How Christian Bk made a bacterium write poetry to him

Poet ChristianBk (pronounced "book") has been writing poetry for years. In 2001, his bookEunoiawon theGriffin Poetry Prize for best new collection by a living Canadian.And he's always been a conceptual poet, thinking about poetry in terms that range from Lego to the Rubik's Cube to radically new invented languages.

But withThe Xenotext,Bk has taken poetry a step furtherhe's found a way to make a bacterium, E. coli, talk back to him.

In this segment, which artist Carolyn Tripp (an Exhibitionist in Residence alum) has animated,Bk explains his meticulous process to CBC Arts, andwhyBk's process may be the only way that our words will still exist, in a billion years.

ChristianBk will be appearing at Ottawa's Versefeston March 20th, and at the Edmonton Poetry Festival that runs April 19-20.

WatchExhibitionistsSundaysat 4:30pm (5 NT) on CBC.