Where I'm at...

I feel like I should say something...

Over the years of writing both here and on other web sites, I became convinced that I was one of those people who was not meant to win any major awards for my work, at least for the writing that seemed to come naturally to me, especially when I had a Challenge in front of me. I even wrote about my dilemma:

And then I returned to the issue once again:

And now I find myself with a list of wins and curiosity about my own talent and work. Am I really a better writer now after all of these years?

I doubt it.

I am writing this after a long week of having my students write an exam, discovering that I am now the recipient of more Honorable Mentions and Top Stories, along with my own writing on other pages. I feel that I might be spreading myself very thin with all of this work, but I am also an addict when it comes to this habit of mine.

And I had better be honest about some other things.

There are at least three other contests coming up before the month ends that I am engaged with right now. The first one is the Montréal International Poetry Prize. This is administrated by my old alma mater, McGill University, and it has been in operation since 2010, founded by a fellow grad student and a few others who felt that we needed to honour the best of the best of our scribblers, and I think that the history behind it is interesting (from the MIPP page):

An exceptional history distinguishes Montreal as a centre of poetry. Some of the first anthologies of Canadian poetry were produced in Montreal, including E.H. Dewart’s Selections from Canadian Poets (1864) and W.D. Lighthall’s Songs of the Great Dominion (1889). At the beginning of the twentieth century, Sir Andrew Macphail of McGill University played a key role in the careers of a number of poets, foremost among them Marjorie Pickthall, through his editing of the University Magazine (1907–20) from his home on Peel Street. An important new phase began in the late 1920s with the Montreal Group, a circle of poets including A.J.M. Smith, A.M. Klein, and F.R. Scott. They and their followers helped to inspire the development of modernist poetry in Canada through the McGill Fortnightly Review in the 1920s, the 1936 anthology New Provinces, and the 1940s magazines, Preview, First Statement, and Northern Review.

McGill’s Department of English has enjoyed a long, sustained tradition of work in poetry, through the expertise of many faculty members over time. In the 1950s, Louis Dudek established himself as one of Canada’s leading poets and critics. He mentored Leonard Cohen and exerted an influential presence in the department until the 1970s, both in the classroom and beyond, through publications such as Scrivener Creative Review, which has recently been revived by students in the department. The Faculty of Arts now boasts a robust faculty complement in poetry, reflective of the department’s commitment over time to cultivating creative work in and critical work responsive to poetry.

Along with this, I have Peliplat and Reedsy and Novelo, and...

Well, it goes on and on.

But you must excuse me. I have a new course to prepare for next week, along with exams to mark, a place to clean, sun to enjoy (it has finally come out), and a team to support (go Habs!)

I'll let you know if I'm still standing...

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You can find more poems, stories, and articles by Kendall Defoe on my Vocal profile. I complain, argue, provoke and create...just like everybody else.

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