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EDMONTON SENIOR, Monday, March 07, 2016 - 13
The Art of Writing
A local writer, and winner of last year’s Bilsland Award
for poetry, shares her view of writing and aging
Gary Gee
Expressing differ-
ent points of view
through poetry is one
of the goals behind
Barbara Fraser's writ-
ing. “Vacancy”, which
took several months
to write, won Edmon-
ton’s 2015 John W.
Bilsland Award for
poetry, the only such
award in Canada
directed towards
senior writers, 55 and
over. It tells the story
of a patient living
in a nursing home
from the perspective
of her housekeepers,
who knew her well.
“When they have to
clean her room after
she dies, there is a
kind of tension there.
Housekeeping staff
often know the pa-
tient quite well. Their
reflections are torn
between the person
and then the pressure
of business to clean
up the room and fill
the bed again,” says
the retired 69-year-
old psychologist.
For the long-time Edmonton
resident, it is neither the prestige
of awards nor the need to be
published which motivates her.
Instead, she hopes to convey
a message from a unique
perspective. “Sometimes it’s
from people who often don’t
have a voice, like housekeepers,”
she says. She hopes Edmonton's
Bilsland award will encourage
older adults to write. “Often
older adults are kind of sidelined.
If you’re over a certain age,
you’re considered off the map
and people think you don’t
matter and mentally you’re
not very capable. Of course, in
our own lives, we know many
people going into their ‘90s are
quite capable and able to express
themselves in whatever form. I
think (the award) is a good form
of encouragement.”
Edmonton areas residents, 55
and older, are eligible for the
2016 John W. Bilsland Writing
Award. The categories are
short fiction, short non-fiction
and poetry. A prize of $500
accompanies each award and
deadline for this year’s entries
is April 22. Bilsland is a retired
English professor emeritus at
the University of Alberta, where
he taught for 30 years. At the
Strathcona Place Senior Centre,
which sponsors the award,
he also volunteered to teach
creative writing for 25 years.
Bilsland’s senior student writers
have now produced more than
20 publications. Fraser has been
working at her poetry for almost
half a century, since her early
‘20s while living with a group
of artists. She believes there are
probably many senior writers like
her who have written for a long
time but have never published.
“One doesn’t need to show one’s
work to anyone. The important
thing – it is to write from
yourself and for yourself and if
later you decide if there are some
readers who like it, fine.”
At some point, Fraser says
she finally decided she would
call herself a poet after years of
friends and colleagues reading
her work. “For a long time, I
called myself an unlicensed poet.
When a friend gave me a piece
of paper, she said here’s your
poetic license. But if you write
poetry, then you’re a poet.” For
her, the economy of words and
the possibly different interpretive
meanings of a poem is what
makes her genre appealing.
“When you write, particular
poetry, you try to reduce it to
the necessary number of words,
to get it to the essence of an
experience or image but to also a
point of view.”
Often, it takes many rewrites
but the fulfillment of finishing
a poem is worth the hard work
for Fraser, who has some other
poems she has collected, but
cannot afford to self-publish
them – a situation she says many
writers find themselves in. Her
inspiration for writing come
from personal and professional
experience. “I’ve worked with a
lot of people living in different
circumstances and facilities.
When you write, you sort of
reflect on what you will do
on a particular experience or
topic,” says Fraser, who often
jots down opinions on a topic,
and on thoughts and feelings
about something she’s read
or seeing an experience from
another person’s point of view.
Sometimes, it turns into a poem.
Her advice to aspiring writers is
simple: “Just get busy and write.
The more you do it, the more
you get accustomed to do it, or
allowing yourself to do it. See
what comes.”
A banquet and award presentation for the John W.
Bilsland Award for senior writing debuted last year at the
Strathcona Place Senior’s Society.
Photo: Louisa Lu