saTELEGRloAPHJOURNAL.nCOM Saturday,april 2, 2011 /S5 Heartofthe Tantramar

Sackville’spoetlaureateDouglasLochheadpassedawayin March, butisn’t to be forgotten. StorybyThomasHodd

Just off the beaten path, near the town University. Although born in , of Sackville,isthe High Marsh Road. Lochhead’smother was from NewBruns- Complete with asmall, wooden covered wick andLochhead had spent many sum- bridge,it’s along,rural road thatcuts mers in and at Duck Cove, across partofthe Tantramar Marshes,the near Saint John. Moving to Sackville was lene Betts, arts learning specialist with the province, says her goal and same marshes thatCharles G.D. Roberts ahomecoming of sorts. passion is for all students to feel that theyare artists. Photo: Kâté Braydon/ made famous morethan acenturyago in Lochhead quickly established areputa- telegraPh-Journal archive his poem The Tantramar Revisited. tion at Mount Allison, endearing himself It’s aclear Sundayafternoon in late to students with his knowledge,wit and March. The sun is high; the windiscold trademark laugh, and winning the respect and biting.The covered bridge is afew of colleagues in the wayhecarried himself. feet away from whereIstand. Every- Douglas Lochhead. “He demonstrated thatthe word whereyou look thereissky and vast open ‘gentleman’still had some application in space. Looking around youcan easily understand why Roberts the modern world,”TerrenceCraig,along-time colleague at was inspired by this place. Mount Allison, says.“He went about his business with integ- But here’sthe thing. rityand generositythatshowed anew facultymember an- Robertswasn’t the only poetwho wrote about the Tantra- other route to follow.” mar. I’vemade the pilgrimage foranother poet, Douglas Loch- Lochhead spent 15 years at Mount Allison, and made enor- head,who passed away earlier this month at the age of 88. mous contributions to the creativeand intellectual lifeof Born in , Ont., in 1922, Lochhead published nearly the university. Lochhead wrote severalvolumes of poetry, 30 collections of poetryinacareer thatspanned morethan 50 mentored students,taught courses,edited books,published years.His last collection, Looking Into Trees,appeared just two important literarycriticism and directed the university’sCan- years before his death. Lochhead was afellow of the RoyalSo- adian studies programfor morethan adecade.From1987 cietyofCanada,and afinalist forthe Governor-General’sLiter- until his retirement in 1990,Lochhead servedasthe univer- aryAwardfor Poetryfor High Marsh Road in 1980.He was also sity’sfirst writer-in-residence. afounding member of The LeagueofCanadian Poets,ana- After retiring in 1989, Lochhead became the university’sfirst tional non-profit organization dedicated to helping promote writer-in-residence. In 2001, he received the Canadian poetryathome and abroad, which todayboasts Awardfor ExcellenceinEnglish-language LiteraryArts, and a morethan 600 members. year later was named Sackville’s first life-time poetlaureate. To those who knewLochhead, his lifework was atremen- Forclose friends,likeNova ScotiapoetPeter Sanger, being dous addition to the literatureofthe region. named poetlaureate was adeserving honour forLochhead. asha Sentalkswith KathyHooper as apartofArtSmarts. Photo: cindy Wilson/ Allan Cooper first met Lochhead in the late 1970s when “A dayDouglas didn’t write was aday lost,” says Sanger.“For telegraPh-Journal Cooper was abudding young writer.The Moncton area poet him, poetrywas celebration and he wanted otherstoshare and publisher remembers him fondly. thatcelebration.” “In his own quiet way, he inspired others,” Cooper says.“He In High Marsh Road,Lochhead wrote: “this newspace, this While learning about ancient civilizations,Hannah’s added an imaginativelayer to the Tantramar,and there’sa newsky./Ifind myself with my eyes./thereisnoneed to stand students also got mini-lessons on brush stroking tech- depth to his poetrythatinsome ways makes him moreim- up in it.” niques,calligraphy,light and balance, how to care for portant than perhaps or Charles G.D. Roberts.” Inever met Douglas Lochhead,but after going to High Marsh their arttools and drawing Being awriter was only partofLochhead’slifelong passion Road on thatcold Sundayafternoon Iliketothink Icaught a MacKay says the only concern he’s heardabout forbooks.After finishing his militaryserviceinthe Second glimpse of whatheexperienced in this landscape.It’s asolitary ArtsSmarts is the lack of information about how art- World War, Lochhead studied English at the UniversityofTo- place, but farfromlonely.One feels immense out there, that ists canget involved. ronto and libraryscienceatMcGill University. He worked as a the road is not simply leading youalong apathbut alsoshow- “There’salack of information flowing between the librarian at Cornell UniversityinNew York City, as university ing youthe wayinto the heartofthe Tantramar Marshes,into twogroups and that’s an easyproblem to solve,”hesays. librarian at , and later as director of librar- something deeper about our sense of connection to place. He and Betts have met recently to discuss ways to ies forYork UniversityinToronto.Then in 1963, renowned Beforeleaving Sackville,Iwent to alocal used bookstorelook- improvecommunication and MacKay is working on Canadian author asked Lochhead to serve ing forsome of Lochhead’sbooks.The storewas well-stocked providing her with adatabase of artists who arewilling as founding librarian forthe newly established MasseyCol- and organized, with many older titles on the shelves.Iquickly and available to take partinthe programs. lege.Lochhead stayed at MasseyCollege formorethan adec- checked the poetrysection –nothing.Then Ichecked the“lo- ade,serving as both librarian and as asenior fellow. calinterest”section –still nothing.Ijoked to the young woman *** Lochhead was also adedicated teacher.WhileinToronto he behind the cash thatLochhead must be popular around here. taught in the libraryschool as well in the English department “Weget calls everyonceinawhile from people looking for Betts is ahuge fanofSir KenRobinson, an at the UniversityofToronto.In1975, Lochhead was offered his books,” she says.“Aretherenone? Iguess people liketohold internationally recognized leader in the de- the Davidson Chair of Canadian Studies at Mount Allison on to his stuff.” velopment of creativitywhose speech, Do It was awonderful testament to Lochhead’slegacy.Icanal- Schools Kill Creativity?,has morethan 2.2 Read this story online at www.telegraphjournal.canadae- most hear himchuckling with pride.s million views on YouTube. ast.com/salon to watch avideo of Lochhead reading Robinson contends thatcreativityis from one of his collections of poems. Thomas Hodd currently teaches Canadian literatureatthe Uni- as important as literacy and schools should versité de Moncton.He canbereached at [email protected]. givethem the same status. It’s doubtfularevolution likethatisgoing to occur anytime soon in NewBrunswick class- rooms. So,inthe meantime,Betts pursues the de- partment’s goal“to develop incredible creativethinkers forthe 21st century” as best she canbydeveloping tools to help generalist teachers teach art and by championing fledgling pro- grams likeArtsSmarts. She’s optimistic ArtsSmarts can help achieve the department’s ul- timategoal, especially if localcom- munities in the anglophone system embracethe programtoo.ArtsSmarts was designed to also engage communities in helping students learn. In the francophone system forexample,communitygroups likeCaisse-Populaire provide lump funding forseveral projects and commit- tees have been established in each district to oversee the flood of applications. Betts is hopeful thatone dayher desk is flooded with offers from communitygroups to take partinthe pro- gram because theysee the value of supporting creativ- ityand the arts in their areas. Making creativityand the arts apriorityinschools and in communities has the potential to impact a whole generation of students,she says. “I think students’ learning would be so much deeper, and Ireally believe thatachievement levels would go wayup,”Betts says.“(Students) would learn to work together and to believe in themselves.(Theywould learn thatthey) cancome up with greatideas and then theywould be able to articulate whattheyunderstand and have learned.” And that’s exactly whathappened to Liam Jefferson and his classmates. s

Kathy Kaufield is awriter living in Quispamsis. This retro 1940s musical extravaganza features theStringofPearls big band orchestra and the TheFrederictonPlayhouse IntheMood singers and Wednesday, April 20 at 7p.m. dancers,all swinging to www.theplayhouse.ca BoxOffice 458-8344 or 1-866-884-5800 the sounds of Glenn Miller,BennyGoodman, ImperialTheatre the Andrews Sisters, Thursday, April 21 at 7p.m. www.imperialtheatre.nb.ca Frank Sinatra and more! From left, Alexis Cook, Sarah Durelle and Tyler MaGee paint symbols that will be partofthe BoxOffice 674-4100 or 1-800-323-7469 ancient MayanCulturemural. Photo: cindy Wilson/telegraPh-Journal