P. K. Page, 1916-2010

P.K. Page, poet, author, painter, passed away this week at the age of 93.

She was a marvellous writer, able to move between poetry, children's books, scriptwriting, and short stories with apparent ease. I had the pleasure of reading some of her most recent works over the last year or two and was reminded of how wonderful her literary vision was. She had an eventful life, living in places like Mexico and Australia due to her husband's job a diplomat, while continuing as a writer until the very end of her life. Two books were published just in November. Her last book of poetry that I read was Coal & Roses, a collection of glosas. Inspiring and beautiful. We have lost an accomplished poet who looked at the world through loving eyes and used her immense skill to point out to us how very wonderful, yet fragile, it all was.

One of her best known glosas was "Planet Earth", which was selected by the United Nations to be read in various locations (including Mount Everest and Antarctica) in celebration of the program Dialogue Among Civilizations Through Poetry in 2001. I'll leave the final word to Patricia Kathleen Page herself.