Sometimes when I hold Our faded old globe That we used at school To see where oceans were And the five continents, The lines of latitude and longitude, The North Pole, the Equator and the South Pole— Sometimes when I hold this Wrecked blue cardboard pumpkin I think: here in my hands Rest the fair fields and lands Of my childhood Where still lie or still wander Old games, tops and pets; A house where I was little And afraid to swear Because God might hear and Send a bear To eat me up; Rooms where I was as old As I was high; Where I loved the pink clenches, The white, red and pink fists Of roses; where I watched the rain That Heaven’s clouds threw down In puddles and rutfuls And irregular mirrors Of soft brown glass upon the ground. The school globe is a parcel of my past, A basket of pluperfect things. And here I stand with it Sometime in the summertime All alone in an empty schoolroom Where about me hang Old maps, an abacus, pictures, Blackboards, empty desks. If I raise my hand No tall teacher will demand What I want. But if someone in authority Were here, I’d say Give me this old world back Whose husk I clasp And I’ll give you in exchange The great sad real one That’s filled Not with a child’s remembered and pleasant skies But with blood, pus, horror, death, stepmothers, and lies.
James Reaney, 1949
“The School Globe” is from The Red Heart (1949), James Reaney’s first book of poems.
You licker of precambrian rock I am your liker. You are both plant and sister To yeasts, moulds, rusts, mildews. Hungry for green. No stems, leaves, nor roots In you are seen And so You married yourself to a plant, Green plant wed to greenless you, And together you chew, chew Rock into earth, Precambrian into postcambrian, Helped, no doubt By the sun and her daughter, Water. O determined soil-maker, We all lie in the hammock Of your ceaseless patient work.
James Reaney, 2005
“Lichen” is from James Reaney’s book Souwesto Home, available from Brick Books.
Lichen photo courtesy Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lichen Xanthoparmelia sp. with dark-colored reproductive structures (disc-like apothecia) at center, surrounded by a pale coloured vegetative thallus.
Lichens are fungi that have discovered agriculture – lichenologist Trevor Goward
Thanks especially to our wonderful speaker, actor and director Jeff Culbert, who read poems from both One Man Masque and Souwesto Home and played songs from his “Donnelly Sideshow” collection. Jeff also spoke about directing Chris Doty’s play The Donnelly Trialin 2005.
Thanks also to Josh Lambier of Wordsfest for his work as host and guide to an afternoon of tales. Our wonderful audience members shared memories of being in James Reaney’s plays, including productions of One Man Masque at their high schools in North Bay and Sault Ste. Marie. Hilary Bates Neary, local historian and former Listeners’ Workshop member, remembered being in Listen to the Wind in 1966.
Thank you Sarah Caetano and the London Public Library for providing a home for this event. Next year’s lecture will look at poet Colleen Thibaudeau’sLozenges: Poems in the Shapes of Things and its publication by James Reaney’s Alphabet Press in 1965.
James Reaney in London, Ontario in 2005. Photo by Jeff Culbert.
The James Reaney Memorial Lecture series celebrates the life and work of Southwestern Ontario poet and dramatist James Reaney, who was born on a farm near Stratford, Ontario and found a creative home in London, Ontario.
James Reaney at home in London, Ontario in 2005. Photo by Jeff Culbert.
Join us on Saturday October 19 at the London Public LibraryCentral Branchin the Lawson Room for an afternoon of stories, songs, and memories as actor and director Jeff Culbert recalls his friendship with James (Jamie) Reaney and their collaborations.
Josh Lambier of Wordsfest will be our host and help Jeff recall his roles in the Reaney artistic process. Jeff has also curated selected readings and songs as snapshots on the tour.
Jeff Culbert’s family ties to Lucan and fascination with local lore led to his admiration for James Crerar (Jamie) Reaney’s The Donnellys trilogy, about the murders of an Irish immigrant family by their Lucan-area neighbours in 1880. In turn, Jamie Reaney enjoyed experiencing Lucan alongside Culbert as the two visited such attractions as Lucan heritage days.
“He was interested in my home town. That was so cool,” Culbert says.
Jeff Culbert’s The Donnelly Sideshow
The Donnellys and Lucan were only the start of the Jamie and Jeff friendship. At one point, Jeff was at the night of words and music when Reaney bounced a rubber ball in time to a poem by his wife, the late Colleen Thibaudeau. Reaney was often in the audience for plays with Culbert in the cast or director’s chair or both during London’s alt-theatre excitement in the 1990s and early 2000s. He laughed loudly watching Jeff as a drunken Irish-American police chief in alt-theatre spoof The Boneyard Man.
During that period, Culbert worked closely with Reaney to prepare for Jeff’s starring role in a revival of 1960’s One Man Masque. Jamie Reaney had starred in its debut decades before.
“It isn’t scholarly — but it is scholarly,” Jeff says of the friendship tour.
Jeff Culbert in One-Man Masque, Grand Theatre McManus Studio, London, Ontario, 2002
This year’s James Reaney Memorial Lecture celebrates the legacy of London poet and playwright James Crerar (Jamie) Reaney (1926-2008) and his late wife, the poet Colleen Thibaudeau. Our grateful thanks to the London Public Library and Wordsfest for giving the lecture a new home and partnership.
At The Congress Café in Austin, Texas, A group of men & women came in, Workers in some state office. They ordered drinks, then meals. After just twenty minutes, You could hear the drink they’d drunk Suddenly, happily, speak out in them. This sound of community went on until we left. I have no doubt that afterwards The drink they had taken Coupled some of them in matching ecstasies On Murphy beds.
How many things seek their voice in us? Unsuspected demons & angels Wait for the arrangement we provide Of gut, enzyme, funny bone, nervous system, mind.
Blood we lost long ago? (On Frederick’s great battle field When first he conquered Angria) Seeking to recirculate once more?
The apples of the orchard young Elmer Scheerer’s Father planted Which his son pressed into cider barrels, then drank Which then became his wild mouth organ music Played from a Pippin tree top, or (husband) on wilder bed spring, Printing press of his sons, Stanley & Geordie, Early friends of mine, O Congress Café.
James Reaney, 2005
“New mouth organ in the orchard” Woodcut on paper by James Reaney (1988)
“The Congress Café” is from Souwesto Home, a collection of James Reaney’s poems from 2005 available from Brick Books.
( ( ( 0 ) ) ) Listen to Jeff Culbert read “The Congress Café” and other poems from Souwesto Home here.
He gives to me: a pebble
He gives to me: a dewdrop
He gives to me: a piece of string
He gives to me: a straw
Pebble dewdrop piece of string straw
The pebble is a huge dark hill I must climb
The dewdrop’s a great storm lake you must cross
The string was a road he could not find
The straw will be a sign whose meaning they forget
Hill lake road sign
What was it that changed the scene
So desert fades into meadows green?
The answer is that they met a Tiger
The answer is that he met a Balloon,
A Prostitute of Snow, A Gorgeous Salesman
As well as a company of others such as
Sly Tod, Reverend Jones, Kitty Cradle and so on
Who was the Tiger? Christ
Who was the Balloon? Buddha
Emily Bronte and the Emperor Solomon
Who sang of his foot in the doorway.
All these met him. They were hopeful and faithful.
Now the mountain becomes a pebble in my hand
The lake calms down to a dewdrop in a flower
The weary road is a string around your wrist
The mysterious sign is a straw that whistles “Home”
James Reaney (far right) with his cousins, Elsie, Kathleen, and Mary, Summer 1930 near Stratford, Ontario.James Reaney feeding the chickens (age 5) with his cousins Mary and Elsie (1931)James Reaney’s childhood home near Stratford, Ontario“Sun Clown” watercolour and ink drawing by James Reaney, 1960
Composer Harry Somers (1925-1999) was commissioned by Lawrence Cherney, Artistic Director of Music at Sharon, to write the music in 1983. The story was to draw on the colonial era history of the Sharon Temple and the Quaker sect the Children of Peace. Seven years later, Serinette was complete and premiered on July 7, 1990 at the Sharon Temple.
July 7, 1990: Harry Somers celebrates at the Serinette premiere
Serinette July 7-28, 1990: Conductor: Victor Feldbrill, Director: Keith Turnbull Costume and Set Designer: Sue LePage Singers: Kristine Anderson, Lynn Blaser, Benjamin Butterfield, Jeffrey Carl, André Clouthier, Leslie Fagan, John Fanning, Carol Ann Feldstein, Dennis Giesbrecht, Aline Kutan, Brian McIntosh, Erik Oland, Jackalyn Pipher, Laura Pudwell
Harry Somers chose James Reaney to write the libretto: “Knowing James Reaney’s plays and his exceptional collaborations with John Beckwith, I was absolutely confident that he would produce a libretto that was suitable for setting to music. I knew that it would be dramatically rich in character and situation, and eminently theatrical. I’ve often been struck by how he uses simple and basic means to achieve a wide variety of theatrical effects, and how he uses a comparatively small cast with the greatest versatility.” [1]
James Reaney first learned about the Sharon Temple and the Children of Peace on a summer visit: “In 1944, while working at a farm labour camp in Holland Marsh, I received permission to walk into nearby Newmarket on business. Curiosity led me to take back roads; I was soon lost, and suddenly a pivot, a spiritual one, whirled into my life. Yes, I had lost my way, but I had also discovered an old square building made of wood and hundreds of panes of glass. It was the Sharon Temple, and as the years went by, its culture and religion became an obsession with me.”
“From John Beckwith, Keith MacMillan and Helmut Kallmann, I learnt that the musical and poetic tradition, as well as the left wing politics, of anglophone Canada started here. This was the site of the first commune based on Christian principles in Ontario, and these people created many original hymns, built the first organ, were the first to educate women in the crafts, and were the first to break down the barrier between artisan and artist. David Willson will always be one of my great folk heroes. [….] So, when Harry Somers asked me to write a libretto about nineteenth century life in Sharon, I leapt at an oft wished project, but decided not to be solemn.” [2]
Notes: [1] and [3] Harry Somers quoted in Serinette Program Notes, June 3, 1990. [2] James Reaney quoted in Serinette Program Notes, June 7, 1990.
From Act I Scene 4: Three Quakers: John Fanning, Benjamin Butterfield, Jackalyn Pipher, July 1990Serinette Act I Scene 3: Leslie Fagan, the Bird Girl, among the Jarvis guests, July 1990Wild finch (The Bird Girl) design by Sue LePage (1990)
From Act I: Scene 3 The Bird Box
MRS. JARVIS: Mr. Jarvis, don’t let them start dancing. Quiet! I was about to show the ladies how this small barrel organ – the serinette you gave me, remember? – has taught our wild finch over there in that cage to sing Rossini. Sam Junior – take that sheet off that cage. Shhh!
(With great authority, Sam Jr. starts pulling the cover off the cage. The serinette begins to play, but its music goes wild as Sam inadvertently opens the door of the cage and the Bird Girl escapes. From being a bunch of voyeurs around a bird prison, the cast fan out to catch that bird! Improvise or compose chase music here. Colin and Ann do not take part in the chase. Eventually, Sam Jr. catches the bird and she is brutally shoved back into her prison and her cage is covered. As before, Sam Jr. ceremoniously pulls off the cover and as he does so, a singer in yellow dances in and repeats vocally the Rossini aria. Applause. Cover restored. Dancer off.)
LADY TWO: What else can it sing, Mrs. Jarvis? MRS. JARVIS: A month ago, that bird could not sing a thing worth listening to. LADY ONE: Oh, play another one, Mrs. Jarvis. Pray do. How many do you have on each barrel? Of this bird box? MRS. JARVIS: Two per barrel and we got twelve barrels! This is ‘O cessate di piagarmi, togliatemi la vita ancor.’ Hush!
(As the Lilliputian music sounds, the men retreat a bit.)
( ( ( 0 ) ) ) Audio excerpt from the 2001 revival recording
A concert revival of Serinette was held at St. James’ Cathedral, Toronto, Ontario with performances on May 31 and June 2, 2001, and a subsequent recording made at the Glenn Gould Studio is available from the Canadian Music Centre.
Admission is by donation to The Manor Park Food Bank — non-perishable food or cash accepted. Reserve your seathere. Where: The Manor Park Memorial Hall, 11 Briscoe Street W, London, Ontario
A plot is afoot to change the very DNA of the Gentle Rain Food Co-op !! James Reaney’s comic delight celebrates the eccentricities of community and lampoons fanaticism.
November 22, 2023 —AdamCorrigan Horowitz and Kydra Ryan in Gentle Rain Food Co-op: Evil Professor Skimwater commissions a model of St. David’s Ward from unsuspecting Jones: “By the way, Jones, my graduate class is waiting next door. I wonder if you’d mind brining your model of St. David’s Ward in for me so they can have a look at it too?”
November 5, 2022 — Katy Clark (soprano) accompanied by Charmaine Fopoussi (piano) at Museum London.
November 5, 2023 —Thank you all for coming to Wordsfest at Museum London to hear Dr. Katy Clark and ensembleperform selections from John Beckwith and James Reaney’s musical works, including four operas, poems set to music, and radio collages.
Dr. Clark drew on her research from her thesis on “Regionalism in the Operas of John Beckwith and James Reaney” to eloquently lead us though the six decades of Beckwith and Reaney’s musical collaboration.
Congratulations to the singers — Katy Clark (soprano), Paul Gambo (baritone), Charmaine Iormetti (soprano), and London Pro Musica— and musicians —Charmaine Fopoussi (piano),Gary McCumber (clarinet), and Patrick Theriault (cello) — for their wonderful work on these selections:
The Great Lakes Suite (1949) — Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron (poems by James Reaney) “Serenade” (1950) (poem by Colleen Thibaudeau) Night Blooming Cereus (1959) — A Plant Song, Houses in Heaven, Scene 3 Recitative (James Reaney) The Killdeer (1960/1961) — Waltz, Excerpt from Act 2, Scene 4, Credits music (James Reaney) Twelve Letters to a Small Town (1961) — To the Avon River above Stratford, Canada, Instructions: How to Make a Model of a Town (James Reaney) The Shivaree (1979) — Daisy’s Aria (James Reaney) Crazy to Kill (1989) — Down the Avenue of Trees (James Reaney) Taptoo! (1994) — Loyalists’ Song (James Reaney)
The James Reaney Memorial Lecture series celebrates the life and work of Southwestern Ontario poet and dramatist James Reaney, who was born on a farm near Stratford, Ontario and found a creative home in London, Ontario.
Join us on November 5, 2023 at Wordsfest at Museum London for the 14th annual James Reaney Memorial Lecture — The Beckwith Connection: An Afternoon of Big Hits from the Reaney & Beckwith Songbook.
Curated by London soprano Katy Clark, the 2023 Reaney Memorial Lecture celebrates playwright and poet James Reaney’s collaborations with a great Canadian composer, the late John Beckwith (1927-2022). Katy Clark leads a chamber ensemble into wonderful music from Beckwith as well as words from James Reaney (Jamie) and Colleen Thibaudeau. We will also celebrate the friendship of two creative couples – Jamie and Colleen and John Beckwith and Pamela Terry, as well as their families. Katy will be joined by London Pro Musica Choir, Paul Grambo, and guest artists.
Beckwith wrote four operas with Reaney, whom he met at the University of Toronto in the late 1940s. They shared a deep interest in creating and telling authentically Canadian stories with local references – both literary and musical – and universal messages.
Four Beckwith-Reaney operas: Night-blooming Cereus (1960), The Shivaree (1982), Crazy to Kill (1989), and Taptoo! (2003)Screenshot
About the presenter Soprano Katy Clark has sung as a soloist and chorister with companies across North America. She is a DMA candidate at the University of Toronto, where she studies with Nathalie Paulin, and holds a Masters degree in Voice Performance from the University of Michigan. In addition to her work as a performer, Ms. Clark is the founder and artistic producer of the London-based opera company Village Opera.
When: Sunday November 5 at 2:00 pm
Where: Museum London, 421 Ridout Street, London, Ontario N6A 5H4
The Farm ( ( ( 0 ) ) ) For more about James Reaney’s poems and a look back at the family farm where James Reaney grew up, see the 1971 TVOntario documentary “James Reaney” in the Canadian Writers series. The Farm There was a farm divided in two1/2 of it surly brick maker ownedswale…
2026 — James Reaney’s centenary year — is off to a good start with two plays based on his work from London’s AlvegoRoot Theatre. On February 20-21, AlvegoRoot presents two encore performances of Sleigh Without Bells: A Donnellys Story — a short story by James Reaney from The Box Social and Other Stories (1996). Adam Corrigan Holowitz reprises his solo…
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James Reaney 