Carolyn Smart on her day job: being whispered to by the RCMP

Carolyn Smart is an author and teacher. Her new book of poetry, Careen, was released in 2015. But before she became a poet, Carolyn was in an entirely different line of work:

Before I started publishing my poetry, I used to run conferences for the Manitoba government. I enjoyed that enormously — amongst other things, it meant the RCMP would drive me between Winnipeg and Brandon, Manitoba, with all their lights flashing and sirens playing, which was just wonderful. And also it was enjoyable to have the RCMP whisper to me, because I was running the conference, that there was a man in the room who was "packing," and then they'd go over and ask the person why he had a gun on him, and it turned out to be Peter Lougheed's bodyguard! It was all fascinating, and I loved every moment of it.

Carolyn Smart's comments have been edited and condensed.