Phases of erasure
My first experiment with writing erasure poetry happened last October at the NorthWords altered pages workshop I wrote about here. Jess from Terrace Public Library handed…
We are not the only one
I receive a poem by email every morning. I don’t always read them. Some days poetry seems like a frill. Or maybe it’s just the wrong…
To my brother on his 60th birthday
When I was a kid, I lived in a crazy-ass family where up was down and down was up and I never knew what was coming.…
Poetry in reverse: Part 2 of 3
Reversing someone else’s poem is a way of being in conversation with another poet. Elee Kraljii Gardiner, the gifted Vancouver writer, writing teacher, and publisher who…
Poetry in reverse: Part 3 of 3
“For 100 days, Juliane Okot Bitek recorded the lingering nightmare of the Rwandan genocide in a poem—each poem recalling the senseless loss of life and of…
National poetry month 2017
Two weeks into April and I haven’t mentioned National Poetry Month yet. It’s not that I haven’t noticed it. I’m marking it quietly this year. My…
Listen
Having spent the whole winter listening—to the river, to the wind, to the crackling of the fire, to my wild, chaotic heart—it felt like perfect timing…
Blurry photographs
One of my favourite editing gigs is as copyeditor for the Journal of Childhood Studies. I work with an amazing team, and every issue I learn…
Almost
It’s an ache so far off in the distant sky you almost can’t feel it anymore almost imperceptible almost forgotten almost gone. It’s a fury so…
Sacred breath
talisman by Suheir Hammad it is written the act of writing is holy words are sacred and your breath brings out the god in them i…