This might sound a bit superficial to you, and it is in some ways. And, it’s also exciting. Those of you who are artists and writers know what I mean. To receive an honourarium is an honour that lifts the spirits and says our creative work has found place and purpose. It feels wonderful.

A couple of months ago I see a call for installation poetry, and my heart leaps. It seems a perfect alignment, I think to myself, so I write a letter of proposal and send it off on a wing and a prayer. And wait. I don’t have to wait long. They say YES!

So, here I am preparing for the UNBOUND Poetry Festival in Delta, BC., and all the pieces I’m creating will head off without me to be installed by the welcoming and energetic, Angela Rebrec, President of the Delta Literary Arts Society. The DLAS is putting on this festival to celebrate National Poetry Month. This will be the festival’s second year, and Angela and her team put a tonne of effort and love into this event. If you are local to Vancouver, BC., consider taking in and interacting with some of the wide and wonderful experiences that are poetry. Including PUP!

DID I MENTION I’M GETTING PAID!!!

I’m sharing a picture of my current PUP process below, which involves words and images. It’s been a lot of fun considering the vernacular of Delta, South Surrey, Tsawwassen and how to express that in art. My husband and I brainstormed images on Saturday morning with lots of coffee. I chose 7. It’s amazing what you can do with meat trays and a poking object! Expressions of the simple beauty of rock, tree, flower, sun, ocean, river, field are expressed in the simple “block cuts” which are printed in two colours: copper and turquoise, to honour earth, sea, and sky.

There will be a sign with my work. Here’s what it will say:

POP-UP POETRY INSTALLATION

Scattered across the grounds of the UNBOUND Poetry Festival you will discover POP-UP POETRY: small slips of paper with words and colourful artwork. As their name suggests, these wee poetic bites will pop up where and when you least expect them to. So, be on the lookout!

POP-UP POETRY (PUP) is a public word-art installation of poet Lesley-Anne Evans, from Kelowna, B.C.. Over a decade ago, Lesley-Anne instigated PUP in “the thick of things.” Inspired by National Poetry Month 2012, and a desire to bring poetry to the people, Lesley-Anne became Kelowna’s first downtown poetry busker, and began to install PUP and handmade luminaires in public places.

PUP is intended to be accessible and a discovery for people as they go about their daily lives. Most PUP is a line or two from a longer work of poetry. PUP is embellished with simple, colourful block prints of everyday objects: a tree, a flower, a bird, a rock, a field. Lesley-Anne’s mother Evelyn, who passed away in June, 2022, used to say “Beauty is everywhere, even in a freshly plowed field.” The artwork of PUP reminds us of that.

Lesley-Anne’s PUP installations include Belfast, New York, San Francisco, Toronto, Edinburgh and the Isle of Skye. Finders of PUP write to her at https://popuppoetry.ca/ to express their responses to the poetry they find. You can learn more about Lesley-Anne at https://laevans.ca/

May your discovery of POP-UP Poetry meet you where you are, with what you need.

Lesley-Anne