Poet Laureate
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New Westminster’s Poet Laureate acts as a literary ambassador for the City of New Westminster and the community; advocating for literacy and the literary arts and helping to raise the status of poetry, language and the arts in the everyday consciousness of New Westminster residents. The Poet Laureate also develops meaningful engagement opportunities that enrich the lives of residents and visitors to the City.
Poet Alan Hill was chosen in February 2017 as New Westminster’s fourth Poet Laureate. Mr. Hill is a resident of the Glenbrook North neighbourhood of New Westminster. He is co-manager of the Poetry New West reading series and has been a regular on the Vancouver reading circuit for over ten years. He has been published in North America and Europe in numerous print and online journals. Publishing highlights in Canada include having poetry included in Event, CV2, Canadian Literature, Vancouver Review, Antigonish Review, Sub-Terrain, Poetry is Dead, Quills and Cascadia Review. He has also published two collections of poetry, ‘The Upstairs Country’ (Silverbow 2012) and ‘The Broken Word’ (Silverbow 2013). In 2007 he featured in the ‘Rocksalt’ anthology (Mother Tongue), the first BC wide anthology of poetry for over thirty years. Alan immigrated to New Westminster from the UK after meeting, and being sponsored by, his Vietnamese-Canadian wife while working in Botswana.
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Candice JamesCandice James is a professional writer, poet, visual artist, musician, singer/songwriter, workshop facilitator and book reviewer. She completed her second three year term as Poet Laureate in June 2016 and was appointed Poet Laureate Emerita November 2016. She is board advisor to Royal City Literary Arts Society and director of the Pacific Festival of the Book. She is founder and past president of Royal City Literary Arts Society; past president of the Federation of British Columbia Writers; and past director of SpoCan. She is a full member of the League of Canadian Poets. She also is founder of: Poetry New Westminster; Poetry In The Park; Poetic Justice and Slam Central. She has been keynote speaker at Word On The Street, and Black Dot Roots Cultural Collective and has judged the Pat Lowther Memorial Award and Jessamy Stursberg Youth Poet Award for the League of Canadian Poets. She is the recipient of Vancouver Pandora’s Collective Citizenship Award and recipient of the Bernie Legge Artist/Cultural award.
Candice is author of thirteen books of poetry with five different publishers: A Split In The Water (Fiddlehead 1979); Inner Heart – A Journey (Silver Bow 2010); Bridges and Clouds (Silver Bow 2011); Midnight Embers – a Book of Sonnets (Libros Libertad 2012); Shorelines – a Book of Villanelles (Silver Bow 2013); Ekphrasticism – Painted Words (Silver Bow 2013); Purple Haze (Libros Libertad 2014) A Silence of Echoes (Silver Bow 2014); Merging Dimensions (Ekstasis Editions 2015); Short Shots (Silver Bow 2016) and Colours of India (Xpress Publisher, India 2016; The Water Poems (Ekstasis Editions 2017).
Candice has featured at many venues both civic and public and appeared on television and radio. She has presented workshops, mentored writers; written prefaces and reviews, published articles, and short stories. Her poetry has appeared in many international anthologies and her poems have been translated into Arabic, Italian, Bengali and Farsi. Her artwork has appeared in Duende at Goddard College of Fine Arts, Vermont, USA.
THE UNSUNG HEROES
(Commissioned for the Civic Dinner Feb 26, 2013)
© Candice James, Poet Laureate
Outside the New West courthouse
There stands a bronze statue;
Of a man bound by integrity,
Steadfast, strong and true.
In 1858 he came to shape our history,
A man of dedication,
Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie.
And just like this great gentleman
You’ve answered duty’s call
To serve in your community
For the greater good of all.
You give your time and effort
On advisory boards, committees.
You are the very heart and soul
Of our Royal City!
You’re the citizens’ advocates;
The guardians of progress;
The underlying spirit
Of our City’s success.
You create a better tomorrow,
Exercising conscience.
With service and commitment
You are making a difference.
Tonight we’re gathered here
To honour and to thank you
For your care and dedication;
And though there’ll be no statue
You are the grass roots soldiers
Filled with civic passion.
You are the unsung heroes
When all is said and done.
You are the very heart and soul
Of our Royal City!
THE FALLEN SOLDIERS
(Commissioned and read at Remembrance Day 2012)
© Candice James, Poet Laureate
Freedom bought at such a cost;
The fallen soldiers loved ones lost.
Distant and so far away,
On battlefields the soldiers lay;
What a grievous price to pay.
Words alone cannot portray
This debt we owe but can’t repay.
We honour the fallen soldiers today.
But for the grace of God
Go yours or mine
To fight freedom’s battles
On the front line.
But for the grace of God
Go you or I
With a broken heart
And tear filled eye.
To the sons and daughters
Who lost their lives…
We salute you.
Your legacy lives.
Your memory survives.
Freedom bought at such a cost;
The fallen soldiers, loved ones lost.
We wear the blood red poppy,
Lest we forget.
THE YOUNG GIRLS OF MAY
(Commissioned poem © 2014 read at May Day Banquet)
© Candice James, Poet Laureate
The young girls of May
Pristine, beautiful and elegant;
Cheeks polished to a rosy shine,
Eyes sparkling like fine wine,
Are shining
In this, their moment in the sun.
The warm caress of history
Casts its spell of enchantment
Onto the May Day Ceremony
And the young girls of May,
Setting their hearts aglow.
The May Queen
And her Royal Suite
Hold court in the Royal City
Decorating the day
With windblown wishes
And perfumed dreams.
May Day arrives on little cat feet
And slides away on sleepy smiles.
It comes and goes in a heartbeat
But its echo remains forever
In the hearts and souls
Of the young girls of May.
MAY DAY MAGIC
(Commissioned for 2012 May Day Banquet)
© Candice James, Poet Laureate
Apple blossoms dress the trees
And kiss the morning dew
On this day of celebration
In the Royal City.
Today will shine in wisps of white
And sparkle bright with crowns
As our May Queen and entourage
Grace this day of joy.
The Maypole dancers ring the pole.
Music fills the air.
A feeling of camaraderie and people everywhere.
Queens Park shines and comes alive,
With pomp and ceremony on this special day,
To see our May Queen crowned.
The Royal Knights, a sight to see,
Tuxedos and dress vests;
These proud guards of chivalry
Stand by their lady’s side.
The May Queen and her Royal Suite,
True grace and elegance, decorate each May Day
In tiaras, gowns and crowns.
The Honorary Banquet,
A feast fit for a Queen;
The Mayor’s regal remarks,
The Royal Lancer Dance,
And as the celebration ends
The scent of apple blossoms;
The sparkle of spring dew;
The soft touch of a white glove;
A young girl’s magic smile.
The flavour of this day and night
Indelibly imprinted….
THESE BRAVE HEARTS
(Commissioned poem for Remembrance Day ceremonies 2011)
© Candice James, Poet Laureate
Courageously they marched forth into Hell
Amidst the gunfire, mortar shells, and death;
The brave hearts left there where their bodies fell
What name was on their lips at their last breath?
They have our admiration and respect
These architects of freedom; heroes all,
As teardrops fall old memories reflect
The brave young hearts that answered duty’s call.
They gave their lives to keep the hounds at bay,
These saviors still remembered through the years.
A somber day, this day, Remembrance Day;
A day of courage, sacrifice and tears.
To these brave hearts we owe an unpaid debt;
The blood red poppy worn, “Lest We Forget”.
A SPECIAL MAGIC
(Commissioned poem for 145th May Day Celebration 2016)
© Candice James, Poet Laureate
There’s a special feeling in the air
spilling over everywhere;
a vibrant mood that permeates
a history that resonates.
There’s a special magic to this day
we love to celebrate each May.
At the May Day Festival,
the Civic Dinner and the ball,
the Royal Suite, the May Day Queen
and Maypole Dancers set the scene.
These young girls and boys of May
are dressed up in such grand array;
handsome boys and girls so pretty
decorating our fair city.
Glory, pomp and history,
dancing, rhyme and melody;
a breath of fresh air every year,
eliciting a smile and tear.
There’s a special magic in this day
we love to celebrate each May.
THE DEBT
(Commissioned and read at the 2010 Remembrance Day Ceremonies
with the Duke of Westminster, the keynote speaker)
© Candice James, Poet Laureate
We wear the blood red poppy
Lest we forget.
Warfare, bombs, shrapnel, torn bodies,
Threat of foreign occupation,
Our flag raised, unfurled;
Sound of bugle and drum;
Our sons and daughters
Called to battle,
Fighting, in distant lands
To keep our true north strong and free.
Veterans and raw recruits
Fighting, laughing, crying, dying;
Side by side, adrift,
On a bloodied tide of bodies.
On Armistice Day
We remember
Those who stood tall
For freedom;
Freedom, bought with blood,
Sweat, death and tears;
An indelible debt
Impossible to repay.
We honour these heroes;
These architects of liberty;
These fallen saviors of freedom;
Today, tomorrow and forever.
We wear the blood red poppy
Lest we forget.
THE ANVIL CENTRE
(Commissioned poem read at the opening of Anvil Centre September 14, 2014)
© Candice James, Poet Laureate
In the heart of downtown
She stands proud and tall;
A community gathering place for all;
The Anvil Centre shaping and molding
Arts, drama, poetry, dreams unfolding.
A theatre, state of the art in all ways.
Recitals, performances, conferences, plays;
Artists, actors, writers, musicians
Dressing her halls with creative expressions.
Our City’s fingerprints nestled inside
Museums and Archives on history’s tide
The Anvil Centre…
Bold in her architectural face;
Truly a landmark to celebrate
The meeting of minds in a cultural zone;
The Anvil Centre – New Westminster milestone.
WAIT FOR ME DADDY
© 2014 ~ Read at Metal Sculpture Dedication at Hyack Square
© Candice James, Poet Laureate
In a heartbeat,
so near
yet so far,
the separation,
once impending,
becoming reality.
He’s going away.
The line of soldiers
march down the street
toward a foreign land.
‘Don’t go Daddy.
Wait for me Daddy.’
Too young to understand
the meaning of war,
he stretches out his tiny fingers
to grasp his Daddy’s hand;
to hold on tight;
to make him stay.
‘Don’t go Daddy.
Wait for me Daddy.’
In a heartbeat,
so near
yet so far ,
his Daddy fades from view…
He’s gone away.
THESE SPECIAL DAYS OF MAY
(Commissioned for May Day Banquet 2015)
© Candice James, Poet Laureate
May …
A special texture to the days;
A satin flow to the nights.
May …
Filled with warm gentle breezes
That wrap themselves around you
Like a gossamer blanket of dreams.
AND …
Sparkling inside this blanket of dreams,
Innocence coming of age,
Climbing out of childhood’s cradle.
Skipping through star-dusted minutes and hours,
The May Queen and her Royal Suite,
The Royal Knights and May Day dancers
Decorating a city tradition
again and again; again and again.
May Day in the Royal City,
So many memories:
Rehearsals, Speeches, Parades, Banquets.
Years become windblown pages,
Crowns handed down throughout the ages.
These special days of May
Ebb and flow,
On waves of enchantment,
In the everlasting sea
Of New Westminster history.
May Day in the Royal City;
A time honoured tradition.
May …
It never cease to be.
ARCHITECTS OF LIBERTY
(Commissioned poem Remembrance Day 2015)
© Candice James, Poet Laureate
They live on in our memory
Those architects of liberty,
Who travelled to a foreign land
To serve our country on command.
They set their boots on foreign shores
To fight for freedom by the scores.
The gunfire echoed overhead.
Men fell wounded; some fell dead.
Embattled soldiers in the Corp.
Will tell you.
War is hell…
And hell is war.
Reverberating through the years:
The emptiness and the tears;
The stain of anguish and bloodshed;
The silent bodies of the dead.
They gave their lives to keep us free,
Those architects of liberty.
We wear the blood red poppy...
Lest We Forget.
CANADIAN KALEIDOSCOPE
(Commissioned for Canada Day 2011)
© Candice James, Poet Laureate
Canada, the land of the strong and the free,
Is filled with lush beauty and bold pageantry.
The tree lined shores of the five Great Lakes;
The Yukon gold rush, the miner’s stakes;
The jagged rocks and harsh craggy shore
Of Newfoundland and Labrador;
New Brunswick’s famous magnetic hill;
Nova Scotia’s storms and Atlantic swill;
Prince Edward Island’s red soiled ground;
Quebec, where French accents still resound;
Ontario, the Canadian Parliament’s base;
Manitoba, the proud Cree and Metis race;
Saskatchewan nights painted with a soft kiss
And the true north’s Aurora Borealis;
Alberta, Lake Louse, Banff National Park,
Sparkling jewels, each a shining landmark;
British Columbia, Rocky Mountains high;
Waterfalls whisper as Eagles fly by.
Chilly nights in the Northwest Territories;
Wolves howl at the moon and whisper ghost stories.
This land is ours from sea to shining sea.
Each one of us is very fortunate to be
Residing in this great land of liberty
Helping to shape Canada’s history.
Peer through this Canadian Kaleidoscope
Stand strong, proud and tall with your heart full of hope
This brilliant creation splashed on nature’s page,
This glorious country is your heritage.
MOMENTS
(Commissioned poem for May Day Banquet © 2013)
© Candice James, Poet Laureate
Wishing, hoping, dreaming
Anticipation and emotion,
Excitement, nerves, anxiety
Time ripples by
In slow motion frames
Splashing into this moment
Suddenly the day arrives
May Day 2013 in the Royal City
Organdy dreams
And golden smiles
Sparkling eyes
And fluttering hearts
Young girls
Spun into young ladies
In the twinkling of an eye
How beautiful they look
In their flowing gowns of white
Their perfumed hopes and dreams
The May Queen, Her Royal Suite
And the Royal Knights
Infusing the atmosphere
With windblown wishes
And surreal sighs
This day and these moments
Will resonate forever
In your hearts and minds
And shine throughout the years
Star dust and diamonds
In a black satin sky….
Incredible, indelible moments!