My late mother Phyllis’s maiden name was Jaques. And in her retirement years my late aunt Florence Jaques, herself a published poet, investigated a family connection to the prairie poet who is the subject of this cabaret-style production.
Born in Collingwood, Ont. in 1891, Edna Jaques moved with her family to Moose Jaw in 1902. In 1921, after having attended business college in Vancouver, Jaques married Ernest Jamieson. They homesteaded in the Tisdale area, but after four years Jaques and their daughter left Tisdale and moved back to the southern part of the province.
From an early age, Jaques loved poetry. She published her first poem with the Moose Jaw Times when she was 14, and in 1932 the newspaper published two poetry collections by her. Her best known poem “In Flanders Now” is on display in Arlington National Cemetary near Washington, D.C.
Edna Jaques Live was written by well-known Saskatchewan writer Ken Mitchell. Starring in the role of the legendary “poet of the prairies” is Michele Sereda. Shows run tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 20 at 2:30 p.m. at Artesian on 13th. Advance tickets are $20, and are available at Mysteria Galleria and Cathedral Village Free House.
