The unveiling of Picnic on Poetry was held in Victoria Park in Cobourg on Monday, April 28, 2025.
On Friday, 10 picnic tables engraved with poetry were unveiled at 6 p.m. by the Victoria Park bandshell.
The inspiration for the project was by Cobourg’s own Wally Keeler.
Dave Glennie was also a major help working on the picnic tables and engraving them with the poems.
“We worked hard on this,” said Keeler.
“It was doing something that had never been done before and we’re having to learn how to do it how we go.”
“For too long, poetry has languished lonely and neglected on library bookshelves, while biographies, mysteries, history, how-to books get all the attention. Poetchry releases poetry into the wilds of the open air public domain.” You couldn’t get better than this.”
Keeler hopes to have Picnic on Poetry in other parks in the town with a map showing people where to find the tables.
Picnic on Poetry rovides a unique venue for poetry in the public domain; it brings elevated language to our public parks where people play, eat, and relax. Our parks can be a home for eloquence and imagination. Picnic tables that can inspire. Benches that become departure lounges to the glorious Imagine Nation.
At the unveiling Keeler said that Cobourg is the first municipality in the world to implement such a project.
During unveiling ceremony, Cobourg was affectionately called, “Poemtown.”
The first table to be unveiled was curated by Wally Keeler on behalf of Ret. Ontario Superior Court Judge, James Clarke, who was born 1929 in Peterborough; practiced law in Cobourg and was a Cobourg Town Councillor during the early 70s. Mr. Clarke will be in attendance to unveil his table.
A Poem of One’s Own, The Voice of Women in Poetry, was curated by Kate Hoogendam. This table bears nine outstanding poems composed by women regionally.
The following three picnic tables were curated by Cobourg Collegiate Institute students: Cadence Brak, Sofia Cooksey, Gigi Lees, Leanna Michaud, Afiat Taiyeba and Kripa Thomas.
1. The Bard Table contains 14 Shakespearean Sonnets selected by the students.
2. Archibald Lampman was the leading poet of a group that became renown as the Confederation Poets. Archibald Lampman was a student at Cobourg high school before going on to Toronto.
3. Susanna Moodie stepped onto the pier at Cobourg in 1832. Margaret Atwood’s book, The Journals of Susanna Moodie, brought her to prominence. Cobourg Town Crier, Mandy Robinson, costumed as Susanna Moodie will unveil this table.
Table Tales is a table containing four short story writers from the Blue Denim Press stable. Prose is the sibling of Poetry.
Mandy Robinson, curated a table of her popular “Catalyst Poetry”. She will be on hand to unveil her table. As the Town Crier, Robinson started the ceremony with a cry.
Spirit of the Hills Art Association Writer’s Group, curated a table of six poems and four short stories. (The table with short stories will be unveiled in Victoria Park on Canada Day.)
Poetry Naturally is a table of nature poems curated by Kate Rogers. This was the most popular of the tables, receiving 33 poems. One table containing these poems from poets across Canada.
Just as Stratford is renown for its Shakespeare Festival, and Niagara-on-the-Lake for its Shaw Festival, as both are unique and distinctive, Cobourg can present Picnic on Poetry in its public parks as both unique and distinctive, becoming a true Poemtown for Canadian poets and the place where a random human can dine on the eloquence of elevated language outdoors. Poetry Raises the Stanza on Living.
Students of literature at York U, or UofT, or Trent U or Queens U, can easily spend a day exploring our parks for poetry-laden picnic tables. Highly literate tourists.
This project has been in the glorious Imagine Nation of the Peoples Republic of Poetry since its founding in 1971. That is when it passed the Policy of Poetry Proliferation. Picnic on Poetry is consistent with that policy.
Wally Keeler, Poetician1, is eternally grateful to the Municipality of Cobourg for the opportunity to elevate our literary culture, locally, regionally, nationally and globally. And forever thanks to Dave Glennie, who carried a lot of weight to have this job physically achieved.
Poetchry is a non-profit organization dedicated to utilizing laser technology to etch the poetic arts onto assorted surfaces in the public domain. This includes municipal picnic tables that grace our parks.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
