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Douglas Lochhead

Poet Laureate

By J. Alexander (Sandy) Burnett

"Poetry is everything. Everything is poetry."

That simple statement sums up the artistic credo of Douglas Lochhead, scholar and internationally respected Canadian poet, and now Poet Laureate of Sackville, New Brunswick.

For Lochhead, a founder and life member of the League of Canadian Poets, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a nominee for the Governor General's Award for Poetry, and the recipient of honorary degrees from Saint Mary's and Dalhousie universities, the unusual appointment as town poet has warm, personal associations. The leafy college town in the central Maritimes has been his home for nearly thirty years. He arrived in 1975 from Toronto's Massey College to take up the post of Director of Canadian Studies at Mount Allison University.

This year, Sackville, which has stood at the head of the Bay of Fundy for more than 240 years, celebrates the centennial of its official incorporation as a town. In searching for ways to mark the milestone, the Town Council turned to the community's literary and artistic traditions.

As it happens, those traditions run deep. Mount Allison is widely known for its excellent programmes in fine arts, music, drama, and the humanities. Published poets have flourished in Sackville's climate from the late Victorian literary giant Sir Charles G.D. Roberts to contemporary figures such as John Thompson, Michael Thorpe, Liliane Welch and, of course, Douglas Lochhead himself. Indeed, the town recently earned the title "Municipality of the Arts for 2003" from the New Brunswick Foundation for the Arts. It is also a finalist in the running to become one of Canada's "Cultural Capitals".

Despite this distinguished record of cultural achievement, the events leading to Lochhead's appointment are a model of casual, small-town intimacy.

"I was at the Post Office one day to pick up my mail," recalls Lochhead. "There I ran into Virgil Hammock, the councillor responsible for the cultural affairs portfolio. He mentioned the idea of the town's naming a poet laureate and asked if I'd consider it. A week or two later, we met again at the Post Office. This time he told me the idea had been approved in principle and invited me to a Council meeting. I went and on February 10th the motion to appoint me passed unanimously."

"I take this appointment as being part of a celebration of Sackville -- the place and its people. Most of my work consists of poems of celebration. That's why I react quite favourably to this whole idea of being poet laureate in this centennial year. But I think the idea should catch on and be repeated across the country with other poets in other communities."

An outside observer might suppose that Lochhead, who has more than 20 published books of poetry to his credit, would want to look beyond the horizons of rural New Brunswick for his material. On the contrary, many of his most successful works, including the lyrics in volumes such as High Marsh Road, Dykelands, and Breakfast at Mel's, are firmly rooted in the landscape and heritage of his adopted home.

"Sackville has everything I need, as far as writing poetry is concerned," he avers. "When I go downtown, I listen for the natural rhythms of speech patterns and the continuity of conversation that builds a sense of community.

"The philosopher John Dewey once said that 'the local is the universal and upon that all art builds.' It's so true. The whole world is in you own backyard if you choose to see it there -- the voice of a neighbour on the morning air, sun glistening on a snow bank, a chickadee in the mulberry tree. That's the material from which I work."

Does Sackville's Poet Laureate plan a centennial ode to the place where he lives? The post is an honorary one, with no payment and no requirement that he compose poetry on demand. Nevertheless, with the approach of spring he admits that the creative sap is rising.

A long piece -- actually a linked series of 75 short verses about the nearby farming community of Midgic -- is at the publisher's right now. And he has other plans.

"Some years ago, I collected a lot of material about Sackville with the idea of writing a long poem based on journals from the fort, diaries, letters home, sources like that. I can see it developing as a kind of historic collage."

On the eve of his 81st birthday, it's clear that Douglas Lochhead has no intention of resting on his poetic laurels.