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Each year, to close out the PGI READ Saskatoon Golf Tournament for Literacy, a poet laureate reads the poem they created throughout that day. We were honoured to have Erin Berger as our poet this year. Erin has been involved with READ Saskatoon for many years so it seemed fitting for her to be part of our golf tournament this year. Here is her poem.

You have to keep your eye on the ball
Shoulders up, back straight
Use the right club, use your hips,
Just the right amount of mustard
With just the right amount of weight.

Drive for show, putt for dough
Don’t celebrate your shot before it hits the hole
But hey, a day is not so bad when you’re above the ground
Walking in the fresh air and sunshine with friends
Advancing, even slowly, towards the goal.
My Dad passed away more than a decade ago
But I feel his presence when I am on a golf course

Especially when people ask me

Where’d you learn to drive like that?

With my Dad on the golf course,
of course.

My first memory of me on a green
driving a golf cart straight into a tree
and me not scared, oh no, but filled with glee.
As I realized that golf was just the game for me.

Where’d you learn to curse like that?  They ask

With my Dad on the golf course,
of course.

I learned there are swear words for every occasion
One grumbled under your breath when you’ve hit a sand trap
One mumbled a little louder when your friend pulls ahead in the race
One to sing to the heavens when you catch air and that elusive ace

Where’d you learn to laugh like that? They ask

With my Dad on the golf course,
of course.

They always say that golf is a solo game
Even if you’re in a group
That you’re playing against yourself for your best day
But let’s face it,
There’s nothing funnier than a friend who has been talking big about his game
Who duffs it.

Where’d you learn to mourn like that? They ask

With my Dad on the golf course,
of course.
I recall as a kid the first time I hit a good clean long shot
OH, how he looked at me with pride in his eyes

We walked like puffed up peacocks off the green
Where at the very next hole,
I topped it horribly and was met with a loud sigh
and his head that was held high, now swung low, oh so low

Where’d you learn to read like that? They ask

With my Mom and Dad, in my house, of course,

The whole family would read the newspaper at the breakfast table
Talking about current events in our world
We would talk about our day during bathtime
and
Read my favourite stories over and over at bedtime
They instilled in me a lifelong love of reading
And for that I am forever grateful.