All for One & One for All | 36.2

2013

All for One & One for All
Poet Elee Kraljii Gardiner is the subject of the interview in this issue. She talks about both the DTES Thursdays Writing Collective and her own collaborations with musicians and composers.

All for One & One for All

Poet Elee Kraljii Gardiner is the subject of the interview in this issue. She talks about both the DTES Thursdays Writing Collective and her own collaborations with musicians and composers. “It’s fascinating to see what somebody makes of your work, and then to watch them change and transform it.”

Collectives, collaborations, communities. In the last few years, I’ve deliberately joined various communities—a couple of choirs, a community garden, a group of five collaborative poets, not to mention the collective of wonderful women who produce Room. As I contribute my ideas and experience to my community, I make a connection that changes me.

Much of the work in these pages celebrates the magic of these connections. Our beautiful cover, Perennial, by Laurie Near, evokes the link between artist and nature. Yoko’s Dogs, four poets who write together via email, give us “Yellow,” in which they say, “Rishis tell us / surrender the fruits / of our labours.” Surrender is crucial for me in collaboration, the willingness to give my work over to someone else instead of grasping it greedily to myself. This is how seven of the artists in The Full Circle Art Collective created In Wait, a series of more than 200 images inspired by the long wait of Penelope, in Homer’s Odyssey. Other communities and collaborations in this issue include families, villages, towns, works of art, shared writing, even group therapy, and of course the winners of our 2012 writing contests.

Back to Elee Kraljii Gardiner, who says, “I really believe in that notion that Borges has, that every reader becomes a writer every time they read a text.” So, now it’s your turn. Join the community of writers and artists in these pages. Do your part in this particular collective effort.