69. Dennis Lee: Wrestling with Cadence

Dennis Lee is not only one of Canada’s most decorated poets, but one of the finest poets working in the English language. His expansive body of work is revered for the beauty, directness, and rhythm of his language—and for a mysterious force that Lee refers to as cadence: the intuitive perception of pre-verbal rhythms and energies. In a career-spanning new collection of critical and personal essays, Wrestling with Cadence, Lee reflects on how this germinating force has driven and defined his work. Cadence will permeate this thought-provoking conversation, as Lee rhythmically alternates between readings of his poems, and conversation with Vancouver Poet Laureate Elee Kraljii Gardiner about the force that structures them, and how he writes such unforgettable poetry.

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Elee Kraljii Gardiner

ELEE KRALJII GARDINER is the author of the poetry collections Trauma Head, serpentine loop, and Sometimes, Forest(forthcoming in 2026) as well as the anthologies Against Death: 35 Essays on Living and V6A: Writing from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. A frequent collaborator with choreographers, sound and visual artists, Elee directs Vancouver Manuscript Intensive. She is the poet laureate of Vancouver.

Dennis Lee

DENNIS LEE, born in 1939, has published some forty books of poetry and prose for adults and children. Consistently acclaimed as a master of his art, he has been praised as “one of the finest poets in the English language.” Heart Residence, Lee’s Collected Poems, was published in 2017.