{"id":223,"date":"2011-03-31T16:49:27","date_gmt":"2011-03-31T23:49:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/?page_id=223"},"modified":"2022-08-01T14:23:21","modified_gmt":"2022-08-01T21:23:21","slug":"poetry","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/poetry\/","title":{"rendered":"POETRY"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n\n\n

I was introduced to poetry by my father, who labored in a meatpacking plant. Though his job was to inject salt \"poetry\"brine into pork bellies while standing on a cold concrete floor, he was capable of so much more. He could’ve been an English teacher if he’d had the opportunity. He never finished grade nine but that’s another story.<\/p>\n

Dad loved language, especially poems. At home, his eyes twinkled with joy as he recited the poems he loved:\u00a0If, <\/strong><\/em>by Rudyard Kipling, and\u00a0Daffodils\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>by William Wordsworth.<\/p>\n

\"Poetry\"And so it isn’t too surprising that I’ve written the odd poem. Perhaps in homage to dear old dad.<\/p>\n

My first published poem, The Tattered Robe,<\/em>\u00a0was in DreamCatcher<\/strong>, a U.K. small press, an issue that was devoted to Canadian poetry.<\/p>\n

Another one,\u00a0Day To Remember,\u00a0<\/em>was written not long after I read the following in\u00a0Maclean\u2019s magazine<\/strong> Nov. 23, 2009.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

“On a peaceful mission in an Afghan village, Captain Trevor Greene<\/a><\/strong> was sitting in a patch of shade with a circle of elders, his helmet off, when a teenager snuck up behind him, and buried an axe into his head, splitting his skull and his brain almost in half. “<\/p>\n

A Day To Remember<\/strong><\/h4>\n
I turn on the tube
and watch a Remembrance ceremony,
then hear a soldier talk of letting go
the hate that came with battle\u2019s harm.
In halting words he shares the time
he sat on sand in a circle of men,
a few from his company
and some from the so-called foe.
He sat there listening,
trying to make sense of a fight with no end,
\u2018til a man with an axe struck him hard
on the back of his head.
No Call of Duty game here,
no quick recovery,
yet his faith in peace stayed
despite an enemy\u2019s blow.<\/pre>\n
How I came to write Togetherness<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
I wrote Togetherness<\/em>\u00a0during my days as a couples therapist.<\/p>\n
I was struck by how easy it is to lose yourself in the one you love. It was an issue I struggled with myself. How do you hold onto your identity and still embrace togetherness?<\/p>\n
This idea surfaced for many in the 70s, often coined as the ME decade, but it’s still relevant today. Brian Brett — a Canadian poet who won the CBC literary prize for poetry one year — recommended the poem be read aloud to get its full intent. \u00a0Here it is. Enjoy.<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Togetherness.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n
\u00a0<\/pre>\n\n\n
Togetherness<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n
Who am I to be,\nto be?\nwho do you want me to be?\nis it you, really you, that you want me to be?\nwhen you look in the mirror, what do you see?\ndo you see you, or do you see me?\nam I a mirror of you, or a mirror of me?\nIf not you, can you live with me?\nif I am me and you are you,\nwhat's to become of me and you?\nare we then we, instead of me and you, or you and me?\nis that what you want us to be, we, and we, and only we\ntill there is no more you and no more me,\nonly we, more we, only we.\nwhat is to be then if there is no more you and no more me?\ncan we survive as just we, if that\u2019s what\u2019s to be?\nonly we, how sad that might be,\nor are you glad there is no more you and no more me?\nonly we, only we, only we.\n\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Poetry on Shop Windows<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
My poetry was selected by the Campbell River Arts Council for display on shop windows during the Art and Earth Festival.  What fun to see my poems on the streets of a city. <\/p>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
Cedar Sentinels by Diana Stevan 2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
A Torn Leaf by Diana Stevan 2020<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
And my latest to reach the public is “Ukraine”. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February, 2022, I wrote this poem and posted it on Facebook and on Twitter. <\/p>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
Poetry is food for the soul.  <\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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Her novels, ranging from Ukrainian family sagas to psychological and literary works, united by a focus on women's lives, emotional depth, and the complexities of identity, survival and human relationships. 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We enrolled in a program at an international art school, The Instituto de Allende. He studied the lost wax process in bronze sculpting. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0417 8 \u043a\u043e\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0442\u0430\u0440\u044f\u043c\u0438","block_context":{"text":"\u0417 8 \u043a\u043e\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0442\u0430\u0440\u044f\u043c\u0438","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/art-of-robert-darcy-stevan-and-diana-stevan\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Flower-Garden-1024x509.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Flower-Garden-1024x509.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Flower-Garden-1024x509.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2892,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/events\/","url_meta":{"origin":223,"position":3},"title":"EVENTS","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"30 \u0412\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0441\u043d\u044f, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"BOOK SIGNINGS of ALONG CAME A GARDENER Saturday, April 26, 2025, 11am -1pm, Mulberry Bush Bookstore in Qualicum Beach, Vancouver Island Saturday, April 26, 2025, 2-4 pm, Fireside Books, Parksville, Vancouver Island Sunday, April 27, 2025, 12-1:30, Windowseat Books, Nanaimo, Vancouver Island BIG ISLAND BOOK FEST Oct. 14, 2023, Book\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0421\u0445\u043e\u0436\u0438\u0439 \u0437\u0430\u043f\u0438\u0441","block_context":{"text":"\u0421\u0445\u043e\u0436\u0438\u0439 \u0437\u0430\u043f\u0438\u0441","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5842,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/223\/revisions\/5842"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}