Stories & Poems

Stories and poems are an integral part of the PGI experience. Each PGI honours an adult learner and they are invited to share their literacy experience with the audience. PGIs also host a poet who shares an original poem based on literacy and the PGI event as a whole. 

2015 Bonspiel for Literacy

Poet Laureate – Bryan Mudryk
Twas the night before curling…

I was having some wine…

Thinking… man those Frontier ladies are fine!!!

I got up at 7…

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Golfing for Gzowski

(sung to the tune of “Waltzing Matilda,” the unofficial Australian national anthem) Once a jolly long driver sat astride his Yamaha,Under the shade of an old oak tree,And he sang as he sat and waited for a ball to hit,“Andrew’s come a-golfing for literacy!”...

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Jonathan Torrens – The Briars

The Briars, I hadn’t ever been here before,But last night I learned about Shelagh’s underwear drawer.As the evening wore on and people got “moister”,We sang along with Molly and danced to Prairie Oyster.I collected all the evidence, mostly circumstantial,For my...

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Joseph Boyden, CBC Poet Laureate

Joseph Boyden, CBC Poet Laureate

Joseph Boyden and Alison Gzowski at Emerald Hills, ON June 2009 Good Game: An Epic of Miniature Proportions Alternatively titled: Reading the Green, in Order to Fulfill the Requirements of Somehow Tying in Literacy with Golf as Demanded by the Organizing Committee of...

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NFLD Poem 2006

I hold your creamy face in my hand so mildAnd I am mesmerized by each and every dimpleI swear that today I will drive you wildBut we know, my love that it is not that simple I smile and place you gently, on your favorite resting placeA simple bed for your rotund...

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Calgary 2007 Poem

Peter GzowskiGolf Tournament 2007 I got a call the other dayTo find my irons, join the fraySo like a flash, I gathered brandsRafters, bars and oyster cans I drove the truck to Willow rangeBut that’s when everything got strangeFor they weren’t sett’n up a brandingThere...

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The Weight of Words (G)

Lyrics by: Stephen Maguire Please don’t say that I’m not good enough, you don’t know me that wellEver wondered why the smile on my face has disappeared todayYou’ll never make anything of yourself the English teacher saidI never listened I think I’m doing ok. Please...

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Shelagh Rogers Poet Laureate

NS PGI 2009 Shelagh Rogers Poet Laureate To sum up this day in a poemWould really take more of a tome.For it was a day that was blessedAnd perhaps should be left UN-expressed. But that would be such a big cop-outSo no, I will not do an opt-out.But this poem WILL not...

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Circling Literacy

A poem written and presented by Shelagh Rogers at the Haida Gwaii PGI. This poem was transcribed from her presentation, which can be viewed on youtube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqnj52v_KWU We are welcomed to Haida Gwaii with a paddle song,Ancient words sung to the...

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Digging Into Literacy

Frontier College Goes Back to the Mines When Frontier College was founded in 1899, the mission was to increase people’s knowledge all over the country, wherever they were located. One of the earliest populations to benefit from Alfred Fitzpatrick’s far-reaching...

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AnnaMarie Drake

“Better Late Than Never” is my new motto in life. This new way of looking at life has become my attitude since I decided to return to school three years ago. It was a decision I’ll never regret and its benefits sure outweigh its hardships… READ MORE

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Agnes MacDonald

Returning to SchoolMaking the decision to return to school has been one of the most rewarding and gratifying experiences of my life. I have to admit I was afraid that I could not do the work. My past experience with school had not been a positive one. Fear paralysed...

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Leigh Chaisson

How and Why I Returned to SchoolLeigh Chaisson is the winner of The Co-operators Learner Achievement Award presented each year at the PGI Golf Tournament for Literacy. Here is the essay he submitted with his application for the award. My name is Leigh Chaisson and I...

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Lisa MacLean

How and Why I Returned to School I believe the most important thing I have learned since I left school with a grade nine education is how important my education should have been to me. I should have taken my education more seriously and completed school. After leaving...

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