Opinio ™TeReview Wednesday, January 2,1991 — C5 “It’s a sad fact about our culture,” W.H. Auden said, “that a poet can eam much more money writing or talking about his art than he can by practicing it.” Between writing about my art in the paper every other week, reviewing, judging contests, giving talks, conducting workshops, interviewing poets for magazines, composing articles on poetic technique, and reading Mother Goose to my kids, Thad no time any more to write my own poetry. A grant was going to change all that. First I’d find a babysitter and then I'd change the world ... Imagine my confusion when I was awarded the grant. $32,000 — plus $2,000 for pencils and materials: on that amount I could live forever! I set to work at once, sending back Incidents of Wife Battering in Contemporary Poetry: A Sys- tems Theory Approach to the poetry magazine I’d been reviewing for, telling them I’d be taking the rest of my life off. I canceled classes, postponed readings, declined interviews. A week later, with nothing but a blank sheet in front of me, I sat down to write a poem. Entitled “Poem Without Hope,” it was the shortest poem I’d ever written, and I couldn’t find an ending. In the months that followed I made more false starts. Living, though, got easier. Nothing wrong with a bit of comfort, I convinced myself — even Saint Teresa could pray better when she wasn’t wearing her hair shirt. But my problem was, I'd grown accustomed to poverty. It was hard to write poetry with security staring me in the face. It didn’t help when I came across William Faulkner’s position. Writers don’t need economic freedom, he said. All a writer needs is a pencil and some paper. “I’ve never know anything good in writing to come from having accepted any free gift of money. Good writers never apply for grants. They are too busy writing. If they're not first rate they fool themselves by saying they haven’*t got time or economic freedom.” But I had a grant and now I was stuck with it. Having accepted the money, I found, there was no procedure in which I could apply to give it back. Tt wasn’t that I was ungrateful to the Canada Council. But if gratitude, as La Rochefoucauld Buried in a grant’s tomb wrote, is merely the secret hope of further favors, I wasn’t grateful, either. The grant had allowed me to live comfortably for a while, but it had also given me a whole new set of worries. What was I going to do when the grant ran out? “Hundreds of writers have exhausted their grants and gone on to live happy productive lives,” my husband tries to assure me. “Like who?” He names two. Both, I remind him, have committed suicide. And if I didn’t write something soon, I was going to die, also. My brain was already buried in a grant’s tomb. I decided to seek advice from writers who had never received grants. The government had inv- ested in me $30,000 plus $2,000 for pencils — surely they deserved their money’s worth? Some felt that if the state supports its artists we need not feel indebted at all. Others disdained grants and spoke out against “feeding at the public trough.” One poet reminded me of the professor who got a $10,000 grant to study prostitution in Winnipeg; she’d met him on the street where she was working to support her poetry habit. A few romantics were skeptical about the utility of encouraging art of any kind on a grand scale. “Ts encouragement what a poet needs?” asked one — a lawyer-turned-crime-writer. “Open question. Maybe he needs discouragement.” One month after my grant ran out, I became discouraged enough about the future to start writing poetry. With my bank account now trying to hide under a duck, the pressure was again on. My entire writing life, from my first rejection slip to my most recent royalty cheque of $7.36, flashed before my eyes as I sat down to face my unfinished “Poem Without Hope.” By the time my final report was due to the Canada Council, my poem had reached epic proportions. I’d lived up to my end of the bargain — that is, I had produced — and lived well all the while. “What is black and knocking at the door?” I posed, in the final verse of my poem. “The future,’ was the hopeful note I ended on. Marinas hit by thieves A quantity of liquor and about $900 cash was taken from the North Saanich Marina clubhouse following a break-in, sometime before 11 p.m. Dec. 23, Sidney RCMP said. During the same time period the fuel dock building at Van Isle Marina was broken into and a large quantity of floater jackets and survival suits were stolen, police said. The RCMP are asking for the public’s assistance in solving both crimes. If you have information, police ask that you call CrimeS- toppers or Sidney RCMP. 652-1111 SERVICE TAXI sidney-North & Central Saanich PROMPT, POLITE, PLEASANT, POSITIVE, PROFESSIONAL 656-7366 sidney Lion’s Club 1st Annual Christmas Tree Shredding SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 1991 8 AM - 2 PM Simply drop off your Christmas tree at Tulista Park on January 5th, 1991 before 2 pm, and we will shred it. Shredding is done by donation. Donation going to other community projects. Bags of mulch will also be available for donation. siudy recommends amalgamation The amalgamation of the Penin- sula’s three municipalities is one of the recommendations of a recent study published by the Urban Development Institute. Representing developers and associates, the Victoria chapter of the national non-profit volunteer organization published its findings in October. The chairman of the group’s growth management committee, Linda Allen, said the report. is aimed at finding ways that urban growth can be “properly man- aged” in the Capital Regional District. A fragmented approach to development issues by the Penin- sula’s councils is a problem that could be remedied by an amalga- mation of municipal governments, she said. “There’s so much fragmenta- tion of decision making on plan- ning issues that sometimes munic- ipalities work at cross purposes,” she said. An example of this point is the different stand all three municipal councils have taken on the planned upgrading of the Pat Bay Highway, Allen said. “They need a common position when it comes to the highway upgrading,” she said. There should also be more cooperation between councils in Sidney and North Saanich over issues like the servicing of land and building of sewage extensions, she said. “Right now people are talking at each other, rather than to one another,” she said. A unified council for the whole Peninsula could plan urban devel- opment for the whole region more efficiently than three councils doing it on a piecemeal basis, she said. “T think better decision-making can result from this. And it doesn’t mean that the character of each community has to be lost,” Allen - said. Some degree of geographical representation on a district council could ensure each area on the Peninsula has a spokesman on council, she said. NICHOLAS W. LOTT R.G. WITT LAPPER TIMOTHY F. LOTT 9830 FOURTH ST. SIDNEY, B.C. 656-3961 McKIMM & LOTT BARRISTERS, SOLICITORS & NOTARIES GRANT S. WARRINGTON GEORGE F. McKIMM - COUNSEL Personal Injury / Real Estate Criminal Law / Wills & Estates Family Law | Commercial & Co. Law Municipal Law FIRST 1/2 HOUR CONSULTATION FREE GANGES CENTRE BLDG. CHRISTOPHER S. LOTT D. MAYLAND MCKIMM GANGES, B.C. 537-9951 LACROSSE 91 Registration Panorama Jan. 12, 13, 10:00 AM-2:00 PM We need: 14 Players Born 1977, 76 - Bantam 16 Players Born 1981, 82 - Novice 16 Players Born 1983, 84 - Tyke 26 Players Born 1985, 86 - Mini-Tyke Sportmanship Scholarships Indoor Lacrosse Training February spring Training Outdoor Box March Season April to July First Year Players Registration FREE Please bring Birth Certificate Limited Registration Call For Reservation Bantam - Dave Rees 656-6851 Pete Walden 652-5103 Novice - Bernie Straub 652-6653 Tyke - Ray Johnson 655-1616 Mini-Tyke - Ray Johnson 655-1616