Mind the gap
I attended a workshop once—no, twice—with writer and poet Betsy Warland. As one of the exercises, Betsy asked us to sketch a public place where we…
For the novel not yet written
This morning I rolled out of bed, grabbed a pen and blank paper, lit the fire, poured a coffee, and wrote a novel. Okay, I didn’t…
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…
How to attend a writer’s retreat without leaving home
Someone asked if this blog is dead. It’s a fair question. I haven’t posted anything new since June 5th, and before that, May 17th. But no,…
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 1 of 3
Elee Kraljii Gardiner is the author of serpentine loop (Anvil Press, 2016), an innovative, beautiful book of poems that has been shortlisted for the League of…
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…
13 reasons to attend a writers’ retreat
For rural writers, these effects amplify. (Click on the photos for larger images.) Yoga. Writing, writing, writing! You may accidentally discover a stellar location for a…
Poetry and prose
If you’re not a regular reader of Shawna Lemay’s Transactions With Beauty, you’re missing out on one of the most exquisitely thought-provoking conversations on the web—about…
Prompted
Shawna Lemay, whose gorgeous Calm Things blog has enlivened every Monday, has a new thing she calls Transactions with Beauty. Not surprisingly to anyone who follows…