Professor Owen Percy Writes Introduction to Sid Marty’s Collected Poems

Prof. Owen Percy’s recent critical and editorial project of promoting and celebrating the poetry of Alberta writer Sid Marty came to fruition with the publication of Old Man’s River: New and Collected Poems last Spring by NeWest Press. Marty is an acclaimed essayist, polemicist, and non-fiction writer whose prose has been widely celebrated across the country, particularly in the west. A long-time warden for Parks Canada, Marty spent his twenties and thirties on horseback, rescuing hikers, managing wildlife, and keeping tourists in line in Banff, Jasper, Yoho, and Prince Albert National Parks, and writing poems and songs all the while; upon retiring from Parks Canada in 1978 Marty turned his attention to writing full-time, and started publishing the non-fiction that would earn him a place among Canada’s most noted conservationists and eco-critics. In the introduction to Old Man’s River, however, Percy and editor Kit Dobson (UCalgary) argue that Marty’s poetry is where his politics, passion, and craft are most immediately and enduringly evident.