Four years in the making, When the Bones Speak, a World War II novel written by Joan Clayton, will be launched Saturday, June 25th.

​WHERE: The RCAF Wing Association, 2155 Crumlin Road (near the airport). 

WHEN: Sat. June 25th. Book Launch/Cocktail Reception - 2:00 pm. Everyone welcome!

When the Bones Speak, written by Joan Clayton, is a work of historical fiction, in which one of the main characters is based on a World War II Air Gunner named Frederick, whose plane was shot down in Germany in 1943. Through a strange coincidence, Dr. Clayton was given his log book which contained a photograph of Frederick, a letter written to his mother in Nova Scotia telling her that her son is buried in a mass grave in Ohlsdorf, and a London FreePress article about a man who survived because he missed the flight that morning when someone offered to cook him a warm breakfast. With this information, and through much reading, research and interviews with Air Gunners who had survived the war, Dr. Clayton has written a fictional love story to honor Frederick's life and death.
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Dr. Joan Clayton is a Psychologist and Trauma Expert who began writing ten years ago. She is primarily a poet and playwright. She received the Kobzar Scholarship from the Shevchenko Foundation in Winnipeg in July, 2012, to attend the Humber School of Writing Summer Workshop. It was there that this book began. Her Non- Fiction Chapter on Immigration will be published in the Anthology, Coming Here, Being Here, by Guernica Press this November.

When the Bones Speak is her first novel, and it will be for sale at the Book Launch. Dr. Clayton will also discuss with participants how to write a historical story when you have limited information, but
great enthusiasm and passion to honor the courageous decisions that people make in war time.

​RSVP by noon Wed. June 22nd at this site: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/ribbon-cutting-ceremony-for-living-guard-of-honour-at-427-wing-rcafa-tickets-25954164605, or contact Colleen at 519-870-9979 or info@earthtobusinessmarketing.com.

Before Jef-something Brian Thomas Ormston (Jef) (who is much more humble than his name would lead you to believe) sat on his chair behind the mic and started playing that electric guitar like an orchestra of sound, a million bells, he said to anyone who was listening, “And now for my last piece”, and when that one was done, which was an astonishing rendition of Pachelbel’s Canon, with waves of notes scrambling, piling, sorting themselves out and upward, Jef said, again to anyone and no one, “Do I have time for another?” I thought, “He’s only started his set, what’s he talking about?” But big Bill Paul, London’s Town Crier, who has known Jef for ages, along with most everyone else in the city, leaned over and said, “Jef never knows how much time has gone by. It’s true. He really lives in the moment. You have to keep telling him he has more time.” I listened more carefully from then on, and yes got lost myself in some of those moments. 

The sudden vocals on the next piece were a bit loud for some people, and I was scrambling to turn down the level when I realized it was one of my favourite songs from the Woodstock festival soundtrack, “Freedom”, which big, black, Richie Havens had opened the festival with, but which here was sung, just as deeply, by this scrawny little Jef-something. “Freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom, sometimes I feel like a motherless child, sometimes I feel like a motherless child, a long way from my home." Yeah. At home Linda and I listened to it again on YouTube. “Freedom is scary when you’re young, when you first have it,” Linda said, “but then when you’re older, after having so much reponsibility all your life, you can’t get enough of it.” Yeah that’s for sure. More, please. 

Our new co-host for this season, Joan Clayton, (me being the other co-host), thanked Jef and introduced Bill Paul (who really is London’s official Town Crier, but who goes by the name Laffmaster Bill on Facebook, for anyone who might want him to host an event or provide entertainment, or who might even want to be interviewed on his radio talk show, Straight Talk with Bill Paul, which, after 39 years, is the longest running talk show in Canada, on 106.9FM.)

It’s undeniable that featured poet Roy McDonald holds some fascination for people. He’s a bit of an old leprechaun, and maybe reminds us of Gandolph in Lord of the Rings -- that combined with street person, hippy, but mostly, being old but spry, he’s the embodiment of the mystery of aging. As I watched him do his well-rehearsed thing on the stage, booming out those old poems, which he’s practiced so often busking on the sidewalk in front of Joe Cool’s Fridays and Saturdays, I wondered how all the so-much-more-normal lives in the audience saw him. The other older people, like myself, where and why did we get off the bus? And why did Roy refuse to ever change after he’d returned from Woodstock? Is he the better for it, or are we? And the young poets in the audience -- are they seeing wisdom in him that they somehow haven’t acquired yet? Or just some archaic remnant of an age long lost? I think each one of the 65 of us in the audience tried to imagine being Roy McDonald to some degree, living his very unique life. As we compared our own to his we all became a little wiser. 

By the time Roy was into his Q&A, answering questions about the washrooms at Woodstock, (“you had to wait half an hour or an hour”), about his spirituality, about the influences on his poetry and his life, and about conversations he had had with Allen Ginsberg, Leonard Cohen and so on, there were still stragglers coming in, but they were finding only standing room at the back of the big enclosed terrace of Mykonos Restaurant, while the rest of us sipped our wine and munched on souvlaki and Greek salad. We had never had such a packed house before and my mind couldn’t figure out whether to be happy about it or just more anxious.

The open mic section provided again all the pleasures I’ve come to associate with it: the huge variety of people, all displaying the equally various intimacies of their inner lives sculpted into their word art. There was every age, poetic ability, sex, kind of person, and of personality. And the audience was also a microcosm of humanity. The one thing everyone had in common was the enjoyment of poetry in this room together. At the end of the evening, open mic reader John Nyman, whom we will feature one day, told me how much he enjoys our events and compared them to the readings he attends regularly in Toronto when he’s there. He said he likes the strong feeling of community we have, whereas in Toronto there are so many events to choose from, a number of them every week, that none attract very big numbers, and they tend to be more specialized in one way or another. 

I asked our new Internet Manager, Shelly Harder, for a few words on how the event went for her: "My first night at the Open Mic was all I'd hoped it would be,” she says. “Between the welcoming ambience of Mykonos, the pleasure of chatting with Roy McDonald, Joan's warm hosting, the passionate talent of the open mic readers, and Jef-something's guitar soundtrack, the evening was an exceptional one, and I look forward to many more!"  And the rest of us chime in, “Me too!”

By Stan B., Organizer

See  Interview with Roy McDonald

 

London Open Mic will have two hosts for the first time, with Joan Clayton opening Season 3 on Oct. 1st and London Open Mic Poetry Night organizer Stan Burfield hosting the 2nd event on Nov. 5th.  Clayton and Burfield will take turns hosting throughout the season. 

Having two hosts will add variety to the reading series, but the main reason for Burfield taking on half of the hosting is that,“It’s time to take my shyness therapy to the next level.”

London Open Mic Poetry Night will open it’s third season with a new host, Joan Clayton, who was familiar during the first two seasons as a regular open mic reader.  

Dr. Clayton is a clinical psychologist in private practice. She began writing creatively ten years ago. She has had seven plays produced, and several poems and articles published. Joan thinks of herself as a story teller and enjoys the research behind many of her productions, the most recent being ‘The Power of Work’ for Goodwill Industries which told the history and future vision of Goodwill International. 

She received the Kobzar Scholarship to attend the Humber Summer Writers Conference in 2012, and last fall received funding from the Shevchenko Foundation in Winnipeg to publish a children’s book on the Ukrainian Genocide of 1933, the Holodomor.

Joan is currently working on a one act play about Frida Kahlo for a Festival in November, as well as an erotic collection of poems called CHOCOLATE CAPPUCCINO MORNINGS, and a series called ‘When Smoking Was Still Sexy’.

Joan Clayton’s first shot at hosting London Open Mic will be Oct. 1st, when Roy MacDonald will be featured. MacDonald will be introduced by London Town Crier Bill Paul and warmed up by the music of Jef-something Brian Thomas Ormston.

Previous host, Dawna Perry, who pulled London Open Mic through it’s crucial and difficult first two seasons, is now putting her time and energy into a full load of post-graduate studies. 

After seven years of facilitating his monthly poetry workshop at London’s Landon Library, Ron Stewart is stepping down to put more time into his own poetry. He and wife Jan will continue to support local literary events, partly through the now-traditional announcements on his extensive email list, which many Londoners have long depended upon. 

Stewart, a retired airline pilot, began the workshop as an essential finishing touch to the group of ingredients already supplied to the local poetry scene by the Poetry London Reading Series, also held at Landon Library. Since then, many poets have benefitted from his initiative and hard work.

Following are expressions of thanks by Poetry London and some of the local poets who have attended the workshop:

Ron and his wife Jan continue to embody the creative energy, hard work, and congenial spirit that has come to define the London poetry community.   We offer our congratulations and appreciation to Ron for initiating and nurturing such a successful workshop - one that has meant so much to so many writers in London over the past several years.  We wish him continued success with his own writing and all of his future endeavours in our poetry community. 
~ the Poetry London Reading Series

To the other sentiments expressed here by others, all of which are true, I would like to add that if not for Ron’s workshop there would be no London Open Mic Poetry Night, which is simply a spinoff of his workshop.  
~ Stan Burfield, organizer, London Open Mic

Ron-
I want to thank you so much for making the London (especially winter) nights seem so much more welcoming for your generous hosting of those wonderful poetry gatherings.
With much appreciation and warmth,
~ Cheryl Cashman

I think Ron is a wonderful poet, and a great supporter of other poets. His way of summarizing other’s poetry and encouraging them to write, is remarkable, heartfelt and full of spirit!!! 
~ Joan Clayton

Thanks, Ron. I haven't been to any workshops recently, but I have good memories of those flights of fancy. Arriving to find you at the end of the table ready for take off. Orienting us to the program. Apprehensive as to what this flight would be like. Excited about reaching for the upper ether of poetry. Hearing your calm confident gentle voice reassuring us it would always be a good flight (which it always was) and landing us safely at the end (which you always did). They were quite the trips. I miss them. Good luck with your solo flights. Bon voyage.
~ Martin Hayter

When I think of Ron, I see, when entering the clean, well-lighted room in the Landon Library underground, at the head of the long, peopled table strewn with poems, the welcoming smile, the articulate, white goatee, the glimmering eyes and freckled dome which I have come to know and trust. If there is any one secret to the endurance of his workshop, I think it is that trustworthiness which has compelled each of us to uncloak the vulnerability which in daily life we habitually deny, to communicate in all its shifty-eyed, anxious humanity a wish to express ourselves and be heard. Ron - thank you for listening. And thank you for having tenderly impressed upon each of us those four simple words which unfailingly conclude your summations: Live Life, Love Poetry.  
~ Kevin Heslop

The poet Muriel Rukeyser said, "Breathe-in experience, breathe-out poetry."  Ron Stewart helped us add a third dimension, share poetry.  He did so by creating a non-threatening, congenial poetry workshop.  Thank you for that, Ron.
~ Louisa Howerow

Ron’s workshop was unique and will be missed. It was one of a kind. 
~ Carl Lapp

A bit lost at the Poetry London Events, it was really Ron's Workshop that helped me feel at home in the London poetry scene. His gentle and positive leadership developed my confidence and introduced me to friends I hope will be in my life for a long time to come.  Thanks, Ron (and Jan)
~ Janice M. McDonald

For Ron-
Ron is an enthusiastic and talented poet whose presence enhances many events in London’s poetry community. His dedicated work has fostered and supported the growth of various venues. Particularly important is the monthly workshop (held at the Landon library) organized by Ron. This workshop series has provided London poets an opportunity to share and discuss their poems. Many thanks, Ron!
~ O. Nowosad

For Ron, who has, in the Open Poetry Workshop at Landon Library, created a safe and encouraging atmosphere for poems finding their perfection, a place of meaningful, good-humoured discussion, an evening from which we come away with both wits pencils sharpened. For Ron, who has faithfully and with such generosity led the workshop 10 months of the year, for so many years. To Ron, I offer my deep gratitude.
~ Christine Thorpe