March 2007
FT Presents: Cheese Poetry
Cheese making and poetry writing have much in common. Both are art forms that have aesthetic and evocative qualities.
Poetry and cheese making are both sub sections of a broadly defined set of disciplines known as the Arts. So my poet friend John Weier and I decided it might be fun to explore the intersection between the two by creating a cheese poetry writing contest for his class of creative writing students at the University of Manitoba. While some of the students found it difficult to write poetry on “task” as opposed from a more inner place, we did receive some fabulous submissions! They are compiled in this booklet below which is available to you by downloading here! Cheese_PoetryFinal.pdf
While this collection of poems may represent a contemporary approach, the idea of writing poetry about cheese is not new! In fact, celebrated poet James McIntyre (1827-1906) wrote a well known cheese poem called “Ode on the Mammoth Cheese Weighing over 7000 Pounds” in 1899 as a tribute to this mammoth cheese made by James Harris at th Ingersoll Cheese Factory. The cheese was on display a the Toronto Industrial Exposition at the time. To see the poem, visit ODE
Meanwhile, please enjoy the student’s work. Note that all poems are copyright protected and any commercial use is strictly prohibited. But they don’t mind if you share them for free! And neither do we!
Since we were so pleased with this initial endeavor, we plan to launch a broader contest in the fall. If you are an aspiring poet or a poet and didn’t know it! Stay tuned and watch for the announcement in fall 2007! rpo.library.utoronto.ca