Life and times: poet Douglas Barbour leaves a literary legacy

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He may have been best known as a poet, but Robert Merrett likes to refer to his recently deceased friend Douglas Barbour as an escape artist.

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“Doug used his poetry to create beautiful images and worlds that he would later step into,” says the retired University of Alberta professor of his longtime associate in the English department. “It was also minimalist. Doug liked to reduce things, to simplify his poetry; I wanted to move, surprise, almost shock people into realizing things, ordinary things that they may not have noticed. “

There is no doubt that Barbour, who died on September 25 at the age of 81, was successful in this lifelong endeavor. Born in Winnipeg in 1940, the acclaimed poet, critic, and educator was known as an accurate writer who could turn heads with striking expression, but also as a community builder. It was Barber who bequeathed the NeWest Press with a donation of $ 500 to start in 1978, and it was Barbour who partnered with fellow writers Stephen Scobie and Shirley Neuman to found Longspoon Press, which ran from 1980 to 1987.

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Their associations were long and fruitful. Joining forces with American poet Sheila E. Murphy, Barbour released Continuations, Continuations 2, and Recording Dates between 2006 and 2012. With his close friend Scobie, he reveled in an experimental collaboration that continued even after Scobie left U of A for Victoria in 1981. Starting with The Pirates of Pen’s Chance (1981), the duo began to perform sound poetry under the name Re: Sounding, touring North America, Scandinavia, Germany, Austria, New Zealand and Australia. The two also collaborated as editors on the 1999 anthology CD Carnivocal: A Celebration of Sound Poetry.

“My wife Olga always said that he would have been a splendid scat singer because he had a tremendous ability to improvise,” says Almon, who was close to Barbour and his wife Sharon. “He loved music, from classical to jazz, from Bach to John Coltrane. When we visited him, he made incredible selections and we found ourselves writing titles so we could investigate further. He had a huge CD collection; I have this image of him sitting in his chair reading and listening to classical music, but of course he was a very busy person, so it’s not like he was sitting and doing nothing all day. “

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That would be nearly impossible considering his accomplishments over the years. Since the release of his debut Land Fall in 1971, Barbour has kept a lively pace, publishing a dozen books, including Visible Visions: The Selected Poems of Douglas Barbour, which won the Stephan G. Stephansson Prize for Poetry in 1985. He wrote monographs and essays, particularly on his friend and mentor BP Nichol, science fiction legend Samuel Delany and Michael Ondaatje, and edited several volumes of poetry and short stories.

“Some of the romantic poets suggested that the main purpose of poetry was pleasure, and I think Doug greatly enjoyed reading,” says Almon. “He had a tremendous ability to enter an imaginative universe, which was something that I think he got from the science fiction and fantasy he was reading. It was so important to him that he took a book on his stationary bike so that he could read while doing physical activity ”.

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According to Merrett, nurturing future generations of artists was very important to Barbour. Jenna Butler, who met him in an undergraduate poetry class at U of A around 2002, says Barbour was a remarkable coach, mentor, and community builder. Now a notable writer and educator in her own right, Butler feels that Barbour’s curiosity and generosity of spirit were crucial to her identity.

“He loved discovering things that weren’t necessarily his subject,” she says. “He found something interesting around the world, and that’s something I always thought was great about Doug. If he was in a crowded room, he would find something to talk about. Even if it was something that was not in his area of ​​interest, he would find a way to connect. “

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The Edmonton City Hall of Fame recognized his many accomplishments in 2003, while the Alberta Book Publishers Association presented him with a lifetime award for his outstanding contributions to Canadian literature in 2018. Two days before his In death, the Association bowed to Barbour by renaming the Speculative Fiction Award to the Douglas Barbour Award for Speculative Fiction, a well-deserved recognition of his critical contributions to the genre.

“He loved science fiction and fantasy,” Almon acknowledges, “and always wanted to keep up with periodicals like the London Review of Books, but that was impossible considering everything else he was doing. Doug always regretted that he was far behind and needed to catch up. “

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