Wally Keeler
and
Deborah Panko
(The Cobourg Connection)

WALLY KEELER:

Wally Keeler’s first book, Walking On the Greenhouse Roof, edited by Louis Dudek, was published in 1969, Montreal. His poetry has rubbed stanzas with the poem and garden set in many of Canada’s better literary journals under an assortment of pseudonyms: Langtek, Creative Intelligence Agency, 422-902-510, etc.

Mr Keeler’s epic creation has been the founding of the state of mind of the Peoples Republic of Poetry, which become an outstanding member of the United Imagine Nations. Mr Keeler commits acts of poetry, such as “worshipping” the CN Tower on its opening day thereby attracting the police and national news; such as engaging the House of Commons in a debate about contempt of Parliament; such as establishing relations with other states of mind in Eastern Europe during the cold war; such as walking Queen Street West as a suicide martyr and attracting the police again.

Robert Priest; “His poetry abandons nothing and sings everything. He’s a trickster, a subvert, a secular angel and a most inventive rascal.”

Joe Rosenblatt; “Wally Keeler is the only poet I know who lives so much in the realm of the imagination that he actually anthropomorphizes poetic devices in minutiae, to the extent that metaphor becomes a living morphism with human attributes, similes become bystanders in a bank robbery, rhythms turn into rivers, and other auxiliaries of poetics, metamorphose into a social organism called The Peoples Republic of Poetry.

Lionel Kearns; “Like any great word-mechanic, Wally Keeler ratchets up language to the level of revelation, as he cranks out a singular testament that is simultaneously familiar and absurd.

Dr Alec Lucas, Head of English Dept, McGill U. 1969 “Gusto and intensity do not of course make art, but when they are combined, as in his poetry, with an unusual gift for creating images the results are striking. There is nothing here of a fear of words and of unduly cautious polishing.”

Wally Keeler will be launching his latest chapbook from Ad Hoc Poetency Press, entitled, POEM & NATIVE LAND.

DEBORAH PANKO:

Having retired from teaching English at the Toronto District School Board and being fortunate to live in lovely Cobourg with the Northumberland Hills, Presqu’ile Park and big city Toronto all within easy reach, Deb takes time to watch birds, ride her bike, enjoy a wealth of arts events, play piano, read (especially the classics), travel and above all to be with family and friends. In 2008, Hidden Brook Press published her first book of poetry, Somewhat Elsewhere as well as From O to Snow in collaboration with Donna Langevin and Kate Marshall-Flaherty in 2010.

Blurb for Somewhat Elsewhere by Dr. Eric Winter – “From the quotidian to the eternal, from the simple to the profound; from end to end, the reader will be wholly engaged and not a little surprised by the shouts of joy and the wry humour that pops up in surprising places.”

Blurb for Not a Muse, an international anthology of women poets by Kate Rogers – Deborah Panko’s poems hover over the world while celebrating epiphany and longing … (she) manages to blend reflection with compassion and irony …(she) portrays a visceral and elemental spirituality”