Q: How long were you in Ottawa, and what first brought you here? What took you away?
I lived in Ottawa for 43 years, arriving in 1969 from the States, and leaving in 2012 for Victoria, BC. My family left the States at the time of the war in Vietnam. I had three brothers, and my father did not believe in the war. There were also economic reasons. I left for my husband's health. The west coast provided a better climate for him to be out of doors year round. Looking back, I think Victoria added five years to his life; he died in 2017.
Q: How did you first get involved in writing, and subsequently, the writing community here?
As a high school English teacher I was always around poetry. I knew at some point I wanted to write myself, but I was always too intimidated to try (until I took a writing course with Hayden Carruth at the Humber School of Writing in the late eighties. This was a turning point. I joined a writing group in Ottawa that included Blaine Marchand, Ronnie Brown, Sue McMaster, and Colin Morton. They were supportive and encouraging. Later, a group of poets met (after hours) at the (now closed) Mother Tongue Book Store on Bank Street. That group included Peter Richardson, Claudia Radmore, Paul Tyler, Frances Boyle and others. Through some editing work with Susan McMaster, I met Marty Gervais at Black Moss Press. In time I published two books of poetry with that press (and later an erotic haiku anthology); I was/am grateful for the connections I made in Ottawa.
Q: How did being in such a community of writers shift your thinking about writing, if at all? Have there been subsequent shifts due to where you have lived since?
Feedback from other poets has always been valuable; the "shift" in thinking came with validation. I continue to seek out poetry critiquing groups. I also belong to a study group where the work of particular poets is given closer examination.
Q: What did you see happening here that you don’t see anywhere else? What did Ottawa provide, or allow?
In Ottawa I enjoyed facilitating a group (KaDo Ottawa) that was primarily interested in Japanese literary forms of writing poetry and prose. Through this group, I was connected to VerseFest, the large poetry festival in the city. I enjoyed these ties; it brought me closer to other writing communities in the city.
Q: Have any of your projects responded directly to your engagements here? How had the city and its community, if at all, changed the way you approached your work?
Ottawa provided a tremendous start to my writing. There were many groups, individuals, reading venues, and magazines. I became involved by attending readings and launches and small press events. It was/is a varied city of poetry personalities. Ottawa changed the way I felt about my own poetry. I learned so much there; I grew as a poet.
Q: What are you working on now?
At present I am working on my seventh collection of poetry, based on a chapbook that I put together two years ago for a book arts show at the Gage Gallery, here in Victoria. My interest in "paper arts" blossomed here on the west coast, and in autumn of 2018 I was invited to have a "show" at an art gallery. I prepared a small chapbook to accompany that exhibition titled "First I Fold the Mountain" . I have been adding poems to it since that time and I hope to submit it to a publisher in early 2021. For more about my life as a poet and a paper artist, i invite you to www.terryanncarter.com.
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