merged-Sound-Video/

Here’s some of the above type interview:

Q. Is there anything else you would like to share with the readers?

I believe education is more important than ever and poetry is a concentration of learning, language and attention. There’s no better place to learn than inside the freedom, insights and diversity of poetry.

I’ll be leading a poetry-themed Jane’s Walk in the West End on the afternoon of May 4^th with a number of local poets. No links are up yet, but mark it in your calendar. It’s free and it will start (rain or shine) outside the Sylvia Hotel at 1pm! See you there!