Submitted by:
Kamshi Kanavathy

Poetry by candle light; the perfect ambiance to poetry straight from the heart.

Melodious music, flickering candlelight, delicious drinks, warm smiles and cheery laughter formed the perfect accompaniment to the rendition of a fine selection of poetry and short stories at the North-West Regional Library on the evening of Thursday, June 26, 2012.

The vivacious and eloquent Dorothy Harvey welcomed an appreciative crowd with her effervescent charm and charisma.

To whet the appetite, the evening began with a series of short stories read by authors, Billie Werenich and Linda Carpenter.

Linda Carpenter read her story about retirement from the publication entitled, “Voices”.

The audience was then treated to original poetry from Dorothy Harvey and Sharron Carpenter.

The highlight of the evening was ninety-five year old, Marian Treasure; and what a treasure she proved to be. Members of the audience experienced difficulty keeping to their seats as Marian’s humorous poetry had them bubbling over with laughter.

Some attendees were inspired to talk about their ideology on poetry. Gordon Hornbeck said “poetry forces the mind to think on a different level than prose because as the words come to us, we are forced to keep up and yet plumb the depths of our imagination and memory simultaneously”. He believes that “many people may dismiss poetry as an art-form because it makes them feel it’s too much work to try to keep up to an author’s train of thought to wherever s/he is leading us”.

Others were inspired to share their talents such as singer/songwriter, Terry Marie Eggie (front row, black dress), who surprised the audience with an exquisite rendition of a jazzy song.

It was really heart-warming to see people enjoy themselves listening to poetry and stories. We are grateful to Dorothy Harvey, Marian Treasure, Linda Carpenter, Sharron Carpenter and Billie Werenich for entertaining us with their heartfelt compositions.