The Water Poems

“One of B.C.’s indefatiguable poets and literary spark-plugs, Candice James is prolific, exuberant, and writes grownup poetry that’s seen its share of dust and joy out on the road. A poet with the long view her work is mnature observant, freighted with tenderness and shaped by traditional form as well as metrical invention. There’s no artifice here: what you see is what you get—James is a poet of direct experience and recollected emotion.Old love, the blessedness of rain, things broken too long to be fixed, or the blue stillness of eternity—all are netted by her unquenchable zeal for poetry. From her opening epigraph from Laotzu through images of a Captain Morgan kind of night that only long years in Canada can truly understand, the music of what happens is present here in every bittersweet refrain.” ~ Trevor Carolan

After serving two 3 year terms as Poet Laureate (2010-2016) Candice James has been awarded the title of Poet Laureate Emerita of New Westminster, BC Canada, by order of City Council. She is also a visual artist, musician, singer/songwriter, book reviewer and workshop facilitator. She is Founder, and Past President of Royal City Literary Arts Society; Director of Pacific Festival of the Book Society; Past President of the Federation of British Columbia Writers; Past Director of Slam Central and Past Director of SpoCan. She is a full member of the League of Canadian Poets and Thee Writers Union of Canada. She also is founder of: “The Fred Cogswell Award ForExcellence In Poetry”; “Poetry In the Park”; “Poetic Justice” “Poetry New Westminster”; and she has been keynote speaker at “Word On the Street”, “Word on the Beach”; and “Black Dot Roots Cultural Collective.” She is the author of eleven previous books of poetry.