Keith Irwin B.A.
Design and concept: Art Szabo
Prairie Life
1997 - 2010Forty-nine poems from thirteen years in Dauphin, Manitoba, each one paired with a photograph made in the manner of nineteenth century wet plate.
The book
In 1996 Keith Irwin finished a music degree at UBC and went home to the prairies. He taught lessons in Dauphin and kept writing. Prairie Life collects the poems from those years: the people he loved, small town bars and main streets, Countryfest, New York, and the country he grew up in.
Every poem has a photograph beside it. Art Szabo made the images for this edition in the look of nineteenth century wet plate, so the words and the pictures read as one page.
“It’s a powerful book when the image matches the text.”
Three chapters
Chapter One
The Millennium Man & The Girl With Deep Brown Eyes
15 poems
Chapter Two
People & Places
16 poems
Chapter Three
Thoughts & Reflections
18 poems
From the book
Six poems
As they appear in print.
300.1
The Country (1)
This is the country the country where I grew up With cows and a horse a cat in the barn and a pup With barley and grass and wheat fields blowin’ in the wind With cold winter nights where you freeze with your jacket pinned
This is the country the country where I was a child Where repression created my wish for chaotic and wild Where I cried til I drifted to sleep every long winter night Isolation long-sharpened my teenage taste for a fight
This is the country the country where I learned skills Operating machines, building buildings and paying my bills Where I learned how to ride and I tended my mother’s beehive Where I did well in school to hone my success-based drive
This is the country the country I left for the lights To sample and revel in city-life social delights That I traded for action and people and rowdy rock bars That I left to go search like the greats for a place with the stars
This is the country the country where I was a boy When conservative churches resent freethinking ploy Where values are narrow and people wear phony facades To protect their fallacious and largely-imagined Gods
This is the country the country where redneck rules With a great spare the rod it all starts in the churches and schools Narcissistic disturbance is alive and well down on the farm But this is just part of the country and what they call charm
300.5
Countryfest
Countryfest singin’ with the good old boys To the twang of country rock Countryfest swingin’ with the sweetest gals Poundin’ back Old Stock
These are the best of prairie times Campers trucks and cars Poplar trees that bend their leaves To the wail of steel guitars
Lots of watts and sound and lights On film by CMT Clear blue skies and bright sunshine Far as the eye can see
These are the best of prairie times Folks come from near and far Just a hundred bucks a pop To see their favorite star
Lots of food and beer and shots Party all night long Drink and smooch and feast and dance Tunes crankin’ til the dawn
These are the best of prairie times Let no one be dismayed Everyone in Dauphin smiles When all the bills are paid
100.4
Hangin’ Out at Dawne’s
Hangin’ out at Dawne’s is the coolest She lives in a room full of joys Tunes and candles blacklight shadows And piles of children’s toys
Hangin’ out at Dawne’s is the coolest I go there whenever I’m sad She brings me up with smokes and shows And her nightie drives me mad
Hangin’ out at Dawne’s is the coolest There ne’er was a luckier man For who was I to stumble here Only struggling as I can
Hangin’ out at Dawne’s is the coolest Never leave your loves They bring you joy and light your life As such are turtledoves
300.6
Fortress of Solitude
Here I’m alone with my thoughts Of all that glitters and someday rots Of all that laughs and all that cries Of all that flourishes till it dies
Here I’m alone with my fears Of all that’s won and lost in tears Of all that sinks and all that sails Of all that tries and all that fails
Here I’m alone with my joys Of all my plots and all my ploys Of all my risks and all my gains Of all my echoed long refrains
Here in the fortress of solitude I sift the sands of time To capture every moment In four line measured rhyme
300.17
Lies
The biggest lie I ever told Was when I kept my mouth shut
300.18
Free
This is the first poem I ever wrote in 1976, at age 18.
The axe of death cuts sharply through the tree The bloody sap drips slowly down the bough Although the wizened limb is hurt by thou The sentinel remains for all to see
Given time the branch will heal and be A fountain spring to quench the pain felt now The sparkle of the new life flowing free The rounded blackened rotting stump must go
And I likewise live in love to grow And flourish free unchained and open stay In mind in body spirit and in soul This will alone sustain me on my way My boughs when split and broken must then blow To give and take the strain of every day
The photographs
The photographs in this book were created for this edition in the manner of nineteenth century wet plate photography.
Foreword
After graduating from UBC in Vancouver with a B.A. (Music), in 1996, I returned to the prairies to teach music lessons privately in Dauphin, Manitoba.
There I met two women who inspired me to keep writing. One of them was Michelle Frykas, a very focused and determined person. At age eighteen, she had an excellent work ethic.
The other woman was Dawne Coombs, “The Girl With The Deep Brown Eyes”. Dawne and I started off as lovers, and became deep friends over the ten years we knew each other. Unfortunately, she passed away during Saturn’s first return at twenty-eight and a half years old.
It was the longest relationship I have ever been in. It has left a positive and permanent mark on my life.
Keith Irwin
About the Author
- 1958Born October 13, 9:30 A.M., Brandon, Manitoba, Canada.
- 1976Wrote my first poem at age 18.
- 1983Met my first mentor, Wes Pascoe, at age 25.
- 1997Completed writing The First 400 Poems and began teaching music lessons privately.
- 1997-2010Returned to the prairies to teach music privately in Dauphin, Manitoba, and wrote the poems in Prairie Life.
- 2026At 68 years old I continue to write and teach, and Prairie Life follows The First 400 Poems into print.
Contents
Chapter One
The Millennium Man & The Girl With Deep Brown Eyes
- 100.1The Millennium Man
- 100.2The Dove in the Dragon's Lair
- 100.3The Girl With Deep Brown Eyes
- 100.4Hangin' Out at Dawne's
- 100.5Maybe Tomorrow
- 100.6Closer to You
- 100.7Reconciliation
- 100.8Diamond-Dawne
- 100.9What I Would Give to Hold You Once Again
- 100.10Your Gentle Heart of Gold
- 100.11Trumpets Flags and Banners
- 100.12I'm Not as Strong as You
- 100.13Someone to Love
- 100.14La Grande Chatelaine
- 100.15My Baby Loves Me
Chapter Two
People & Places
- 200.1Sticky's
- 200.2Cruisin'
- 200.3What I Would Give to Be Ten Years Younger
- 200.4Oh Tiffany
- 200.5Tic's Blonde
- 200.6The Skyliner Waitress
- 200.7My Uncle
- 200.8King Ryan
- 200.9Guys and Guitars and Big Mean Cars
- 200.10Unruly
- 200.11The Cooley Gang
- 200.12Professor Flea
- 200.13New York
- 200.14Kenny's Castaways
- 200.15I Always Loved New York
- 200.16The Immigrant
Chapter Three
Thoughts & Reflections
- 300.1The Country (1)
- 300.2The Country (2)
- 300.3The Wish
- 300.4The Face of God
- 300.5Countryfest
- 300.6Fortress of Solitude
- 300.7The Cult of TV
- 300.8The Acquisition of Power
- 300.9Friends
- 300.10I Danced With the Devil
- 300.11To Your Own Eternal Self Be True
- 300.12Heartache
- 300.13Magic Moments
- 300.14The Hourglass
- 300.15Rock 'N Roll
- 300.16Commerce/Religion, The Autocrat
- 300.17Lies
- 300.18Free
Prairie Life
1997 - 2010Keith Irwin B.A.
Design and concept: Art Szabo
First edition, 2026
A photo poetry book by Keith Irwin.
Also by Keith Irwin
The First Four Hundred Poems, Book One and Book Two