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On Tuesday I was down at city hall to watch Brad Cran accept his new honour as Vancouver's second poet laureate from the mayor and council. Brad made a very nice speech, then invited several youngsters from Grade Two at Nootka Elementary School to join him at the podium.

One of Brad's plans as poet laureate is apparently to encourage the city's school kids to write a collective long poem about Vancouver and these eight-year-olds gave us a taste of what's to come by reading some of their poetry.

Among my favourite lines:

I wish my dog Charley could talk

I wish Vancouver kids could vote

I wish there was no time

I wish Vancouver had no cats

Congratulations to Brad.

By the way, look for The Verse Map of Vancouver, a handsome new book from Anvil Press and the brainchild of George McWhirter, the outgoing and inaugural poet laureate. The book combines work by many local poets with photographs of iconic cityscapes.

Labels: LITERATURE, PEOPLE

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