The perfect time for a Renfrew area poet and artist to put his work out into the public eye recently fell right into his lap.
David Robert Rae is a former military officer whose spoken work has touched on tragedies such as the September 11th attack on the World Trade Centre and has been recognized by the Prime Minister’s office, the World Council of Independent Churches, the RCMP, the September Mission Foundation, and the International Library of Poetry among others.
He’s shared with myFM one of his poems, “To Be… or Not,” a warning about the harm caused to our planet by our own actions.
Rae admits that his sister is the one who clued him into the fact that Earth Day on Saturday, April 22nd was a perfect chance to bring this specific work to the public in order to shine a light on his other work.
He has had partial complex seizures since he attempted to shield his now ex-wife during a car crash involving a moose, and says that he created four poems and 132 sketches and drawings in total before another accident left him bedridden in the hospital for an extended period of time.
Now, he hopes his artwork can also help other people facing similar situations.
He adds that he’s taken many steps forward towards bringing his work into the public eye, and would like the chance to create a video of his poems or turn his drawings into a colouring book going forward.
Listen to David Robert Rae’s poem “To Be… Or Not” here:
(written by Kasey Egan)