It's an evening of poetry, laughter and nerves at the Griffin poetry prize in Toronto It was the kind of place where you could easily have had Margaret Atwood standing in line behind you in the queue for the toilet. <img alt="" src="/imagedata/2009/jun/margaret.jpg" align="right" border="1" />It was the shortlist readings of the Griffin poetry prize at the MacMillan Theatre in Toronto on 2 June. The MacMillan theatre is in one of the buildings of theu00a0 University of Toronto which sprawls comfortably across the beautiful and relaxed city centre. The Griffin poetry prize, founded in 2000 by Canadian businessman and philanthropist Scott Griffin is the world's largest prize for a first edition single collection of poetry written in English and awards 50,000 Canadian dollars each to a poet resident in Canada, and a poet from another country. This evening, the poets shortlisted for the prize were going to read from their work. The internationally-acclaimed writers Margaret Atwood, Robert Hass, Michael Ondaatje, Robin Robertson, David Young and Carolyn Forchu00e9 who constitute the board of trustees were also present. Sofas on the stage bore cushions appliquu00e9d with a letter each, spelling out PO, ET, and RY. When someone shifted a cushion, one sofa read POE, which was also fun. A sold-out audience of 800 people had gathered just to listen to poetry. It did appear that the Griffin Trust's aim "to spark the public's imagination and raise awareness of the crucial role poetry plays in our cultural life" was materializing. Scott Griffin began by observing that this would be an evening with some of the best poetry in the world, from some of the world's best poets. He said that if you looked back down history, you saw that poetry tended to flourish in troubled times, and that recession appeared to have done it good. Irish nominee Mike Imlah had died in January, and three of his poems Muck, Drink v. Drugs and Iona were read from his collection The Lost Leader by the actor Guillermo Verdecchia. Drink v. Drugs is a dry and funny description of someone who confronts a young man smashing a phone booth from the inside, with an unexpected and hilarious ending. As the evening proceeded, I realized to my growing surprise that the audience was laughing with abandon. The poets who read had a remarkable stage presence, many of them as witty in their ad-libbed comments as in their carefully-constructed poems. Even those who were nervous used their nervousness as the butt of humour and relaxed as the audience guffawed at their self-directed jokes. Canadian poet Kevin Connolly explained, "I always get really nervous when I read, so don't worry about me". Being shortlisted for the prize had "messed with my persecution complex". The poet C.D. Wright prefaced her reading by quoting Leonard Cohen who once said, "Poetry is the opiate of the poets." She smiled, then added: "Welcome to our den." A. F. Moritz's Thou Poem had him perform a call-and-answer routine between poet and poem. Derek Mahon spoke about yoghurt weavers, solar panels and the Irish economy before reading Its Radiant Energies, At Ursula's (an ode to a local restaurant) and Dirigibles. Event judge Dennis O'Driscoll quoted the American poet Thomas Lynch who said that a poetry reading was a success if the poet was outnumbered by readers. More than once, the phrase "haasya kavi sammelan" slipped into my mind. Most impressive was the German poet Hans Magnus Enzensberger who received a standing ovation for his Lifetime Achievement Award and laughter and applause when he commented that none of us actually know how long our lifetime is going to be. In his speech he observed that every bright child enjoys playing with words. Some people continue doing it in adulthood, and these are the poets. (Winners of the prize were announced on 3 June u2013 C.D. Wright and A.F. Moritz.)

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It's an evening of poetry, laughter and nerves at the Griffin poetry prize in Toronto 

Between the lines

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