Richard Harrison Reading: My Mother Joins the Resistance

Governor General Award-winning poet Richard Harrison reads from his latest book of poetry. We hope you can join us.All there is, is light and darkness and wonder.And in that moment, there is no difference, either,between love and the memory of love. – “Up Above the World”In this latest collection Richard Harrison has created a companion to his Governor General Award–winning collection On Not Losing My Father’s Ashes in the Flood. In My Mother Joins the Resistance, Harrison considers his mother’s life – from her time as a child during WWII’s Operation Pied Piper, up until its end, in 2017, when terminally ill with cancer, she chose MAiD – with elegant, deeply felt poetry. These are beautiful poems, ones that piece together a person, a life and a family over generations. These are poems that examine the wounds passed down through a family, alongside the love, and see the echoes of both – the wounds and the love – in the world around us.“I was taken by a riptide, allowed my body to be still, held my breath so I wouldn’t drown. Then a tsunami slammed me against the shore and I gulped with pain. A sudden awareness, a philosophical, spiritual awakening. This is Richard’s story, sorrow, grief, the openness to truth. I love when poetry touches me to the core. This is what makes an entry to the soul. Read it until the pain subsides. And cry as the water heals you.” – Louise Bernice Halfe – Sky Dancer, Canada’s Ninth Parliamentary Poet LaureateRichard’s writings have been published across Canada as well as in the United States, England and Italy. His individual poems, and two books, have been translated into six languages including Spanish, Farsi, French and Arabic. This year he was honoured with the Writers’ Guild of Alberta’s Golden Pen for Lifetime Achievement. Professor Emeritus of English at Mount Royal University, currently Richard is a full-time poet, essayist, editor and writing mentor in Calgary