“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.
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“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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