I’m proud to say Victoria in British Columbia – our lovely hometown – is also home to many poets (Linda Rogers, Wendy Morton, Barbara Pelman). There must be more poets per capital here than anywhere else. Victoria is also home to Poetry in the Raw where poets read poetry while in the buff. Apparently, reading poetry while naked is a very liberating experience for both the reader and the listener.
Missie Peters, Raw organizer, first came up with the idea for the event after seeing one of her friends recite a poem naked at a party. “I was amazed by how the poetry affected his body,” she said. “His stomach clenched, his toes curled and I thought, ‘Oh my god, this is beautiful. Why have we never seen this before?’ And then, ‘I have to do it.’”
God bless these people (although I sense there is some madness in play here). Check out this event on September 28 at the Victoria Event Centre.
(I love how the photographer made extensive use of an over-turned bucket in this picture of the naked poets. What was he thinking?)
Hello;
I’m a 54 year old man, poet living in Nanaimo now for the last 5 years. I did a naked poetry reading at Studio J in Vancouver years ago and have gotten naked at other readings I’ve done. .I may be up in Victoria in the near future. Let me know if there are going to be anymore naked poetry readings happening.
Cheers;
Daniel Rajala