dee Hobsbawn-Smith’s poetry tour brings her to B’fords May 25

By Miguel Fenrich Staff Reporter

the direction and without lifting the marker from the paper. Next, you can add simple shapes, and then you round out all of the corners and edges until the entire design is made up of completely smooth lines. Finally, you use coloured pencils to fill in all of the spaces.

One of the things I loved about this technique is that it doesn’t require any prior artistic experience or drawing skills. My favourite part was rounding out all of the lines, I found it meditative and relaxing. For my next piece, I will be experimenting with filling in the shapes with watercolour instead of pencil.

Neurographic art is often used in therapy and self-care settings, but it’s also a fun activity that can be done individually or in a group and it is an easy way for anyone to make beautiful pieces of art.

dee Hobsbawn-Smith started writing terrible prose and poetry in her teens. Now, an author of 10 published books, and an avid writer of short fiction, novels and creative nonfiction, Hobsbawn-Smith has published her second poetry collection. Her newest work, Among the Untamed, launched in April is now touring the province. You have a chance to hear her read from a collection that has been described as, “intricate textures of rage and domestic ritual” and “fierce and passionate ... beautiful to read and think about.”

Her tour includes North Battleford Public Library May 25 at 7 p.m.

“When I realized what this collection was becoming, it seemed like a natural fit with the times, and that’s sad because much of this work is about the tragedies some women’s lives are, the violence women face the racism and sexism,” she said, noting that violence is as prevalent now as in the past

“... and (it’s) getting worse in some countries as women’s rights are eroded. So sexual politics and gender identity are on the page, but as poetry, not as polemic.”

The collection, which has been in the works for years, began as a poem about Marylin Monroe in 2008 after viewing a collection of her dresses in Calgary’s Glenbow Museum.

“I wrote the first draft of the 20-poem series, ‘Jeanne

Remembering the Missing

Dark Comes of Age on the Prairie,’ in 2016. For me, most poetry takes years to gestate, and figuring out where a poem is going to ultimately land its ending.”

So far, HobsbawnSmith said that the support for Among the Untamed has been overwhelmingly positive, for its content, its language and its emotional and intellectual weight.

“The Canadian poet Susan Musgrave recently said in an interview that one of the great things about poetry is the tension between beautiful lounge and tough or difficult subject matter,” Hobsbawn-Smith said.

“She was absolutely right, and I hope that readers come away from reading Among the Untamed with that kind of appreciation.”

BATC’s walk for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls was well-attended on May 5, with many wearing the symbolic red clothing known for marking MMIWG.

After the event, a BBQ was held with Deputy Mayor Bill Ironstand and FSIN Senator Jenny Spyglass speaking to the crowd. | Photos submitted