About In Arms
War and poetry have gone together for centuries.
Poetry puts emotion and experience into words. Pride, pain, honour, humour, loss, fear, comradeship, anger and boredom – Canadian Forces personnel experience these emotions every day. They experience realities that civilians only dimly understand.
The In Arms project aims to communicate the experience of Canadian Forces personnel and their families and friends in today’s world through the time-honoured means of poetry.
The project team is based in Edmonton, where CFB Edmonton plays a big role in the city’s life. Some 5000 regular and reservists and their families – more than 13,000 people in all – are part of the military community here. Many of them are serving in the Afghanistan war, and many have served in previous peace-keeping operations. In Arms is a way of exploring and understanding the lives of this large community in the city’s midst. It will help share those words with a wider audience.
In Arms is a project by the Edmonton Poetry Festival, which celebrates the creativity of hundreds of poets in the city. The project is funded by the Alberta Creative Development Initiative, funded jointly by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the Canada Council for the Arts, with additional support from the Royal Alberta Museum.
Participate
We’re seeking Canadian Forces personnel’s words to build into this website, and into an evening of performance at the Royal Alberta Museum. Participate and share your words.
Live Performance
In November 2010, to coincide with Remembrance Day, In Arms will stage a live reading of some poetry and work developed through the project. This performance will take place at the Provincial Museum. This won’t be your standard boring old poetry reading. It’s a dramatic performance emphasizing the human voice and the stories – your stories. More details on this will follow as the date approaches. Keep watching inarms.ca for details.
Chapbook
What is a chapbook? It’s a small book of poetry produced in limited numbers. In Arms will be publishing the work of up to a dozen people who choose to work with us. This book will be a limited edition, special run publication; a great souvenir of your involvement with the project, and a fitting place for your words. To get into the publication, you’ll have to sign up for our mentorship program. And don’t be afraid! You don’t have to be a master wordsmith – we’re here to help people get their stories into writing and poetry.
Copyright
Site design and imagery copyright © the Edmonton Poetry Festival. All content is © the authors – all rights to the poems and content remain with them.
