St@nza 17.2 Summer 2020

17.2 | Summer 2020

In this issue: 2-3

News from the League

5-6

Bill Arnott’s Beat

7-9

Poetry Parlour

10-11

Marguerite Pigeon’s review of Treaty # by Armand Garnet Ruffo

12-15

New League Members

16-18

Member News

19-23

Writing Opportunities

24-27

In Memoriam

News from the League Funding Applications for Online Events are now Open!

We are currently only accepting applications for funding for online events taking place between April 1, 2020 (limited retroactive funding is available) and October 31, 2020. We are not accepting applications for in-person events, or for any events scheduled past October 31.

We will continue to assess the progress of in-person events across Canada throughout the summer and provide an update for fall and winter events in September 2020.

Visit the funding page

Tech Support for Online Events

Technical support may be available to hosts and poets organizing online events; a request for tech support can be made in the application.

Are you comfortable with Zoom and similar platforms? Members and nonmembers of the League of Canadian Poets can now submit their interest in providing modest tech support to poets and organizers hosting online events. If applicants are approved and matched with a host, the League will provide a $75 honorarium per event.

Fill out the tech support form.

Feminist Caucus Business Meeting

The 2020 Feminist Caucus Business Meeting will be taking place digitally for the first time in 2020.

We invite you to join us on Friday, July 24th at 2pm EST for a digital meeting via Zoom.

Members and non-members are welcome to join this meeting. Advance registration is required.

Register and find out more

The LCP AGM and conference

The 2020 Annual General Meeting for the League of Canadian Poets took place digitally for the first time in 2020 on Saturday, June 13th at 12pm EST. Thank you to everyone who attended, presented, and performed at the League’s first ever digital AGM. It was a pleasure to connect and convene together despite the ongoing COVID-19 situation.

Review the meeting documents

Call for submissions

From the LCP Chapbook Series: From my Window: a collection of poetry from Atlantic Canada Edited by Miriam Dunn, LCP Atlantic Rep. Submissions are open to members of the League of Canadian Poets residing in Atlantic Canada.

With this project, the League aims to create space to highlight the voices of poets practicing in the four Atlantic provinces: Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.

Find out more and submit your poems

Fresh Voices 20 is here!

Edited by Joan Conway and Blaine Marchand. The League’s associate members are talented poets who are writing and publishing poetry on their way to becoming established professional poets in the Canadian literary community.

We are excited to be taking this opportunity to showcase the work of our associate members in this series!

Fresh Voices 20 includes poetry by: Michelle Barker, Meena Chopra, Angel Edwards, Lesley-Anne Evans, Meg Freer, Louisa Howerow, Janice Lore, Patricia MacKay, Deirdre Maultsaid, Kamal Parmar, Renée

M. Sgroi, Ivana Velickovic and Martha Warren.

Read the Fresh Voices 20 poems

Black Poets Reading List

The LCP is seeking participation from members who identify as Black to assemble an essential Reading List of Black poets and poetry (print, spoken word and/or multidisciplinary). We would like to feature as many Black Canadian or Black-Indigenous poets as possible on this list, but welcome poet recommendations from around the world.

This idea is based on The Many Gendered Other Reading List by the LCP Feminist Caucus, published in April 2020.

This is a paid opportunity with limited spots available.

If interested, please contact laura@ poets.ca with “Black Poets Reading List” in the subject line.

From the LCP Chapbook Series, I am what becomes of broken branch, a collection of voices by Indigenous poets in Canada is now available for purchase or digital download.

Featuring poetry by: Michelle Brown, Kirk Bueckert, Carol Casey, Colleen Charlette, and Cooper Skjeie.

Edited by Rita Bouvier and lovingly handsewn by Nic Brewer. For this chapbook, the League of Canadian Poets (LCP) partnered with the Saskatchewan Aboriginal Writers Circle Inc. (SAWCI) to showcase the voices, community, and poetic writing of Indigenous writers in Saskatchewan, and of poets across Canada. Publication in this chapbook was open to members of the LCP and SAWCI. The publication of this chapbook has been generously supported by the National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health.

Order a copy today!

A Public Letter from the Arts Community For a Basic Income Guarantee

75,000 Canadian artists unite: It’s time for a basic income.

Artists, writers, technicians and performers are calling on Prime Minister Trudeau to create a permanent basic income guarantee. This public letter, signed and endorsed by many of the largest arts and culture organizations in Canada, including the League of Canadian Poets, calls on the government to think outside the box and implement a “basic income program that guarantees an income floor to anyone in need.”

In the pandemic’s wake, Canada can rise from the disease, hardships, and ruptures in social behavior with a basic income.

“The opportunity for change is here and now,” write the letter’s co-authors: Craig Berggold, Zainub Verjee and Clayton Windatt.

Read the letter and support the cause

Poetry Pause

Your poetry could be featured in Poetry Pause, the League’s daily digital poetry dispatch program that’s growing every day! We deliver a daily poem directly to your inbox and we are always accepting submissions of published or unpublished poems! Poetry Pause is a great way to introduce new readers to your work.

Tell your poet and poetry-loving friends!

Subscribe to Poetry Pause Learn more about Poetry Pause

Would you like to be a juror for the next round of Poetry Pause?

Contact info@poets.ca with “Inquiry: Poetry Pause Juror” in the subject line!

Donate to the League

Help us support poets and poetry in Canada. Consider a monthly donation to the League.

Donate via CanadaHelps

Poetry Parlour

New questions available!

Only on Wild Apricot Click here to share your thoughts

Bill Arnott’s Beat World Poetry

overhead an unseen entity was sliding game-pieces across countries and continents as we settled into squeaky chairs, popped headsets on, and silently set notes under swivel-arm mics.

I was making my way across town. Town being Vancouver, BC. We have to say that as there’s an another one, a perfectly pleasant American one, its pleasantness being its proximity to Vancouver, BC. I was to be the guest on World Poetry Café, an unassuming FM radio program with a shockingly large listenership – one-hundred-thirty-three countries, at last count. When I arrived at the station, Victor, the venerable sound man, said in a Barry White basso profundo, “We just got Sweden. And another one of the Yugoslav countries.” Making me realize I’d stumbled into a life-size game of Risk. Peaceful, radio Risk. Somewhere

This is a co-op radio program that twothirds of the nations on the planet tune into. The skeptic in me – not the glass half-full/half-empty guy, but the one knowing full well the glass is too damn big, questioned the record keepers. I suppose if we had a listener in each country that would, in fact, be accurate. My Austrian friend Evelyn once said at a UK Lit Fest, “I’ve told you a million times, don’t exaggerate!” So I kept doubts close to my chest and made a note to let Evelyn know I’d be quoting her. And if we didn’t end up connecting, the quote would become my own. Obviously.

I visited with co-host Doctor Diego, liking him immediately. Not only because his name could be that of an Omar Sharif persona, and not because he’s fluent in every romance language (the relevant ones) but mostly because he’s a kind individual who made me feel welcome and asked questions, something I often find lacking. I wonder why that is but can’t be bothered to ask.

We chatted about travel, poetry, prose, and all the stuff you’d love to talk about at a cocktail party if you didn’t have the

courteous obligation of asking some idiot about themselves. Regardless. We got on well. The host did her thing and the show proceeded smoothly, as all longlived shows do. I had fun, sharing space with skilled people. I snapped photos for social media that I could lie about afterward. In other words, it was an excellent afternoon for an entrepreneurial artist saying yes to every next thing.

What I liked most about this was its timeliness. National Poetry Month was just around the corner and we were on the cusp of World Poetry Day – bridging nations and shrinking the world in what may be our purest common language.

With callers that day from Africa, Asia, and North America, and listeners on every continent, I had the extreme privilege of experiencing it firsthand. Each of us in the sound booth agreed, while music played, and mics were off. Forget delineating languages of arbitrarily drawn borders. What we were sharing was rich, articulate pidgin – a global populace finding commonality. Communicating. We do it with music. We do it with food. With dance and laughter and love. But perhaps more than anything, we do it with poetry.

Bill Arnott is the bestselling author of Gone Viking: A Travel Saga, Dromomania, Allan’s Wishes, and Wonderful Magical Words. His Indie Folk CD is Studio 6. Bill’s work is published in literary journals, magazines and anthologies around the globe. He’s received songwriting and poetry prizes and is a Whistler Independent Book Awards Finalist with Gone Viking: A Travel Saga. Visit Bill @billarnott_aps and www.amazon.com/author/ billarnott_aps

Poetry Parlour See what Leaguers have to say about poetry, the writing process, and their mentors

Thank you to everyone who responded to the most recent Poetry Pause questions! Check out our new batch of questions on Wild Apricot.

Do you write your first drafts of poetry by hand or on the computer? Why? “Hand. I think cursive writing lends itself to a smooth output of words.”

–Louise Carson “The early notes start out by hand on bits of paper while I’m wandering around or doing other things. Pretty soon, though, I copy them into a computer file so I can see what they look like. I sometimes make subsequent drafts directly on the computer, but it is easier to work from printouts and pencil in changes--more portable. A poem keeps developing, almost on its own, as I’m half-involved in something else, such as waiting for a bus. I keep going over the poem in my mind and better ways to express parts of it, or further ideas, come to me. An exciting process.”

–Marvyne Jenoff “Usually by hand since ideas often come to me in coffee shops.”

–Carol Dilworth “Both. depends on whether i’m at my computer or out rambling.”

–Amanda Earl

“It depends on my “whim”. Sometimes when I have a pen handy, I use that. Other times when I am deep in thought and near a computer, I’ll address my focus to the screen.”

–Honey Novick “ I shift: I start out writing by hand till energy gathers, begins to cohere into something like a small creature, with its own shape and movement. Then I type it into a document, beginning the process of transformation, which might go on for quite a long time. If (when!) it stalls, I print it and write notes on that page, front and back, talking to it and about it, till some change occurs, which I then take back to the computer and begin again.”

–Susan Gillis

“By hand keeps me more spontaneous.”

–Nan Williamson “Usually by hand and usually by pencil for erasure” –Daniel Scott “Notes by hand, followed by drafts upon drafts on the computer. I like the feeling of putting pen to paper. There is an honesty to it - a component that (to me) is critical to act of writing poetry. As for the latter, drafts are easier to edit in a digitized form.”

–Ellen Chang-Richardson

Is there a poem that was recently released that knocked your socks off? “in Poetry, the Chicago publication, a poem about whales” –Carol Dilworth “Early 2020, Catriona Wright’s “Innovation” -- a poem I feel like I’ve been waiting to read.”

–Susan Gillis ““Canadian Horror Story” in NDN Coping Mechanisms: Notes from the Field by Billy-Ray Belcourt.

–Ellen Chang-Richardson “Odourless Poem by Khashayar Mohammadi in Puritan’s fall issue.”

–Amanda Earl “Not one. I was profoundly moved by the poems in bill bissett’s book “Breth” as well as George Elliott Clark’s “Portia White”. To be completely honest, my poem “I Am A Zing” ending on the line “I, amazing” knocked my socks off because I couldn’t believe I wrote that.”

–Honey Novick

“Poems by Amanda Jernigan and Ocean Vuong” –Nan Williamson “I really liked Beth Goobie’s lookin’ for joy that was on the Poetry Pause page.

–Louise Carson

Who is someone in the industry who has shaped your poetry journey? What was their impact? (i.e. publisher, host, editor, fellow poet, teacher, mentor, colleague) Laurie MacFayden Bill Bissett, fellow poet Alice Major, fellow poet Eunice Scarfe, teacher/mentor George Elliott Clarke, reviewer Paul Sanderson Maureen Whyte- Seraphim publisher Steve McCabe- poet Rhea Tregebov -teacher Susan Iannou- teacher Amanda Earl rob mclennan - he’s encouraged me since early days; i took several of his workshops, subscribed to above/ground press, been introduced to work i’d rarely seen published in Canadian literary magazines. he’s constantly sending out calls

for submission, inquiring about my work and providing opportunities for publishing.

What themes are you writing about right now?

“Hidden racism; overt racism; the exclusionary nature of mainstream historical + art historical canon...”

–Ellen Chang-Richardson “There are 2 phrases whose sound entice me. The first is “Mellow Mallow” about the hibiscus flower and how that is used to make a Christmas drink in Jamaica. I learned to make it as an alternative to buying juice. The second is “For Crying Out Loud”. I think the words are impactful and can lend themselves to many complaints, compliments and observations.”

–Honey Novick “Poets and spiders - bodies making nets” –Daniel Scott

“Strangely and coincidentally enough, after reading Bill Arnott’s article on poetry and dementia, I was already thinking about dementia!”

–Louise Carson “Political abominations.”

–Carol Dilworth “I’m thinking about light and generosity, the tenderness of attention, ways to refresh our forms of currency.”

–Susan Gillis “Illumination in all its meanings, Grief Writing, my own Ars Poetica –Nan Williamson

If your poetry was a type of food, what would it be and why?

“A buffet with various options, never the same: a little spice, a little sweet, a little crunch, a little butter, a lot of garlic, plenty of salt, some noodles to twirl on yr fork, decadent desserts.”

–Amanda Earl “Good and nutricious- comfort food.

–Paul Sanderson “Spaghetti with robust veggie-tomato sauce paired with a glass of passionate dry red wine” –Laurie MacFayden

New Poetry Parlour questions are now available! Click here to share your thoughts

“Love and aging/death, all implied in the work rather than stated outright.”

–Marvyne Jenoff

REVIEW: Treaty # by Armand Garnet Ruffo Reviewed by Marguerite Pigeon

In this way, Garnet Ruffo flips the deadening anti-poetics of the original document, damning its status games while maintaining space for, and awareness of the fraught position of the Indigenous signatories.

Before I go on, I want to acknowledge my own position—I’m a white, Franco-Ontarian settler from the same Northern region where Garnet Ruffo’s Ojibwe community has always lived.

This is relevant to this review because I have benefited directly from treaties that gave Europeans unfettered access to natural resources there. Like many French Canadians, my grandfather moved to my hometown, Blind River, in the 1930s, eager to gain from a sudden prosperity that actively excluded Indigenous participation.

Treaty # opens with a prose poem, “Impetus Ungainly,” in which Armand Garnet Ruffo manipulates language from a 1905 treaty between the British Crown and Ojibwe, Cree and members of other Indigenous groups in Ontario.

The poem’s title hints, bitingly, at the treaty’s function. It was the legal body that enforced European interests, with zero long-term gain for Indigenous nations. But the poem refigures that body, acting on readers too, bringing us backwards and forwards through the treaty’s pompous, confusing (ungainly) wording.

From this context, I read “Impetus Ungainly” as signalling the overall poetics of Treaty #: this collection taps Garnet Ruffo’s personal experience, which is tinged by the ungainly language and exclusions of colonization, for poetic resources. Treaty # is a wide-ranging work that travels freely beyond a single subject, however. Garnet Ruffo tangles with feeling, connection, silence, responsibility, doubt, confusion and more—all in the name of taking the poetic reigns. The result is a delicate,

personal book that is often about the writer’s complex relationship to poetry itself, and, more fundamentally, his opportunities for speech.

In ‘The Claim,’ Garnet Ruffo blends event (the bitter irony of a van doing rounds among homeless Indigenous people on a cold night), memory (wearing socks to bed in winter as a child), and present-day minutia (the narrator adjusting a thermostat) with a deeper remembrance of kin as the true warming presence. The poem culminates in anxious awareness that, for Indigenous people, communication with the distant past—the titular ‘claim’ to continuity— can be interrupted by colonialism: “I see ghosts of family through the curtains smiling/at me, in sunshine, in a forest, bathing in a small lake/holding all the warmth of summer, they are speaking/to me in a language I don’t understand.”

This disturbing interruption, like static on a phone line, returns elsewhere in the book, as Garnet Ruffo captures instances in which openings to speak of pain, loss or fury slip away. “Red is a Poem,” structured in water-like, cascading stanzas, explores the complexity of Indigenous experience, but begins and ends with the assertion that the perfect poem is “just out of reach,” while, in “Haliburton Highland Night,” the narrator, reflecting on a false claim that a particular area was never inhabited by Indigenous people, drives away, seething: “I keep my mouth shut.”

Indeed, Garnet Ruffo challenges the silencing impulse and willful blindness to Indigenous presence of settler culture.

In the aching, ‘Why don’t you Write?’ the poet, addressing the recipient of a racist

postcard, writes: “I could feel Lily’s ignorance enter the room/like absence, like cancer…” And in “Under Construction,” Garnet Ruffo demands that we notice who is left out of the picture in Group of Seven paintings: “Only landscapes allowed./ Not a bird or a bee./ Not you.

Not me. Nothing.”

Elsewhere, Garnet Ruffo reflects on his own rich experience as a traveller, an established writer, a cousin, and a descendent. He dreams of revolution in Cuba; feels lonely touring a Paris graveyard; returns to Northern Ontario in “At my Great-Grandfather’s Cabin,” where a transcendent moment sparks under the cabin’s broken roof; and, in “Hidden Residential School Graveyard,” conveys, in near-spiritual stream of consciousness lines, the blistering pain of encountering those small graves.

Treaty# lives with this pain, and with the tension between a full life and ongoing colonial silence. Garnet Ruffo’s generous collection shares the poetic resources of his experience.

Treaty # by Armand Garnet Ruffo, Wolsak & Wynn (April 2019) Marguerite Pigeon writes poetry and fiction. Her first collection of poems, Inventory (Anvil 2009) was a finalist for the Gerald Lampert Award. She has also published two books of fiction. Her next publication, a book-length poem called The Endless Garment, about fashion and dress, will appear in 2021 with Wolsak & Wynn. Originally from Blind River, Northern Ontario, she lives and works in Vancouver.

New League Members Neil Aitken is the author of two books of poetry, Babbage’s Dream (Sundress 2017) and The Lost Country of Sight (Anhinga 2008), which won the Philip Levine Prize. His poetry chapbook, Leviathan, (Hyacinth Girl Press 2016) was an Elgin Prize winner. Individual poems have appeared in The Adroit Journal, American Literary Review, Crab Orchard Review, Ninth Letter, Radar Poetry, Southern Poetry Review, and many other literary journals. He is the founding editor of Boxcar Poetry Review, curator of Have Book Will Travel, podcast host of The Lit Fantastic, and co-director of De-Canon: A Visibility Project, He also hosts Fantastic Descriptions, a YouTube channel that explores narrative storytelling and description in roleplaying games. He currently lives in Regina, Saskatchewan where he continues to work as a creative writing coach and manuscript editor. www. neil-aitken.com Donna Allard Coastal living along the Northumberland Straight in Atlantic Canada is exactly where Donna wants to be. She resides in a 1909 farmstead...

As a peaceful “purdyesque” writer, her most recent books include “Cold Fire” - currently long-listed for the 2020 Miramichi Reader’s ‘The Very Best Book Award’ (2019, SkyWing Press), “Three Times Around the World” (River Bones Press) and “Ghost in the Window” (2019, River Bones Press), and she curates

“Canadian Beat Scene”. Donna Allard has been writing for over 40 years. It developed into a vocation while serving as a director for the National Milton Acorn Festival in Charlottetown P.E.I. At present, Donna is the 1st International Beat Poet Laureate for Canada 2019-2020 awarded by the National Beat Poetry Foundation Inc., CT., USA Aug 2019. She is also a full member of the League of Poets, Canadian Authors Association, Writers Federation of NB, and is a past president of the Canadian Poetry Association. On Apr 28, 2014, Donna accepted the position of Honorary member with the CCLA (Canada Cuban Literary Alliance), presented by President & Poet Laureate Richard Grove. She has been the founder of River Bones Press since 2004 and was editor-in-chief for “POEMATA” Canadian Poetry Association’s magazine from 2004-2012. Donna has been an adjudicator for the Acorn-Plantos Book Award (2004, 2006, 2013), Canadian Aid Literary Award (2008 and 2010) and the Arts Hamilton Literary Awards (2004 and 2007).

Official website: https://riverbonespress. wixsite.com/donnaallardpoet Moni Brar is a Punjabi, Sikh Canadian writer, poet and educator. Through poetry and creative non-fiction, she explores the role of power and privilege in the immigrant experience, the intergenerational effects of religious violence and colonization in the Indian diaspora community, and the

intersection of gender, culture and race and its impact on identity and belonging.

She is a member of the Writers’ Guild of Alberta, the Alexandra Writers’ Centre Society and the editorial board of New Forum Magazine. In 2019, she was selected for the Alberta Writers’ Guild Borderlines Writers Circle program.

Lady Vanessa aka La Dragona Cardona is a mestiza, Colombian, First Generation immigrant artist and community builder.

She started her artistic career in Windhoek, Namibia and currently lives in Amiskwaciwȃskahikan (Edmonton), Treaty 6 territory. Lady graduated with a BFA and specialization in theatre and development from Concordia University. She is a mentor of a refugee youth leadership group called Newcomers Are Lit officially known as the Canadian Council for Refugees Youth Network. Most recently garnering the 2018 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam champion title, Lady has toured and competed around Canada promoting her art as an Edmonton local artist and proud member of the breath in poetry collective. She features in the chapbook, Water, published by Glass Buffalo. Lady is currently working on her upcoming book La Sangre. Lady believes in the healing powers art provides for our community.

Healing is not polite; art allows us to be the frankest versions of ourselves so that we may strengthen our souls, minds and the community around us. Art is where we come together through unity of purpose.

Audrey Lane Cockett is a spoken word poet, soundscape artist, arts organizer, and park naturalist based in Treaty 7 land, Calgary AB. Her work is rooted in wild, both outside and in. She is a passionate advocate for mental health awareness, love, and care for the natural world through

her work in education and poetry. Audrey Lane’s work embodies wild feminist rhetoric, political discontent, tender feels in a body that overheard it was broken, deep time, and river rhythm. She has competed and performed nationally and internationally, completed residencies in the Yukon and at Banff Centre for the Arts, and loves creating and performing in ways that stretch the edges of art. She is invested in exploring poetry, artistic fusion, community, learning, healing, and transformation.

Dianne Joyce was born in Yorkshire, raised in western Canada, but grew up in the east. She is an educator, a graduate writer from the University of Windsor’s Creative Writing program, and has been a participant of the Banff Centre and the Humber School in Toronto. Dianne is also a professional level teacher of Kripalu Yoga and owner of a small studio called The Dancing Turtle. She creates a safe environment that supports the student to a deeper understanding of their life journey and brings many years of experience as a practitioner of Reiki through the Usui System of Natural Healing to her practice. Her most recent field of study is Shamanism, creating open spaces for the exploration of time, language, the breath, endurance and death, as she treks the unexpected and sacred places that infuse her poetry, and as she attempts to understand the chaos created by guns and war.

Wade Kearley Having grown up on the banks of Manuels River in Conception Bay, Wade Kearley moved to British Columbia in 1980 to study fine arts and journalism at the University of Victoria. He graduated with honours in 1983 and moved back to Newfoundland and Labrador. During

his thirty years as a commercial writer, editor, author, and journalist, Wade Kearley has written extensively about the oceans, publishing articles in national and international journals and magazines. He has six books to his credit, including three other works of non-fiction: the provincial bestseller The People’s Road: On the Trail of the Newfoundland Railway, the updated The People’s Road Revisited, and the recently acclaimed book Here’s the Catch: The Fish We Harvest from the Northwest Atlantic. In Sentinels of the Strait, which featured sketches of legendary lighthouses of Belle Isle, Wade’s text accompanies the artwork of Leslie H. Noseworthy. Wade has also published two books of poetry: Drawing On Water and Let Me Burn Like This: Prayers from the Ashes.

Paula Kienapple-Summers is an Ontario native, poet, educator, and volunteer.

Frank Klaassen’s poetry has appeared in various literary journals in Canada and the UK including Stand, The Malahat Review, The New Quarterly, and Oxford Poetry.

His academic publications include The Transformations of Magic, Making Magic in Elizabethan England, and The Magic of Rogues: Necromancy and Authority in Early Tudor England.

Alison Newall, born and raised in Montreal, studied literature at McGill University, earning a BA and an MA. She has taught literature and writing, and has been working as a translator and editor for ten years.

Michelle Porter is a Red River Métis poet, journalist, and editor. She holds degrees in journalism, folklore, and geography (PhD).

Her academic research and creative

work have been focused on home, Métis mobility, and the changing nature of our relationship to land. She’s won awards for her work in poetry and journalism, and has been published in literary journals, newspapers, and magazines across the country. She lives in St. John’s.

Amoya Reé (she/her) is a JamaicanCanadian performance poet and 2018 National Champion. Her writing is rooted in her lived experiences as an immigrant, mother, & community worker. Exploring the cultural significance of things like race, mothering and love, she often blends historical fact with present realities, making for a poetic experience that is both informational and inspirational. She began exploring performance poetry in 2008 & since then she has shared her stories in classrooms & boardrooms across Ontario. Most recently she sat as captain of the 2018 Toronto Poetry Slam team who were semi-finalists at the National Poetry Slam in Chicago and went on to win the Canadian national championship in Guelph, Ontario. She has had featured performances at the coveted When Sisters Speak (2019) and at Toronto Poetry Slam (2019) and is currently working on her first collection of poetry.

Luke Reece In a failed attempt to escape Presto, Luke Reece left his hometown of Mississauga under the guise of becoming a Toronto-based artist. He is a theatre producer, playwright, spoken word poet, and arts educator. He is the Producer for Canada’s leading culturally specific theatre company, Obsidian Theatre, and a Member of the Toronto Poetry Project.

He continually seeks opportunities to empower and support young-in-craft artists with his collective Little Black Afro Theatre, creating spaces for artists to develop work

with and for the communities they come from. Through his work as an artistic leader within the national arts community, he advocates for engaging and nuanced storytelling that challenges Canadian audiences. Luke is one of Toronto’s most decorated slam poets, becoming the Toronto Poetry Slam (TPS) Grand Champion in 2017, winning the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word as the captain of the TPS team and then again in 2018 as the team coach. In 2018 he placed 2nd in Canada individually which earned him a spot representing the country at the 2019 World Cup of Poetry Slam in Paris France where he placed 4th. Most recently Luke has been featured performing for Toronto Raptor Serge Ibaka on his Instagram Talent Show.

Dani Spinosa is a Canadian scholar and poet. Her work investigates the role of authorship and anarchist politics in digital and print-based experimental poetry. She is the author of one scholarly manuscript, nine peer-reviewed academic articles, four poetry chapbooks, and over a dozen literary publications. She is the managing editor of the Electronic Literature Directory, an adjunct professor of English at York University and Sheridan College, and a founding co-editor of the feminist experimental micropress Gap Riot.

Lily Wang is the founder and editor of Half a Grapefruit Magazine. She is doing her MA in English and Creative Writing at the University of Toronto. Her first chapbook Everyone In Your Dream is You was published by Anstruther Press in 2018.

Her work has appeared in Peach Mag, The Puritan, The Hart House Review, Bad Nudes, Hobart Pulp, and more. Her debut full-length book of poetry, Saturn Peach, is forthcoming from Gordon Hill Press in

Fall 2020.

John Williamson, aka Dr. John, is a Calgary poet and educator. On the 2017 Calgary Slam team, he competed for the national title, eventually helping the team place sixth in Canada, and he has continued to feature often as a spoken word artist at venues in Calgary and beyond.

John is also an executive for the Can You Hear Me Now? provincial youth slam and, after his 2015 team with the St. Anne Academic Centre, including his daughter Em, won the provincial title, he continues to co-coach a team for the event. John and Em can also still be found co-hosting Can You Hear Me Now? monthly all ages slams at Shelf Life Books. This summer, John had the honour of having his first chapbook, “Broken and Strong: Family Fragments,” published by Calgary’s Loft 112 and is currently selling remaining copies. John has also published poetry in High Shelf Press, Prairie Journal, the anthology The Pedagogy of Suffering and The Inclusive Educator Journal.

John’s 2015 Phd dissertation, written as a detective novel, also won the Chancellor’s medal at the University of Calgary and has been republished in the Journal of Applied Hermeneutics. In his constant attempt to follow Emily Dickinson’s advice “tell the truth but tell it slant”, John tries to reveal awkward and overlooked perspectives on topics political, personal, and sometimes surreal.

Member News Bill Arnott Bill Arnott’s review of Squall: Poems in the Voice of Mary Shelley by Chad Norman was recently published in the Miriamchi Reader. Read the review.

Rocky Mountain Books launches the new edition of Bill Arnott’s WIBA Finalist, Gone Viking: A Travel Saga. Presales now, at Amazon, Indigo, and RMB. Purchase your copy Billy-Ray Belcourt has won the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry for NDN Coping Mechanisms from the Writers’ Guild of Alberta. Congratulations Billy-Ray! Roxanna Bennett has Trillium Book Award for Poetry for her collection Unmeaningable.

Congratulations Roxanna!

Jeevan Bhagwat’s second poetry collection entitled Luminescence has just be published by IN Publications.

Luminescence is a book of poetry that seeks to shed light on our collective hopes, fears, and dreams. Find out more via Scarborough Poetry Club.

Francis Boyle’s second poetry collection, This White Nest, was published by Quattro Books late in 2019, and was welllaunched in Ottawa and Toronto. Other scheduled readings, including ones in BC and Ontario, have been cancelled or

postponed due to the virus. But the book has already received several reviews, including one by Kim Fahner in Prairie Fire and another by Allie McFarland on The Anti-Languorous Project Neall Calvert has been chosen as a finalist in the Muriel’s Journey Poetry Prize, out of Vancouver, BC. The competition encompasses community involvement as well as writing (five poems submitted).

Fern G.Z. Carr would like to thank the Federation of British Columbia Writers and editor Ursula Vaira for having published her article, “Unlocking the Door - Publishing Tips and Resources”, in the “Writing and Publishing through the Pandemic” issue of WordWorks - British Columbia’s Magazine for Writers. Read the article (found on pages 12 &13)

FROM THE BLOG

Louise Carson’s second collection of poetry - Dog Poems, Aeolus House is published. It is available to purchase through Fraser Direct. It will also soon be on Amazon. Observing the world the way a dog does - without judgment, just taking it all in. Okay, maybe a little judgment.

From light-hearted poems in which the dog slams into a llama, a Starbucks barista tells an unexpected joke, and the poet muses on the sticker on her banana, to the telling of dealing with chronic fatigue

and a serious illness, we move from light to darkness to light, being urged to “Wear the orange dress/pick the tiger lily/bright world awaits/no hoping/just take it.”

Louise was also recently interviewed by All Lit Up where they discussed influential writers, two types of rewarding moments, and what she’s working on now. Check out the interview.

Lesley-Anne Evans spent the month of April in celebration of NaPoMo, hosting a daily creative guest on her blog, Buddy Breathing. It was a lot of fun chatting to old friends and new, most of them poets, and some visual storytellers as well. Find out more about the illustrious participants Suparna Ghosh has released a video, Whispers of Ancient Sounds on poets.ca.

This video presentation evokes an expat’s musings from across lands and borders and other incarnations, real or imagined.

It was inspired by the Poetry & Healing event sponsored by the LCP, during 2020 National Poetry Month. Suparna has searched through her collection of poems from Sandalwood Thoughts and Occasionally and plucked and woven poems which conjure disparate voices of poetry from a diverse world, where memories are sketches of grief and laughter. Watch the video.

Catherine Hunter has won the Landsowne Prize for Poetry from the Manitoba Book Awards for her book St. Boniface Elegies (Signature Editions). Congratulations Catherine!

Fiona Tinwei Lam “Plasticpoems”, a short, unnarrated, animated video poem won the Judges’ Award at Houston’s

REELpoetry festival in January 2020.

The poetry video is a collaboration between Vancouver poet Fiona Tinwei Lam and animator Nhat Truong, based on two of Fiona’s concrete/visual poems on plastic pollution contained in her latest collection, Odes & Laments (Caitlin Press, 2019). Watch “plasticpoems.”

Fiona Tinwei Lam will be be reading at the LiterAsian Festival 2020 online with Anosh Irani, Kevin Kapenda, Rachel D’Sa, Carlo Javier & Natalie De Santos, with moderator Julia Lin on August 16 1-3:30 pm PST. Register to attend and find out more D.A. Lockhart will be bringing out his newest poetry collection this fall with Black Moss Press. Tukhone utilizes haiku and haibun to explore Waawiiyaatanong through the seasons and celebrate the musical heritage of the Motor City. He has received funding from the Ontario Arts Council to complete his next poetry manuscript, North of Middle Island, that explores Canada’s most southern body of land, Pelee Island, through a rooted Indigineous perspective. Be sure to check out new pieces from him in ARC Poetry Magazine, Qwerty, Haiku Sheet, and Juniper. Lockhart has joined the University of Regina Press as an acquisitions editor and continues on as poetry editor for the Windsor Review.

Diana Manole Two poems from Claudiu Komartin’s Masters of a Dying Art (“Maeștrii unei arte muribunde.” Cartier 2017), translated by Diana Manole, have just been published in issue 8/ Spring 2020 of The Arkansas International of the University of Arkansas’s Program in Creative Writing & Translation: “twelve

lines to drive fear away, twelve seconds to the light’s disappearance” and “Getting Ready for the Centennial of the October Revolution.” Find out more.

recognized for her English translation of Galician poetry collection Camouflage by poet and journalist Lupe Gómez.

Congratulations Erín!

Susan McCaslin’s poem “Persephone’s Nook” won first place in the Write On contest sponsored by the Royal City Literary Arts Society for 2020, New Westminster, BC. The poem will be published later this year in the Society’s online publication, Wordplay at Work.

Find out more.

Her “An interview and poem, ‘Corona Corona’” was published on Buddy Breathing, the online blog of LesleyAnne Evans, April 26, 2020, as well as on Inanna Publication’s blog site. It also appeared as “Taking a Breath as Wild Creatures Return,” in Sage-ing: with Creative Spirit, Grace, & Gratitude,”No. 33, Summer 2020, ed. Karen Close (The Okanagan Institute), Read it on pages 911.

J.S. Porter, poet and essayist, commented on her work in “Intimate Poems,” The Nancy Duffy Show on May 1, 2020.

Her poem “Slippage,” was published on the blog and Poetry Pause by The League of Canadian Poets on June 1, 2020.

On June 23, Susan was a featured reader for The Art Bar Poetry Series (online, pre-recorded) Toronto. She read new work from two unpublished manuscripts, Named & Nameless (forthcoming from Inanna) & Heart Work (a manuscript in progress) Watch the recording.

Ayaz Pirani’s chapbook Bachelor of Art was published this week by Anstruther Press. Find out more and order a copy.

Erín Moure was a finalist for the 2020 Best Translated Books Awards for fiction and poetry by Three Percent at the University of Rochester. Moure is

Stan Rogal recently had a poetry chapbook come out with above/ground press, titled: Alas & Alack. Also a seventh novel, The Comic, with Guernica Editions is hot off the press.

Peter Taylor’s latest chapbook, Hell-box, was published in May by Frog Hollow Press in Victoria. Hell-box is a mosaic of voices and experiences in history and imagination that move from the disappearance of arctic explorers, to the human capacity for loss and abuse, to the razing and rebirth of the Frauenkirche in Dresden. Since January, he has also published poems in journals in Canada, the United States and Australia, including Antarctica Journal, Ariel Chart, CommuterLit, Defenestration, The Font: A Literary Journal for Language Teachers and The Stray Branch Janet Vickers’ third book of poetry is available from Ekstasis Editions. It’s titled Sleep With Me: Lullaby for an Anxious Planet. Find out more and order a copy.

Writing Opportunities Calls for Submissions Pandemic Publications is a brandspanking-new multidisciplinary arts platform. Our aim is to provide bursaries to artists during times of financial crisis (like right now), while showcasing original, optimistic content by a diverse array of talented individuals. We publish works in the categories of poetry, prose, visual arts, and music, on our website and social media platforms. While we accept submissions from any artist, we actively encourage submissions by individuals from economically marginalized communities, both to amplify their voices and message, and to direct critical funding to where it is needed most. Open call for submissions. Find out more.

COVID Journals is looking to learn of COVID stories of all kinds from all over the country to see whether creative and reflective writing by health professionals can help society see the pandemic differently. The editors seek previously unpublished fiction, micro-fiction/flash, creative non-fiction, memoir, essay, poetry, comics/graphic medicine panels, photography, art, etc. for a collection tentatively scheduled for publication in fall 2021. Contributions are welcome from practitioners in ANY health discipline, and particularly from historically

and currently under-presented voices.

We seek writing from residents of Canada or pieces that focus on the Canadian experience in particular. Deadline is August 30, 2020. Find out more Arc is accepting submissions for their winter issue. Deadline is July 31, 2020.

Find out more The Maynard is accepting poetry submissions for the Fall issue until July 31, 2020. Find out more Into The Void We Are Antifa Anthology These are dark times, but they are hopeful times. Here at Into the Void, we’ve been watching hundreds of thousands of Americans standing up for the rights of people of color and fighting for a better life for all. We want to add our contribution to the struggle for justice and equality, so we’ve decided to publish an anthology collection of poetry and prose with 100% of the proceeds going to Black Lives Matter Toronto. And submissions are now open until midnight E.T. August 1. We will accept poetry, fiction, flash fiction or creative nonfiction which in some way concerns fascism, racism and/or police violence. Payment is CA$15 per poem/flash or CA$30 per prose piece, and a contributor copy. The anthology will be published in paperback

and eBook on October 6, in time for the November election. Over 50% of writers included in the anthology will be people of color. Find out more.

Gravitas Poetry is accepting submissions Vol 19 issue 3. Deadline is August 15, 2020. Find out more YYC POP: Portraits of People Calgary Poet Laureate emeritus Sheri-D Wilson D. Litt. C.M. is excited to announce the expansion of her legacy project, YYC POP: Portraits of People, and invites Calgary students to participate in the project. YYC POP is a multi-aspect project including a published Book, Online Exhibit, Poetry on Transit and now Poetry by the Students of Calgary. Deadline is August 16, 2020 Find out more GUEST Journal is looking for poetry and hybrid lit that explore ideas of entanglement, interbeing, interconnection, echoes and ecosystems, in all their various habitats: the social and political, material reality, literary form, theory and imagination, the natural world, the body, some interworking of all of the above. Please send 3-5 pages of work to Michael.Sikkema@gmail.com, and put SUBMISSION and your LAST NAME in the subject heading. Deadline is August 23, 2020. Find out more CV2 is accepting poetry submissionsfor Winter 2021, poetry in connection with 2S & QTBIPOC Bodies. Edited by Joshua Whitehead. Find out more.

University of Alberta Press will be accepting poetry manuscripts between September 1 and 30 each year. At the end of the submission period, the Press, working with members of our external jury for po-

etry, will select up to three manuscripts per year for publication. Find out more.

Plenitude is currently accepting poetry submissions with no set deadline. Find out more Also from Plenitude: All around the world, people are being asked to stay home to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Self-isolate. Practice social distancing.

Don’t spend time with anyone outside of your household. But how is this affecting members of the Canadian LGBTQ2S+ community already impacted by social isolation? Many of us are at a higher risk of loneliness than our heterosexual and/or cisgender counterparts. Many of us live alone. Many of us suffer from mental health issues like depression or anxiety, further distancing us from the world. In these difficult times, Plenitude wants to hear your stories. Our call for submissions is asking for writers who identify as LGBTQ2S+ to share their experiences of isolation from a queer and/or intersectional and/or racialized viewpoint. How are you coping (or not coping) with self-isolation and social distancing? What acts of self-care are keeping you sane? Are you following (or not following) the rules mandated by your local government? Have you been the victim of racism, homophobia, and/ or transphobia in public or online? Are you isolating with family or roommates who aren’t affirming your gender? Do you still reach out on dating apps to lessen the feeling of being alone? Send us your truths. We want to hear them.

We especially encourage BIPOC and trans writers to submit their work. Find out more

Pub House Books: Chapbook Series is accepting manuscripts of poetry for publication. Deadline is December 31, 2020.

Find out more

Ricepaper Magazine is seeking submissions from Asian writers of all cultural backgrounds. No listed deadline. Find out more

Columba Poetry is accepting submissions with no set deadline. Find out more

Sewer Lid Magazine is accepting poetry on a rolling basis. Find out more

Cosmonauts Avenue seeks poetry for their online, monthly literary journal. No listed deadline. Find out more

Taddle Creek will be opening their submission period after Labour Day 2020.

Find out more

Gordon Hill Press, the newest voice in Canadian literatures, is looking for booklength submissions of exemplary poetry

by Canadian writers, particularly those living with disability. No listed deadline.

Find out more

Queen’s Quarterly is looking for submissions of poetry, prose, fiction, creative non-fiction or reportage for the Queen’s Quarterly based at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. Word limit for submissions tends to be 3000 words and they pay, approximately $100 for a poem and $400-$600 for other submissions.Questions or submissions may be directed to queens.quarterly@queensu.ca Find out more

Dreamers Magazine is accepting poetry submissions on a rolling basis that focus on the intersections of wellness – narrative medicine, medical memoir, writing the self, healing writing, etc. Selected writers for publication will recieve a $20 honorarium. Learn more Lavender Review is accepting submissions on a rolling basis. No deadline.

Find out more The Anti-Languorous Project We are currently OPEN to submissions for antilang. no. 8 as well as reviews for our Good Short Reviews series. Find out more QWERTY now accepting general submissions for Issue 42, due Fall-Winter 2020. Find out more.

The Malahat Review is accepting submissions on a rolling basis. Find out more

Train: a poetry journal is accepting submissions on a rolling basis. Find out more.

Awards and Contests Poets Meet Politics International Open Poetry Competition Poems of any kind are accepted as long as they related to politics. Deadline is July 28, 2020. Find out more ROOM Magazine Our 2020 Poetry Contest is now open! Submissions will be accepted until August 15, 2020. Judged by Canisia Lubrin. Find out more Arc Poetry The Diana Brebner Prize

is awarded yearly for the best poem writ­ ten by a National Cap­i­tal Region poet, who has not yet been pub­lished in book form. The prize hon­ ours the late Diana Breb­ ner, an award-winning Ottawa-based poet who was devoted to fos­ ter­ ing lit­ er­ ary tal­ ent among new, local writers. Deadline is Spetember 4, 2020.

Find out more.

Tom Howard & Margaret Reid Poetry Contest. Submit during April 15 – September 30, 2020.

TOM HOWARD PRIZE: $3,000 for a poem in any style or genre MARGARET REID PRIZE: $3,000 for a poem that rhymes or has a traditional style. Find out more The Ontario Poetry Society - The world around is Chapbook Anthology Contest.

Deadline is September 30, 2020. Find out more.

7th annual Fred Cogswell Award for Excellence in Poetry presented by the Royal City Literary Arts Society is open for submissions. This year’s judge is, Rachel Rose. Deadline is October 1, 2020. Find out more From the Governor General Literary Awards: We recognize that GGBooks are an important celebration of Canadian literature and remain committed to supporting books, writers, illustrators and translators published in the 2020 competition period. After discussion with various stakeholders and considering the significant disruption of the book chain, as well as the operational and safety issues related to the submission and receipt of

books for this national competition of 14 categories, the Canada Council has decided to postpone the current book submission deadlines (1 June, 7 July, 1 August) to October 1, 2020. The results will be announced and promoted in 2021.

PoeARTry North Attention League painter/poets, Canada’s first painting/poetry competition is cancelled. The Mezzanine Art Gallery will be closed this year due to the present pandemic. We are optimistic 2021 will return some event planning normalcy and are hoping to reschedule it at the gallery.

Job Opportunities, Residencies & Mentorships SpokenWeb Fellowship invites applications from Black poets, spoken word artists, sound artists and curators whose work explores Black experience in Canada through the use of voice and sound.

Two fellowships of $5000 each will be offered through this program. Each successful candidate will receive a $5000 fellowship payable for a (virtual and/or in person) residency/creation period from September 1 – December 31, 2020, or, from January 1 – April 30 2021, as suitable to the project and recipient. Each residency fellowship is designed for a creative practitioner to focus deeply on their own practice, and/or for a curator to work on the development of an archival collection that documents Black performance in Canada, and/or to curate and document a new series of performance

by Black Canadian artists. SpokenWeb will also aim to collaborate with recipi-

ents to augment the development of their project through the provision of technical support, server space, and other resources, where possible. SpokenWeb and Concordia University would hold the rights to display the work through their public-facing sites, repositories and projects, but the rights to republish and reuse the work will remain with the authors/ creators.. Deadline to apply is August 1, 2020. Find out more The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) is searching for a Program Administrator (Indigenous Arts & Multi-Inter Arts, and Other Programs). Deadline to apply is July 24. 2020. Find out more University of Alberta Writer in Residence The successful applicant must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada and must have at least one published book. Eligible publications include a complete book of fiction, short stories, poetry, drama, children’s literature, multimedia, graphic novels, creative non-fiction, or literary non-fiction that lends itself to a public reading.

Deadline to apply is August 31, 2020.

Find out more.

Ontario Poet Laureate The Honourable Ted Arnott, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, is pleased to announce the launch of nominations for the province’s first Poet Laureate! Introduced by Windsor-Tecumseh MPP Percy Hatfield, the Poet Laureate of Ontario Act (In Memory of Gord Downie) was passed unanimously in the Legislature in December 2019. It honours the late former lead singer of popular Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, whose

poetic lyrics touched the hearts of Canadians from coast to coast. A native of Kingston, Ontario, Downie passed away in October 2017. Applications for the position are being accepted through to September 15, 2020. Following the acceptance of nominations, a selection panel will prepare a short list of the nominees by December and announce a chosen nominee by February, 2021. Upon appointment by the Legislature, the Poet Laureate will report to the Speaker as an officer of the Assembly for a two-year term. Responsibilities will include writing poetry, promoting art and literacy in the province, celebrating Ontario and its people and raising the profile of Ontario poets. Find out more

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In Memoriam The League of Canadian Poets has a large community that has stood strong for over 50 years. Over these past few months, the League has lost members and friends from the poetry community. We’d like to take this chance to remember Joe Blades, David Donnell, Daniel David Moses and Linda Stitt.

Joe Blades Joseph Wendell “Joe” Blades age 58, Fredericton, N.B., passed away April 22, 2020. Joe was the son of Wendell and Phyllis (Pieroway) Blades. He is survived by his mother; and sisters, Carol and Ruth (Mike Daye), and was predeceased by his father, just one month ago. He was born in Halifax, and was based in Fredericton, N.B., since 1990. He grew up in Elmsdale and Dartmouth, and also lived, studied, and/or worked in Delhaven, Halifax, and Port Hawksbury; Toronto,

Ont.; Montréal, Que.; Banff, Alta.; New York, N.Y.; Dumfries, Scotland; Senta, Serbia; and Pale, Republik Srpska. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Art (1988) from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, a Certificate in Film and Television (2008) from the New Brunswick Filmmakers’ Co-operative, and a Master of Education (2012) from the University of New Brunswick. Joe was a writer, artist, and publisher-president of independent literary publishing houses. He travelled extensively throughout Canada and Europe conducting poetry readings and creative writing workshops and took great joy from working with children and instilling in them a love of art and creativity through words. Joe will be sadly missed by family and friends across Canada and around the world. In honour of his memory, donations may be made to Nova Scotia Writers Federation or the charity of your choice. Cremation has taken place; a celebration of Joe’s life will be held at a later date. Personal condolences may be of fered through: www. yorkfh.com David Donnell David Donnell, master poet and dedicated teacher, lived and wrote most of his life in the Annex area of Toronto. He was born in St. Mary’s, Ontario in 1939, but after a few years in Galt (now part of

Cambridge), where his family had century-old roots, he and his parents moved to Toronto, where his literary career began. David’s early years in Toronto saw him involved with the League for Socialist Action, working along with the NDP. He worked for the City of Toronto Department of Roads and Traffic, wrote reviews for Canadian Art, and by 1970 his poetry and writings were widely anthologized in Canada and the USA. All through his life, David played an active role in important Toronto cultural events and gatherings.

The year he published his first book, Poems, 1961, David also managed Thursday evening readings at the Old Bohemian Embassy, a gathering place for poets such as Gwendolyn MacEwen, Margaret Atwood and Joe Rosenblatt, some of David’s friends and peers. The Idler Pub on Davenport Road was another popular venue where David often read his poetry, and his songs were performed at Toronto bars and at the Music Gallery. For many years David was an active member of the Canadian League

of Poets; he published both poems and reviews in journals such as Tamarack Review, Exile, Toronto Life, CVII, English Quarterly, The Montreal Gazette, Maclean’s, The Windsor Star, and Books In Canada. Among his awards were the Governor General’s Award for Poetry in 1983, for Settlements; the Today Canadian Comic Poem Award in 1981 (In Praise of Rutabagas) and the City of Toronto Book Award with China Blues, 1992. As an instructor at the University of Toronto School for Continuing Studies, York University, Bishop’s University, Humber College and Ryerson University, David taught, encouraged, and supported his students to write and publish to their best abilities. In 2010, he donated many of those papers to the U of T’s Thomas Fisher Rare Books Library. He also took poetry on tour as poet-in-residence, giving readings and workshops across Canada at universities, colleges, high schools, libraries, and art galleries. In his last years, David struggled with debilitating illness, yet remained positive in outlook and always passionate about Canadian poets and poetry. His poetry is accessible, pulsing with the realities of home, street and working life. And although David was, par excellence, an urban poet, he also immortalized the characters of his smalltown boyhood. Finally, David makes us laugh when we might least expect to!

His last book, Watermelon Kindness, contains the poem ‘Jaffa Oranges Are Sweet’, in which David weaves together his own family memories with a bucket list, references to contemporary sexual politics, and cultural commentary-all tinged with the gnawing sense of self-

doubt we feel at times. It ends with a poignant picture of the ‘city boy’ against a backdrop of urban development: “…

The cranes are flying & I’m eating strawberry cheesecake/at a little diner called Billy’s and I think confidence is just/ a question of what you’ve had for breakfast.” Chapeaux bas, David Donnell! A million thanks for your legacy of loving works! David is survived by his great friend Michelle Jennings, his sister, Nancy Kennedy of Cleveland, OH; three nieces and nephews: Sarah Gyorki of Cleveland, Matthew Kennedy of Vallejo, CA and Simon Kennedy of Boston, MA, and by two great-nephews and two great-nieces, one of whom is also a poet. Please send any donations in memoriam to The Canadian Writers’ Foundation at: www.canadianwritersfoundation.org Online condolences can be made at www.rosar-morrison.com Daniel David Moses Daniel David Moses (1952-2020) was a First Nations poet and playwright from Canada.

Moses was born in Ohsweken, Ontario, and raised on a farm on the Six Nations

of the Grand River near Brantford, Ontario, Canada. In 2003, Moses joined the department of drama at Queen’s University as an assistant professor. In 2019, he was appointed Professor Emeritus

by Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada. He had worked as an independent artist since 1979 as a poet, playwright, dramaturge, editor, essayist, teacher, and writer-in-residence with institutions as varied as Theatre Passe Muraille, the Banff Centre for the Arts, Theatre Kingston, the University of British Columbia, the University of Western Ontario, the University of Windsor, the University of Toronto, the Sage Hill Writing Experience, McMaster University and Concordia University. In 1974, Moses had his first poem published, and considered himself to be an independent, Toronto-based artist and poet by 1979. However, he soon added the following titles to his repertoire: playwright, dramaturge, editor, essayist, teacher, and artist-, playwright- or writer-in-residence with various institutions (Theatre Passe Muraille, the Banff Centre for the Arts, the University of British Columbia, the University of Western Ontario, the University of Windsor, the University of Toronto (Scarborough), the Sage Hill Writing Experience, McMaster University and Concordia University). He will be missed greatly by all those who knew him and interacted with his art and works.

Linda Stitt Poet and long running Song & Poetry Salon host Linda Stitt passed away on May 27, 2020 at the age of 88. She was beloved by a large community of singers

and writers.

Linda was born in Huntsville, Ontario March 6, 1932 and was educated in Georgetown and Toronto.

She lived for many years in Thunder Bay, returning to Toronto in 1978, working at a series of odd jobs until “forced� by friends to come out of the closet with her poetry in 1982.

She was a prolific talent and since then has published a great number of books of poetry (with another one on the way) and co-authored three others, and over the past many years frequently performed her poetry across the province.

She spent the best part of her life bringing other people together, being a catalyst for many poets, musicians, writers and artists. She enveloped every living soul in her aura of peace and friendship.

Her own art and poetry towered above the rest, yet she was humble and always had a word of encouragement for everyone else.

Her poetry was full of wit and whimsy

and insights of wisdom. Even till the very end, listening to Linda read her poetry was a delight - so entertaining and charming was her personality that you could hear a pin drop when she read her poems.

Glen Hornblast, musician and host of Song & Poetry Salon shared his thoughts about Linda below: What can I say about Linda Stitt? I was honoured to be her friend and compatriot, and even more honoured that she asked me to carry on her legacy of the song and poetry salons, which I will certainly try my best to do.

To all of us who mourn her, remember the gift of love and light that she gave to us all. I happen to know so many friends who have her books and keep them available on their night table. Linda was like a candle that lit so many other flames. I have never known anyone like her.

Linda is survived by her daughter Paula and her son Kim and daughter-in-law Jody.

As per her wishes Linda has been cremated and there will be no funeral service.

A celebration of her life will take place when it’s all safe for us to gather again.

In lieu of flowers, please honour her memory by being kind to one another.