every stone on this mountain clicks/some old biotic tumbler locked/unlocked sadness/not of the hundred-blossomed mountain/not of the nine-millennia incense/but of the dragon-slit tongue silenced/youth before old age
– An excerpt from Fred Wah's poem "Dead In My Tracks: Wildcat Creek Utaniki"
Fred Wah is finally home free. After four decades of teaching writing, building community, writing his own poetry and steering literary publications, the Calgary-based poet is retiring. Well, not really retiring.
Do writers retire? Does the compulsive urge to write ever cease? Not if you are the formidable Fred Wah – the energy is merely redirected into other projects.
To mark the end of Wah’s teaching career this spring, a group of students and colleagues, in true academic fashion, organized a conference, Alley Alley Home Free!, in recognition of his unique contribution to Canadian letters. The poetry clan gathered in Calgary last week to honour Wah and Pauline Butling as the couple retired from their respective teaching gigs at the University of Calgary and ACAD. The who's who of the writing community in Canada – Frank Davey, George Bowering, Daphne Marlatt, Roy Miki, Erin Moure and Robert Kroetsch among them – were in attendance to pay homage to the critically acclaimed and prolific Wah. At last count, the poet had 16 books to his credit, including Waiting for Saskatchewan, which garnered him a Governor General's Award in 1986.
Wah is leaving a legacy in Calgary. Many students, some of whom made a pilgrimage to the conference, owe him a debt of gratitude for helping them along in their poetry careers. A renowned hard-ass, he has shaped and challenged the work of many Canadian poets, including Calgary’s Ian Samuels, Rajinderpal S. Pal, Louis Cabri, Roberta Rees and Paulo da Costa. All were nurtured along in Wah's school of poetic engagement – a line of fire few forget.
Calgary writer Suzette Mayr took a poetry course from Wah and hated it. "I thought he was a grumpy, autocratic guy. But I got halfway through the course and my poetry was really improved."
Mayr is currently the writer-in-residence at U of C until she starts her new job teaching in the English department in July. She was feeling nostalgic when we spoke and says it will be "horrible" to see the taskmaster and innovator take his leave. "He's been a such an asset to the community. He's been the motivating force behind the revitalization of Dandelion (magazine). He puts so much energy into the community. We will miss him."
Calgary-based writer, critic and teacher Aritha van Herk says she will miss sparring with Wah over language. "I have known him for 17 years. Fred is enigmatic, unpredictable, very creative, and lots of fun. He is completely dedicated to literature and to his students. Although the English department is always changing, my relationship to Fred goes way beyond that. I love to talk to him about language and poetry. We are engaged in a life-long dialogue."
Her admiration for Wah is due in part to his commitment to his craft as a poet. "Fred lives his poetry. I've always been suspicious of the ones who put (their poetry) on the mantle. Not Fred; he truly lives it – he never succumbs to the metaphor or the easy, sentimental phrase.
"He has an interesting, skewed view of the world," adds van Herk, who edited Wah's book Diamond Grill.
Susan Rudy, who helped to organize the conference, is also on very familiar terms with Wah. The U of C professor has been toiling over an annotated bibliography of his writing that will encompass everything he's done since the 1960s. What did she glean from her readings? "I see someone who for over 40 years has been seeking to understand his place in the world. I see an ethical poet, a grounded poet. He is firmly grounded in place."
When I finally track down Wah for a brief chat at 8:30 a.m. at his home office, the elusive poet steers the conversation to others, deflecting the attention. He recalls his early days as a young writer when poet Robert Duncan spoke to his class. "He said to us: 'Most of you won't be writing when you are 40 years old.' And it turned out to be true."
Wah cites American poets Duncan and Robert Creely as his major influences, as the Canadian scene on the West Coast was isolated from eastern poets. "They did not want to have anything to do with us so we looked south for sustenance. It was hard to get published."
For Wah, teaching writing has made up a great portion of his writing practice. "I am so fortunate. In teaching I have been able to be (immersed) in writing all day. Critical discourse is important, it is provocative and it generates material. Sometimes it is good to have literary wars, not just overlaps. It is good to have a variety."
As for his retirement, he is eager to do more writing and to spend more time with family. He and Butling have two new granddaughters to play with on the coast. Asked about his contribution to the Calgary community, he is, in typical Wah fashion, enigmatic and understated: "Well, I wouldn't say I've created a community. It is really more of a cement mixer, really."
Calgary will truly miss the grit Fred Wah has added to the mix. |
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