Al Purdy comes to Nakusp… sort of

It was a quiet night at the Bonnington Arts Centre as a handful of people came to see the documentary Al Purdy Was Here,hosted by the Film Lovers In the Kootenays (FLIKS)

Purdy was a free verse poet, who’s career spanned 56 years.

The documentary was done in six chapters, each of which was titled after one of Purdy’s poems.

Purdy said he didn’t decide to be a poet, he just was.

Fellow poet Dennis Lee called him the greatest poet English Canada has ever had.

It was said that just as Walt Whitman had become the voice of America, Purdy became the voic of Cananda.

The documentary featured interviews from family and friends to poets, writers, and musicians like Margaret Atwood, Sarah Harmer, and Mac Fyfe.

Some at the screening came because they were fans of the poet. Others, like Dennis Smith, had never heard of the man.

“I don’t know why, but I had not,” he said. “I thoroughly enjoyed him and his poetry.”

Dennis and his wife Marg said they’ll be on the lookout for Purdy’s works for a better opportunity to enjoy it.

“I didn’t really feel that I got a comprehensive idea of what his writing was,” she said. “There were bits here and there, but there was so much else going on in the film, you’re watching things while you’re listening, so I would have to read some of it in order to know more about him as a poet.”

Though this was the smallest showing of any of the films put on by FLICKS, Tamara Smith, who runs FLICKS, had a thoroughly good time.

“It was great, it brought back all kinds of memories,” she said. “I was surprised at how little people knew of Al Purdy.”

Though Purdy died of cancer in 2000, his work will never die, and neither will the love his fans have of his work.