John Lent is pictured in this submitted photo.

Image Credit: Jason Dewinetz

One of Canada's most unique poets has had a first-ever collection of his extraordinary poems published covering nearly 50 years of his career.

Molecular Cathedral: The Poetry of John Lent is a selection of his work described as restlessly experimental and approachable.

Lent began writing seriously in 1973 when he was a student at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. It was a time of robust nationalism and he set out to be a voice for the nation when there weren’t many others.

“We didn't have a lot of voices, necessarily. When I was going to university in the 60s, we were really colonized by both British and American thinkers. That's all we read,” Lent said. “By the time I was a young man and I was writing... we saw it as almost political activity, like a real centre-left political activity.”

Lent relied on the world around him for his inspiration. From his modest beginnings in Edmonton — surrounded by a large, hardworking family — to time spent in university as a student in Edmonton and Toronto, followed by a job as a professor in Nelson.

No matter where he was, Lent used his surroundings to explore the mundane and romanticize it.

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Lent said most poetry follows moral standards, it gives out life lessons to the readers in a perfect package. He believes life should be reflected as it is, in a crazy, knotted and exceptionally beautiful package.

“Poetry can function as this advice bank or something, you know, which I don't like very much. I try to stay away from all that stuff,” Lent said. “What I see is how crazily confusing life is in a beautiful way. It can't be regimented or tied up with a nice red bow. It can't do that. Not really. So I don't want my poetry to do that either.”

The title for the collection of poetry originates from the sacredness that comes from the human form, he said. It shows something similar to divinity in the human body and spirit. He hopes it reflects the intricacies and wonders of human nature.

“It's this combination of the secular and spiritual that has always fascinated me,” Lent said.

Lent said his writings can offer something to the community. Compared to the fast paced way of life we currently live, his work offers a piece to slow the mind and reside for a while.

“The older I get, the more I'm convinced that, as cliche as it sounds, what we want is high-end density. We want thickness. We don't want just excitement or entertainment or fast-moving things,” he said.

He aims to show life in his poetry as it should be experienced: slow, observed and enjoyed.

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Lent said it’s jarring to see a collection of his life’s work in one place, to see it recorded in a linear fashion. One poem written in the 1970s can sit right beside a poem written just three years ago. 

“None of us ever think we're going to get old, and all of a sudden, you think, ‘Oh, hold it 50 years’. It is strange, that part of it is still strange for me.”

His style has changed through each period of his life, reflecting other authors or poets he was inspired by, as well as his ever changing perspective on the world around him.

When he was a young man, Lent would often write in cafes or in his car, but now he finds himself writing his poetry at home, in his garden that his wife Jude created. He finds this environment the most tranquil and artistic of them all.

Lent’s friend from his teaching days, Kelowna poet Jake Kennedy, made the selections from seven books of poetry Lent published from 1978 to 2019.

Lent will be reading from the collection Saturday, Oct. 19 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Sprout Bakery and Café in Kelowna, at the Vernon library on Saturday, Oct. 26 from 2 to 5 p.m.

Molecular Cathedral: The Poetry of John Lent is published by Wilfred Laurier University Press and is available in local bookstores and online here.

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