David O'Meara

{{Short description|Canadian poet}}

David O'Meara (born Pembroke, Ontario) is a Canadian poet. Since 2024 he has been the English-language poet laureate of Ottawa, Ontario.{{cite news |last1=Saxberg |first1=Lynn |title=David O'Meara: Manx bartender, Gord Downie inspirer and Ottawa's new poet laureate |url=https://ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/local-arts/ottawas-new-english-poet-laureate-is-david-omeara-manx |access-date=25 May 2025 |work=Ottawa Citizen |date=14 September 2023}}

Life

He was raised in Pembroke, Ontario. He lives in Sandy Hill, Ottawa, where he tends bar at The Manx Pub. He is known as the Awkward Brother of Canadian Poetry.

O'Meara was a judge for the 2012 Griffin Poetry Prize.

Awards

Works

=Poetry=

  • [http://www.thedrunkenboat.com/omeara.htm "Traffic"; "Rain"], Drunken Boat, Spring 2001
  • {{cite book| title=Storm Still| year=1999 | publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press | url=http://www.mqup.ca/storm-still-products-9780886293604.php| isbn=978-0-88629-360-4 }}
  • {{cite book| title=The Vicinity| publisher=Brick Books| url=http://www.brickbooks.ca/shop/the-vicinity| year=2003| isbn=978-1-894078-30-6 }}
  • {{cite book| title=Noble Gas, Penny Black| publisher=Brick Books| url=http://www.brickbooks.ca/shop/noble-gas-penny-black| year=2008| isbn=978-1-894078-68-9 }}
  • {{cite book| title=A Pretty Sight| publisher=Coach House Books| url=https://chbooks.com/Books/A/A-Pretty-Sight3| year=2013| isbn=978-1-552452-81-3}}

=Plays=

  • DISASTER[https://archive.today/20120907190919/http://www.ottawaxpress.ca/stage/stage.aspx?iIDArticle=14895]{{Cite web|url=http://geocities.com/newtheatreottawa/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027034707/http://geocities.com/newtheatreottawa/|archive-date=2009-10-27|title=Yahoo {{pipe}} Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos}}

=Music=

  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20150527235045/http://www.chbooks.com/singsong "Sing Song"], a collaboration with the Ottawa-based group [http://hilotrons.com/ "the HILOTRONS"], based on his poetry collection, A Pretty Sight.

=Criticism=

  • {{cite journal| url=http://www.northernpoetryreview.com/essays/david-omeara/dangerous-words.html| title=Dangerous Words: Don Domanski and Metaphor| journal=Northern Poetry Revioew| url-status=dead| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090302023757/http://northernpoetryreview.com/essays/david-omeara/dangerous-words.html| archivedate=2009-03-02}}

His poem "Field Crossing" , which appeared in the collection Storm Still, has been set to music by Ottawa-born composer C. Scott Tresham. The work, entitled "Field-Crossing:A Pastoral Cantata for Unaccompanied Chorus, was commissioned by the Ottawa Choral Society, and premiered by the choir in 2003, under the direction of conductor Iwan Edwards.

References

{{reflist}}