Ron Seatter works
as a health psychologist in Ottawa. Ron practices being a dad, partner, writer,
curler, reader, maker, and guitar-er. Some
of his creations can be found at ronovation.ca. His poetry submissions are rejected far more often than accepted.
Q: How long have you been in Ottawa, and what first
brought you here?
Came to Ottawa in 2000 for my Clinical Psychology
Residency at the Ottawa Hospital - General Campus. Been here since
except for a year away to teach at a College in Edmonton.
Q: How did you first get involved in writing, and
subsequently, the writing community here?
Always interested in writing. I had a journal when I was 5 years old. Mostly, admonitions such as ‘do not play on
the road’.
Met a poet, Heather McLeod, who had taken a number of
writing seminars with the illustrious, rob mclennan. She introduced me to the Ottawa world of
poetry, writing, etc.
Q: How did being in such a community of writers shift
your thinking about writing, if at all?
The sense that my writing could be part of a
continuous conversation. My profession helped me in this regard as we are
trained to listen far more than talk. This idea validated my process as I read
far more than I write.
We have a saying, ‘don’t just say something, sit
there.’
Also, this community provided encouragement. Excitement. Enthusiasm. My fear of beret-wearing elites
abated quickly (with some exceptions of those using nose-raising terms such as
gerund...) I found a sense of recognition and accepted caring.
I love this quote from F S Fitzgerald, “They talked
until three, from biology to organized religion, and when Amory crept shivering
into bed it was with his mind aglow with ideas and a sense of shock that some
one else had discovered the path he might have followed.”
Q: What do you see happening here that you don’t see anywhere else? What does Ottawa provide, or allow?
Difficult to answer.
I have only ‘wrote’ here. But
also difficult to imagine such a close community of writers elsewhere.
Q: Have any of your projects responded directly to
your engagements here? How have the city and its community, if at all, changed
the way you approached your work?
Yes. Almost all
(except my therapeutic writing) is a reaction to, or continuation of other writers
here. Having lunch with Amanda Earl,
shared seminars with Christine McNair and Pearl Pirie, a pint with Rol Prévost
and Janice Tokar, a talk or seminar with yourself, and so many others here -
all is in mind while I write. The
Audience I suppose.
Q: What are you working on now?
Mainly psychological assessments. But these inform my
poetry writing. Especially, the reciprocal effects of life - body: lines such
as “varicose emotions”.
Specific projects include writing a collection of ‘the’
poems, ‘the I in therapy’ for instance.
Thought I may as well hit the narcissistic nail head-bash on.
Also, a collection of poems of growing up in a
Pentecostal - the ‘End Times Are Comin!’, right wing, farm community, in
Northern Alberta.
Also... starting a project(s) with a family doctor
colleague, and my partner (fellow psychologist, Dr. Barb Virley): possibly a blog, or an eventual book with themes of
body/mind, spiritual health, consciousness, and the dissociative aspects of
coping versus non coping. We may even include writings on a personal level of
health professionals coping with their own um ... stuff...
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