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Found Poetry: ‘The words just jump off the page’

Mission author Joy Barratt creates new works from First World War letters
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Mission poet Joy Barratt has created a book of found poetry by using old letters sent by First World War soldiers. / Kevin Mills Photo

Mission author and poet Joy Barratt has found a new artistic style that has given her “licence to expand.”

It’s called found poetry and Barratt has created a new book, Chaos Great & Wide – which focuses on letters written by First World War soldiers – that uses this style.

Barratt,74, is a former teacher and high school administrator who left Ontario to retire in Mission, in order to be closer to family.

But retirement didn’t really sit well with her.

“When I retired, I was looking for another interest, something to keep my mind alert and keep me interested and involved,” she said.

Writing was one activity she wanted to pursue.

She has written all kinds of things, including three memoirs and a failed novel, but she wanted to try something different.

Barratt said, at her age, it can be difficult to focus on a project as large as a novel.

“It’s difficult to keep the whole thing in the frame of your focus,” she said, adding she decided novels may not be the best thing for her abilities.

But poetry seemed perfect.

“Poetry is compact, concentrated and it requires a very different kind of focus. So I’ve been writing poetry for about two years.”

Barratt took a poetry course at the University of the Fraser Valley and learned about a whole range of poetry, including some she had never heard of before.

“It was a hugely challenging course.”

It was there that she discovered found poetry.

“It means that the poetry does not come from your own brain. It comes from the reading that you do. I call it serendipitous recognition of, frankly, gorgeous language or tender moments that break your heart, or scary, frightening situations that raise goosebumps on you arm.

“So you collect all these phrases and you re-assemble them in a new format… creating your own message.”

Chaos Great & Wide was created to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War and Barratt used old letters, written by soldiers, as her source materials.

“Libby Marcellus is an Abbotsford resident and she lent me her grandfather’s archival letters collected throughout the war.”

Barratt picked out phrases from hundreds of letters and created a series of found poetry. The phrases were then placed, and manipulated to create a scene – poetry and imagery combined.

For example, the poem Love Notes Midst the Bombs uses phrases taken from soldiers’ letters but places them on the page to look like bombs dropping, explosions and a soldier writing.

Barratt chooses the phrases and creates the concept for how it should look on the page.

“This seemed absolutely liberational because it gave you licence to expand.”

It requires a mammoth amount of research and collection of material to create this style of poetry. Barratt said she is reading constantly.

“In some strange way, the words just jump off the page at me that are so memorable.”

Found poetry can also be a challenge for the reader.

“This sometimes doesn’t make logical sense. I mean it doesn’t jump off the page and give you a message immediately. Sometimes you have to work at it. It’s like putting puzzle pieces together. It requires effort on the part of the reader.”

Barratt has a busy few weeks ahead of her. She will be speaking at Lifetime Learning’s Remembrance Day event as well as at The Reach Gallery in Abbotsford. She is also teaching workshops on found poetry at Elder College in Chilliwack.

Anyone interested in purchasing a copy of Barratt’s book can find it at the Mission Archive, at Lifetime Learning, or contact Barratt directly at joybarratt@shaw.ca.

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Kevin Mills

About the Author: Kevin Mills

I have been a member of the media for the past 34 years and became editor of the Mission Record in February of 2015.
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