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George T. Kocik
I was born on June 25th, 1949, at 13 Rossitener Strasse in Furth, Germany. My mother was German and my father was half German, half Polish. My parents immigrated to Canada in 1951.I grew up in thé ...view moreI was born on June 25th, 1949, at 13 Rossitener Strasse in Furth, Germany. My mother was German and my father was half German, half Polish. My parents immigrated to Canada in 1951.I grew up in thé mining town of Vald'Or, Québec. I learned to speak both English and French very quickly, for, when I wasn't fighting an English kid about nationality, I was fighting a French kid. Eventually peace and friendship were established. My first year of éducation was spent at thé Bourlamaque Elementary School. Grades 2 to 5 were spent at thé Queen Elizabeth Elementary School. Grades 6 to 11 were at Percival High School and my 12th grade was at St. Joseph's High School. I was never thé best student, but I was also never thé worst. Somehow I was always in thé middle and l'd pass my year. The teachers didn't like me and thé feeling was mutual. English Literature and English Composition were amongst my worst subjects along with Chemistry and Physics. It was never in my plans to become a writer and I would certainly never be a scientist. That was as plain as black on white. I wrote my first poems in my final year of high school as part of a contest for thé yearbook committee and as a personal challenge to see if I could put some rhyming verses together. My poems were not chosen, but I didn't care. The yearbook committee was a small clique of snobbish idiots. I never intended to write any more poems, but I didn't throw away thé ones that I did write.
From 1967 to 1985,I worked in thé mill at Lamaque Gold Mines. That was where thé floodgates of composition were first opened. I was working three shifts at thé time and words came easiest when I was working thé afternoon and graveyard shifts. Walking thé mill floor, doing my work, words to my poems would sometimes come faster than I could jot them down. It was as if a voice was dictating to me. From 1986 to 1991,I worked at thé Bourlamaque Assay Lab. In between I did a stint as a security guard for Kolossal Security. My composing continued and shifted into high gear when I worked as a guard at an abandoned mine near Malartic, Québec and at Belmorale mine east of Vald'Or. Spending many lonely hours at thèse places, my mind became a treasure trove of créative writing. My composing isn't limited to my waking hours only. When l'm in thé midst of writing a poem, my mind remains active in my sleep. The same voice dictâtes words to me and I hâve to get up and jot them down before I lose them. Sometimes it is only a line or two. At other times, it dictâtes whole verses. With every poem I write, I revise and revise it until l'm satisfied with thé final product. The poems I hâve composed so far won't be thé last. I hâve a feeling that there will be more.view less