APRIL 11: Steve Luxton
THE POETIC TOWNSHIPS
Poets are like those brilliantly plumaged birds
deemed almost extinct by official observers, but then
surprisingly show up solo or in a small
heartening flock in some remote bayou.
Or maybe, within a northern spruce swamp, though
probably a little less lustrously adorned.
Certainly, these secluded Townships have proven such
a place. Word-wingers have naturally gathered and manifested.
Some even gained wider recognition:
The genial Victorian Dr Drummond penned popular,
musical verse about his beloved habitants.
Edwardian dame Louise Morey Bowman praised her birthplace with
innovative, vivid imagery. And was succeeded by
even more cutting-edge practitioners: modernists like
F.R. Scott, A.J.M. Smith, John Glassco, Ralph Gustafson, and
D.G. Jones—scarce, spectacular, Ivory-billed Woodpeckers and
lustrous, emerald-green, native parrots. Then a sexy,
mournful, young loon named Leonard Cohen alighted.
Later, showed up to chorus younger fowl like Richard Sommer,
Robert Allen and even, some say, yours truly
—a lonesome, frayed, beleaguered sort of pigeon.
Ornithologists conjecture birds unerringly migrate to
their perennial destination with the stars’
guidance, or by voyaging up and down the invisible lines
of the Earth’s magnetic field.
Maybe, even unknown to themselves, poets, do, too!
The Townships, then, with its mountains and vales—
an ancient refugium for a timeless, imperishable species.
A place of abiding murmuration.
From Lore Galore (Shoreline Press, forthcoming 2026)
Steve Luxton began his teaching career in the Eastern Townships in the mid 1970s, teaching English literature and creative writing at Champlain College and Bishop’s University. Although moving to Montreal soon after, where he taught first at Vanier then later at John Abbott and Concordia University in Montreal, he kept strong links to the Townships and retired here in 2012. A lyric and narrative poet, he is the author of eight books: Lift off the Roof: Harmonica Blues Poems (2022), The Dying Meteorologist (2019), Torrent’s Gate: Thomas Wolfe Visits Quebec (2013), In the Vision of Birds (2012), Luna Moth (2004), Iridium (1993), The Hills that Pass By (1987), and Late Romantics (1980, with Robert Allen and Mark Teicher). His forthcoming book, Lore Galore, is a collection of poems inspired by Eastern Townships history.