Donald Teuma-Castelletti
FORT COULONGE
Sept. 29, 2018
Fans of francophone culture had the chance to experience an evening of rhyme, song, and plenty of references to film when Phare Ouest held their annual showcase of poetry last Saturday.
Featuring 12 poets from the Pontiac, Gatineau and Ottawa Valley, the evening featured artists exploring their lives as if they were in a movie, allowing for plenty of blockbuster and fantastical elements to run wild in their work.
Celebrating their 10th anniversary, Phare Ouest’s poetry evening featured not only new poems from the guests, but reworkings of favourites from year’s past.

As well, the evening featured some poets from the local high school, École sécondaire Sieur de Coulonge, after Phare Ouest members had seen them perform at a slam night earlier in the year.
Held at the Club de l’Age d’Or in Fort Coulonge, Phare Ouest member France Lavoie said they were looking forward to filling the room, especially as their events have grown in popularity.
“We like to change the environment,” she said. “Year to year, it’s getting busier and more crowded [at our events]. We chose here because of the space available.”
As well, the evening ran in collaboration with the province’s celebration of Quebec French culture, Les journées de la culture. This weekend-long event promotes the arts through free entries to museums and galleries, meetings with artists and much more, providing access to over 3,000 activities for free to the public.
“Why we do this now is because this way it will be more widely known,” explained Lavoie.
She explained that by hosting this event in collaboration with the celebration, their poetry evening was featured as one of the activities to attend that weekend on the programming’s website.