Jamie Reid (Canadian poet)
Encyclopedia
Jamie Reid is a Canadian poet, writer, and arts organizer/activist. He was born in Timmins
, Ontario
and came of age on the west coast of Canada.
Reid co-founded the influential poetry journal TISH
in Vancouver
in 1961 with George Bowering
, Frank Davey
and Fred Wah
. He published his first collection of poems, The Man Whose Path Was on Fire, in 1969. A short time later he joined the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist)
and for a time, stopped writing poetry in favour of political work, "because [he] didn’t have a way of working the language of politics into the language of poetry."
Reid returned to poetry and cultural criticism in the late 1980s, with a special interest in jazz expressed in many of his works. There is a 25-year gap between his first book of poetry and his later books. Married to painter Carol Reid since the 1960s, his home in North Vancouver continues to be a hub of literary activism and activity, from small press experiments like the local/international avant garde magazine DaDaBaBy to events and memoir writings in honour of a variety of literary figures who are, notably, human beings.
Timmins
Timmins is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada on the Mattagami River. At the time of the Canada 2006 Census, Timmins' population was 42,997...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
and came of age on the west coast of Canada.
Reid co-founded the influential poetry journal TISH
TISH
TISH was a Canadian poetry newsletter, founded by student-poets at the University of British Columbia in 1961 and edited by a number of Vancouver poets until 1969...
in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
in 1961 with George Bowering
George Bowering
George Harry Bowering, OC, OBC is a prolific Canadian novelist, poet, historian, and biographer. He has served as Canada's Parliamentary Poet Laureate....
, Frank Davey
Frank Davey
Frankland Wilmot Davey is a Canadian poet and scholar.Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, he grew up in the Fraser Valley village of Abbotsford. In 1957 he enrolled at the University of British Columbia where, in 1961, shortly after receiving his BA, he became one of the founding editors of the...
and Fred Wah
Fred Wah
Frederick James Wah is a Canadian poet, novelist, and scholar.Wah was born in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, but grew up in the interior of British Columbia. His Canadian-born father was raised in China, the son of a Chinese father and a Scots-Irish mother. Fred Wah's mother was a Swedish-born...
. He published his first collection of poems, The Man Whose Path Was on Fire, in 1969. A short time later he joined the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist)
Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist)
The Communist Party of Canada is a Canadian federal Marxist–Leninist political party.The party is registered with Elections Canada as the Marxist–Leninist Party of Canada...
and for a time, stopped writing poetry in favour of political work, "because [he] didn’t have a way of working the language of politics into the language of poetry."
Reid returned to poetry and cultural criticism in the late 1980s, with a special interest in jazz expressed in many of his works. There is a 25-year gap between his first book of poetry and his later books. Married to painter Carol Reid since the 1960s, his home in North Vancouver continues to be a hub of literary activism and activity, from small press experiments like the local/international avant garde magazine DaDaBaBy to events and memoir writings in honour of a variety of literary figures who are, notably, human beings.
Poetry
- The Man Whose Path Was on Fire (1969)
- Prez: Homage to Lester Young (1994, 2010)
- Mad Boys (1997)
- I. Another. The Space Between: Selected Poems (2004)
- homages (2009)
External links
- Can You Hear Me Now? A Tribute to Jamie Reid, edited by Carol Reid (Blurb, 2011)
- Jamie Reid Closing the Night, reading, Vancouver BC, 2010
- Reid reading from his chapbook homages in 2009
- A Night of Newlove, Jamie Reid on John Newlove, The Pacific Rim Review of Books, 2008
- TPRRB Issue 8 [PDF]
- Jamie and Himself: An Interview With Canada's Jamie Reid, Word Arc, 2008
- The East Village Poetry Web, Poetries of Canada, Jamie Reid
- *Remembering Allen, homage to Allen Ginsberg, 1997
- Festivals and Happenings: Vancouver's Human Be In, 7 O'Clock Show, CBC Archives, 1967