Author Peter Norman lets his poetry rush toward the place it belongs

This past weekend, one of Ottawa’s celebrated reading series played host to one of the city’s former residents made good. Author Peter Norman spent three years here at the beginning of his career and found them to be incredibly formative. “I got off the ground in poetry there. It was in that community that I started to write with concentration. I’d write for the open mic nights at reading series and then use the feedback to see what captured peoples’ attention.” He left Ottawa but took with him a long list of friends, supporters and burgeoning projects. “I did a tally once,” he muses, “and about 63 percent of my poems were written in Ottawa.”

His new work, At the Gates of the Theme Park, is a self-described “hodgepodge.” Like many poets, Norman doesn’t adhere to a single form, and doesn’t write strictly out of his own life experience, but uses each poem to create a different landscape for the reader. “What unites all the poems in this book is… the pursuit of allowing an individual poem to go where it needs to go. I’m very disinterested in using poetry to express myself.”

The Plan 99 reading series has long been a highlight of Ottawa’s literary community. It’s a low-flying affair from organizers Chris Swail and David O’Meara – not a lot of fuss, no pageantry, no posturing, just solid readings from praised authors in one of Ottawa’s best venues, the homey, subterranean Manx pub. And it’s equally respected by the writing community, who largely regard it as one of the city’s top-quality outlets. “It’s a combination of the venue, the hospitality and the organizers themselves. David O’Meara is a well-respected writer.” Look for more Plan 99 events in partnership with the equally celebrated Ottawa International Writers Festival, starting soon.

As seen in the Ottawa XPress April 21, 2011: http://ottawaxpress.ca/2011/04/21/peter-norman-the-pursuit/