Laurie Block is a poet, playwright, professional storyteller and seasoned performer.
He was born in Winnipeg and lives in Brandon Manitoba. We were pleased to feature Laurie's poem "Coming to my Senses" in our September 06 issue of the CCAHTE Journal.
In the foreword to Laurie's moving, honest and luminous collection of poems,"Time out of Mind" he inscribes the last coherent words his mother said to him,
"I used to be quite fond of you." Shortly after that.. she lost what remained of her senses and sank into the vegetative state in which she spent her last years. Many of these poems are rooted in disorientation, displacement and loss of equilibrium, the friction between what happens outside the skin and what may be taking place on the inside. Laurie Block suggests we value consciousness as somehow more concrete, enduring and linked to assumptions about identity than our bodies. He therefore asks the question. Is the self first a face or a soul?
We are pleased to announce "Time Out of Mind" has recently been shortlisted for The McNally
Robinson Manitoba Book of the Year Award and the Inaugural Landsdowne Poetry Prize.
You will find Laurie Block's complete poem, "Coming to My Senses"
in your free September archived issue of CCAHTE Journal at http://www.cmclean.com/.
This valuable issue also contains information and full articles about "The Poetry of Practice"
and using poetry in Medical Education. Register free for CCAHTE Journal at ccahte@cmclean.com with an email "please subscribe".
Be sure to join Laurie Block and hear more about the stories of his poetry and his work in an upcoming post. We look forward to welcoming Laurie Block to our CCAHTE Blog Crossing Borders as this week's featured artist "in conversation".
