Eric Winter

Poet Laureate of Cobourg
  1997 - 2009

Cobourg's first Poet Laureate was appointed in July, 1997. The primary impetus for the creation of the position was to have the Laureate contribute to a year long observation of Cobourg's Heritage Days throughout 1998. He wrote a poem for twelve major public events during the year and they were published in a chapbook  "Celebrations."

Mr. Winter was a founding member and the first convenor of the Cobourg Poetry Workshop. That group has now been continuously in existence for more than a decade. The efforts of Mr. Winter as Poet Laureate created a thriving poetry scene in Cobourg which in turn has established this town as one of the significant poetry venues in Ontario.  The town's public "3rd Thursday Poetry Reading Series" was established in 2002 and has occurred monthly ever since, including guest poets from Montreal, Toronto, Windsor, Halifax and other locales.

Eric Winter has published in international journals and been the featured reader at venues in Europe. A collection of poems "The Man in the Hat" was published by Hidden Brook Press in 2007. After 12 years in the role of Cobourg's Poet Laureate, Mr. Winter stepped down of his own accord in 2009. The Town Council is scheduled to appoint Cobourg's second Poet Laureate on March 29, 2010.

Statement by Eric Winter
On the occasion of the appointment of the Town of Cobourg’s 2nd Poet Laureate
Monday, March 29, 2010
 
 
I have been fortunate to have been part of the progress of poetry in Cobourg over the last few years. It has given me many opportunities which might not otherwise have occurred.
 
In the first place, I was able to enjoy the challenge of writing for the Town’s year-long Heritage Days Celebrations in 1998. I think I wrote 12 poems for and about the Town in that year. The last one was on Remembrance Day. I had written a poem about the Canadian liberation in Holland. It was to be delivered at the Legion and was to follow the Fire Chief, who was giving a talk on the importance of smoke alarms. By the time he had finished, the Legionnaires were interested only in eating. That was a bad experience.
 
The best might have been when I had an audience of around 2,000 people which, until the recent Olympics, was a record worthy of Guinness for a poet. That was at the celebrations in Victoria Park. I have to admit that they were not there to hear me. I was something of a shock, in fact. A shock so great that even the beer tent was silent.
 
I don’t think writing poetry is a special gift. Neither do I think you have to take courses in order to do it. It’s like playing Bridge. You can learn it on the job and just about everybody can do that. Some will do it well. Some not so well. Whether it is good or bad depends on who’s listening.
 
It also depends on the fashions of poetry at the time. Except in ironic jest, rhyming at the end of lines is out. I recently heard of a poet who was awarded something like $3,000 for writing words on the backs of sheep and then letting them flock to see whether any adjacent combinations made sense.
 
Warm drift, graze gentle, White below the sky, Soft sheep, mirrors, Snow clouds. This was said to be one of the best. Those of us who were educated twenty or more years ago, will see how fashions have changed.
 
The fact that I bore the title of Poet Laureate, made me the obvious candidate when Kim Williams and Bonnie Symonds were looking for someone to start a poetry group at the Cobourg Public Library. In the beginning, my interest was entirely parochial. It was a question of finding out what can we do by ourselves and for ourselves. Can poetry be written by us and for us? It could and it was and some of it was very good.
 
The group developed into the Cobourg Poetry Workshop and its interests widened. Eventually, it was to give monthly public readings at 66 King East. There were also frequent readings by members of the group in locations like Belleville, Stratford and Toronto. The result was that, by 2006, Cobourg had become known as an important provincial venue for poetry.
 
I could name a lot of people who were part of that enterprise. That would take too long on this occasion but they have not been forgotten. There were some who have been a part of the group since the beginning, some who came and went but made significant contributions while they were with us and there were those who came to find an instrument for poetry already in place. Together they have produced an organisation that is now known across Canada. It is a vigorous cooperative endeavour headed by a team of far-sighted enthusiasts.
 
The regularity of the readings and the wide recognition of the venue has also helped to sustain a cluster of related activities. All boats rise with the tide. Some of you will know of my poetry-themed fund-raising program for Habitat for Humanity in December each year. There is also the annual event by The Ontario Poetry Society in May. Beginning on the 15th of April, 2010 is the second annual Poetry’z Own Weekend, an event organised by James Pickersgill, which will bring many noteable writers to the town including Laureates from the Parliament of Canada and the City of Toronto. Has this happened elsewhere? I don’t think so.

Someone said recently, “When Shakespeare is mentioned in Canada people think of Stratford and soon, when poetry is mentioned, people will think of Cobourg.”
 
I think that’s true. I can confidently predict that with the new Poet Laureate, Jill Battson, and with the enthusiasm in the Poetry Workshop, Cobourg will be known throughout North America as a locus for good readers and good reading.
 
Sometimes you strike it lucky and I’m very pleased to have been associated with this process.