Skipping Stone
Factoid
Since 2006, Edmonton has been home to the Edmonton Poetry Festival.
McKenzie's a kid from the village; it shows in his themes. His poetry, fiction, music, films, and essays are laden with imagery gathered from the world that surrounds small prairie towns. So far he has co-authored 2 or 3 chapbooks, read his stuff on public radio, and has had his voice used to record commercials and training films. McKenzie's first CD, Prairie Hejira, was published in 2001 and on November 23rd, 2003, at The Yardbird Suite, he and the band released The Silver Apples of the Moon. He also wrote the script for Skipping Stone - the AMPIA-award winning film, and recently McKenzie's Night Benz, another short film based on a prose poem, was screened. It was awarded a silver medal at the Houston International Festival of Independent Films in the category Jazz/New Age/Spoken Word.
When asked about life as a retired English teacher, McKenzie refers to it as a bus man's holiday. "I've been editing the work of others all my life; now I'm smoothing out my own roughnesses."
Watch for his next chapbook, The McKenzie Chronicles. The Jazz Poet CD is just around the corner along with a loosely connected series of short stories about the "Urbaniginals". McKenzie is also working with MaxMedia to produce some poetry/art/music videos with the collaboration of Alberta postmodern impressionist Wayne Schneider. Wayne's paintings create moody graphics that reflect some of the darker aspects of McKenzie's themes; the corollary: McKenzie's poems reflect Wayne's angst. Andrew Glover's synthesized keyboards will accompany "His Recurring Night Terrors" in the performance poems.
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Dean McKenzie
Dean McKenzie is a poet and retired English teacher. He has co-authored several chapbooks and read his work on public radio. He has made 2 CDs, Prairie Hejira and The Silver Apples of the Moon, and is working on a 3rd CD entitled The Jazz Poet. He also wrote the scripts of the award-winning short films Skipping Stone and Night Benz.
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