“I’m a WWII buff,” said Garth Ukrainetz in an email to IOFF last week. Born in Saskatchewan, he now lives in Edmonton and is the self-named “Poet Laureate of the Blackmud Creek”.
“In the poetry I’ve been writing lately … the theme of “Holland” is showing up in unusual ways,” he said. “Then a few days ago, I read about your IOFF trek … and that was it. I knew I had to write a poem to help out with what you’re doing.”
Garth, who writes in a Robert Service style, is a poet who does his research. His poem, “HMCS Kamsack,” (published in the Kamsack Times for Remembrance Day) is about a Flower-class corvette that served with the Royal Canadian Navy during WWII. Named after Kamsack, Saskatchewan, the ship served primarily in the Battle of the Atlantic as an ocean escort.
“Please tell your IOFF participants,” said Garth, “that the Poet Laureate of the Blackmud Creek is at work on the task of a fitting tribute poem for your worthy trek across Holland.”
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