What do local crafted beers,poetry, and breaking a snowshoe trail have in common?Let's regress and maybe this will shed some light on that last enigmatic sentence.
On Dec. 28 Spring Pulse Poetry Festival and Smoothwater Ecolodge teamed up to have an afternoon of beer tasting and poetry readings. It was a success with 16 people in attendance and 9 poets reading pieces. To say nothing of the fragrant aromas of the spruce and raspberry beers.To add musical accompaniment we had two young people (Whitney and Alex) poet/songsters guitarists play some of their poem/songs.OK that's the beer and poetry part but what of the snowshoe stuff.

Well i bought new snowshoes and the next day went for a hike in the bush. A small trail had been broken which i followed for a little while,then needed to break a new one through thick snow.It was tough going and i felt a little dizzy after a while so headed back. Since i had broken this trail already the way home was easier. I just planted my snowshoes in the same tracks as before until i stopped and realized that i really wasn't making a good trail for anyone else.So then began to pack down more evenly my original single tracks to make it smoother for the next person.

That is when i got the insight that what this poetry festival and ongoing events are breaking new trails of creative possibilities for the next generation of great poet/artists. Without providing venues and opportunities for local poets to perform and be introduced to each other and poetry contests to reward their talent no growth will happen.
Coming together to walk that same trail in solidarity and common fellowship means cross -promoting our strengths. Knowing and honouring our past cultural heroes and learning from them gives us deeper roots to blaze new trails with confidence and clarity. We are not alone on this path of discovery of expression.