Random Acts of Poetry take place in town

The residents of Sackville were surprised, and pleased, when some of them were greeted in the street, in the classroom or in their place of work by a roving poet.

Random Acts of Poetry were committed as part of a growing nationwide initiative which celebrates poetry and focuses on the problem of illiteracy in this country.

Sackville poet Marilyn Lerch joined some 36 other poets across Canada for the weeklong project.

Created three years ago by the Victoria READ Society, a non-profit literacy organization established in British Columbia in 1976, the initiative is funded by The Canada Council for the Arts.

Lerch took to the streets of Sackville last week, dropping by classrooms at Tantramar Regional High School and Mount Allison University where she read excerpts from her first book of poetry Moon Loves Its Light, published in 2004. She also committed random acts of poetry in, among other places, the Sackville post office, Mount A maintenance department, Vogue Cinema, several physicians’ offices, the Sackville Memorial Hospital and the Bridge Street Café, where she recited one of her works to visiting musicians Blackie & the Rodeo Kings.

Lerch said her love of poetry and deep concern of the problem of illiteracy today prompted her to take part in the initiative.

“Random Acts of Poetry brings attention to the issue of literacy in New Brunswick. I decided to take part, number one because illiteracy is a big problem in New Brunswick and secondly because I love poetry and I think it should be read in the street,” she said.