March 2019 RCLAS Wordplay at Work, Issue 62

2019 RCLAS Write On! Contest Judges (2018 First Place Winners)

Claire Lawrence has been published in Canada, the United States, United Kingdom and India. Her work has been performed at the National Gallery, UK, and on BBC radio. Claire’s work has appeared in numerous publications including Geist, Litro, Ravensperch, Brilliant Flash Fiction, Curating Alexandria and Bangalore Review. Her creative non-fiction appeared in Just for Canadian Doctors Lifestyle Magazine. Claire Lawrence has a number of prize winning stories, including winning RCLAS Write On Fiction Contest 2018. She was nominated for the 2016 Pushcart Prize. Her goal is to write and publish in all genres. She lives in British Columbia, Canada.

Jude Goodwin’s poems and prose have been published in print and online by various journals and anthologies. They have won or placed well in the IBPC: New Poetry Voices competition, were twice shortlisted in the CBC Radio Literary Awards, and were recent winners in the 2018 RCLAS Write On Poetry Prize and the 2018 Jack Grapes Poetry Prize.

Jude is a founding member of the Squamish Writers Group, founder and co-editor of The Waters, an online poetry workshop and founder and co-editor of the Sea to Sky Review. Jude is currently pursuing a degree in Creative Writing with Douglas College. Her first chapbook, The Night Before Snow, was published in the fall of 2018.

Jennifer M. Smith is an offshore sailor and a writer. She writes essays and memoir in short stories. Her work has been published in print in The Globe and Mail and Canadian Stories, and on line on Feminine Collective, CommuterLit, Scottish Book Trust, Quick Brown Fox and 50Word Stories. Her work won first prize for non-fiction in the 2018 Royal City Literary Arts Society Write On Contest. She currently lives a landlife in Burlington, Ontario.

As well as being the President of RCLAS, Alan Hill is the Poet Laureate of the City of New Westminster, Canada.

He has been published in over forty literary magazines and periodicals across Europe and North America and has published four books of poetry. He originates from the west of England. He came to live in Canada after meeting his Vietnamese-Canadian wife while working in Botswana.

Alan is dedicated to making literature accessible for all, working to ensure we all have the chance to tell our stories and improve our writing skills.

For Alan, being on the board of RCLAS is a great pleasure and honour. It is truly a team effort and Alan enjoys and is committed to the partnerships and skill sharing that will take us all forward.

Email: alanhill@rclas.com IG alan_hillpoet FaceBook Alan Hill - New Westminster Poet Laureate

Carol is a late in life writer who embraces life-long learning. She returned to university in her sixties and recently graduated from Kwantlen Polytechnic University with a Creative Writing degree. Her current writing project is a mixed genre manuscript based on her father’s life and the too short life of his birth mother. The work explores how our pasts shadow us.

Writing Life: Carol has had several poems and a short story published in KPU’s Pulp Magazine.

Professional Life: -

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27 years at Fraser Valley College/The University College of the Fraser Valley (now University of the Fraser Valley o 17 years in Employee Relations o 10 years as Director of Facilities Services.

3 years at Baker, Newby and Company, Chilliwack: legal secretary

Academic Life: -

SFU, BA – focus on psychology and business admin although no major RRU, MA – Leadership and Training – focus on managing change KPU, BA – Creative Writing

Volunteer Life: -

Big Sister, Chilliwack, BC United Way, Chilliwack, BC – Served as Board member and Chair Correctional Services of Canada – Facilitator for inmate writing program at Pacific Institution, Abbotsford, BC Royal City Literary Arts Society – Board Member/Treasurer caroljohnson@rclas.com

Personal Life: -

Completed Sun Run for first time at age 60 Enjoys overseas travel with her husband Wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother – absolutely the best time of her life

Janet Kvammen is the Vice-President and a founding member of the Royal City Literary Arts Society.

An active volunteer on the New Westminster arts scene, Janet has hosted many local reading groups and open mics, in addition to coordinating hundreds of events during her six years with RCLAS. She is the graphic designer/publisher of the RCLAS online magazine, Wordplay at work. This is her 62nd issue.

Poetry is her great passion. She has been published in many poetry anthologies and she hopes to find the time to realise her dream of being published in a book of her own.

A mixed media and lens-based artist, she is the Vice-President of New West Artists. She has discovered a new passion working with inks, and plans to continue to experiment, create and play with new mediums. Photography is one of her favourite art practices and something she enjoys on a daily basis.

She has won awards for both her poetry, and photography and was the recipient of a 2016 Nehru Humanitarian Award.

Email: janetkvammen@rclas.com IG @janetkvammen and @newwestrocks Facebook PlanetJanet Creations

A Different Kind of Doctor

by Jerena Tobiasen

The morning was a flurry of activity as mommy rushed to organize Sofia, doing all those things that had to be done before leaving home, including washing, dressing, eating breakfast, brushing teeth, putting treasures in her backpack.

Finally, they were out the door, wending their way to mommy’s lovely yellow car. Sofia could spot it anywhere. Every yellow car that drove passed was mommy’s car. Sometimes, it was a little confusing when Sofia was actually in mommy’s car and another yellow car went by. They were sister cars, Sofia explained to mommy.

Mommy told Sofia that today was special. She had an appointment to have her hair done. Sofia was going to spend the day with Grandma. The little girl loved spending time with her grandma. They always did fun things. Sofia wiggled with excitement as mommy fastened the straps of the car seat.

The drive to Grandma’s home was quick and Grandma was at the door to greet her. After she and Grandma waved good-bye to mommy, Grandma explained that she had to visit the eye doctor. Sofia knew what a doctor was. She had been to many doctors, but she wasn’t certain

about an eye doctor. She wondered whether the doctor would put a band-aid on Grandma’s eye.

Sofia had never been to an optometrist before. She didn’t know what that word meant, but she knew she was in the right place for an eye doctor, because she saw shelf after shelf of eye glasses. She imagined that mommy and daddy had shopped there.

Sofia was a little shy until a nice lady showed her where the story books were. She selected one book about Nemo and Dory and another about Peter Rabbit. She tried to read the books, but so many things were happening in the eye store. People were coming and going, some disappeared into little rooms, others were taking eye glasses from the shelf and trying them on like clothes. So many things to see.

Sofia held the story books gently and waited on a bench next to Grandma. When a lady called her grandma, they followed her into a room with some very big machines in it. Grandma had to sit on a chair with wheels, put her chin on a bar and look into a hole with one eye.

Then, she wiggled the chair, and looked into the hole with the other eye.

Sofia held the books and stood next Grandma, watching.

A few minutes later, the lady led Grandma and Sofia into ‘exam room two’. Sofia sat on a chair and looked around the room, amazed at what she saw. Grandma didn’t sit with her. Grandma sat in a big black chair, next to another machine that was bigger than Grandma. Grandma called Sofia to her and showed the little girl how to look at a giant letter ‘K’ on the wall over Grandma’s head. Sofia was confused. The letter was backwards. Grandma told her to turn around and look in a mirror as big as a wall. Sofia saw another ‘K’, but it was the right way around. So many things to see!

A quiet knock on the door to ‘exam room two’ surprised Sofia and she scurried back onto her chair as the doctor came into the room. He said hello to her, but she was too shy to speak. She didn’t know him.

The doctor and Grandma talked a little bit, then the doctor moved part of the big machine. When he stepped out of the way, Grandma had changed. Grandma, you’re a robot!” Sofia exclaimed.

“Yes, she is,” the doctor said. “And, she has laser eyes. Would you like to see your grandma’s laser eyes?”

Sofia sat up straight on the chair and nodded her head.

In that moment, Sofia heard a loud noise and bright, blinding light shot out of robot Grandma’s eyes. “Grandma!” Sofia said. “You have robot eyes!”

“I do indeed,” Grandma said with a smile.

Robot Grandma and the doctor talked for a long time about “the first one” or “the second one”, and used words like ‘blurry’ and ‘sharp’. Sofia didn’t understand them. She only knew that her grandma had robot eyes that zapped bright light. She lay down on the chair, looking at the ceiling and wondering if she would ever be a robot.

By the time the door into the hallway was opened, robot Grandma had disappeared. Sofia didn’t understand how the doctor could turn her

grandma into a robot, and she was glad that he had turned her back to normal. She would never forget that her grandma was turned into a robot and shot bright, blinding light out of her eyes.

Grandma waited while Sofia returned the unread story books, then took her hand and led her out of the eye store. Sofia’s mind spun with amazement. The eye doctor had said that when she was three years old, she could go to the eye store and be a robot just like Grandma. She could hardly wait to see the look on mommy’s face!

----------------------------------------- A Different Kind of Doctor copyright Jerena Tobiasen

Thanks to featured author Aislinn Hunter for a wonderful evening!

Tellers of Short Tales, March 14, 2019 with Board Members Carol Johnson & Janet Kvammen

Upcoming Events – March/April 2019 Info: secretary@rclas.com

Please watch for event updates and news via our website, and social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram)

WRITE ON! CONTEST 2019

Open For Submissions RCLAS Write On! Contest 2019 Call for Submissions Important Dates: • Deadline April 1, 2019 • Winners will be announced April 30, 2019 3 Categories: o Non-Fiction (1500 words max) o Fiction (1500 words max) o Poetry (1 page single spaced max)

https://rclas.com/awards-contests/write-on-contest/

RCLAS presents “In Their Words: A Royal City Reading Series” Date: Thursday, March 21, 2019 Time: 6:00pm – 8:00pm, Free admission Location: Anvil Centre, Rm 411A Host: Ruth Kozak Three Feature Presenters: Isabella Mori reads Thomas King (Indigenous writer) Ana Thomassen reads C.S. Lewis Deborah White reads Jane Austen Description: In Their Words happens on the 3rd Thursday of every other month.

Feature speakers present their favourite author from any genre in poetry, fiction, non-fiction or drama. Presentations include a brief commentary about the author and a reading of selections that exemplify what the presenter loves about the author’s work. A short Q&A follows each presenter.

Are you interested in being a reader at “In Their Words”?

Would you like to find out more?

Email a quick note to Ruth Kozak at wynnbexton2@gmail.com

RCLAS presents: “Fit to Print and Fold: a Chapbook Workshop” Facilitator: Kevin Spenst Date: Saturday March 23, 2019 Time: 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm Location: Anvil Centre, Rm 411A Close to New West Skytrain Station. Wheelchair Accessible.

Workshop Fees: RCLAS Members $15/Non-members $25 plus an additional $12 cash for chapbook supplies payable at workshop.

Pre-register at secretary@rclas.com Workshop Payment available online: https://rclas.com/workshops/ Description: A chapbook can be an important stage as you move towards the publication of a larger manuscript or it can constitute an end unto itself as a unique process and vehicle of expression.

In this three-hour workshop, participants will explore a variety of individual and group writing exercises designed to create new poetry and prose.

After experimenting with prompts along with a variety of writing materials, participants will explore some of the diverse forms that chapbooks can take.

In the last part of the class, we’ll cut, paste, fold and collage uniquely conceived chapbooks that give full expression to the heart of your writing.

Bring your favourite pen or pencil, a playful spirit, and get ready to witness your words transformed into books.

Bio: Kevin Spenst is the author of Ignite, Jabbering with Bing Bong, (both with Anvil

Press), and over a dozen chapbooks including Pray Goodbye (the Alfred Gustav Press), Ward Notes (the serif of nottingham) and most recently Upend (Frog Hollow Press).

His work has won the Lush Triumphant Award for Poetry, been nominated for both the Alfred G. Bailey Prize and the Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry, and has appeared in dozens of publications including, the Malahat Review, Prairie Fire, CV2, the Rusty Toque, BafterC, Lemon Hound, and the anthology Best Canadian Poetry 2014. In 2020, a third full-length book of poetry will be coming out with Anvil Press.

RCLAS presents “Tellers of Short Tales” Feature Author: Sharon McInnes Host: Alan Hill Date: Thursday April 4, 2019 Time: 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm, Free admission.

Location: Anvil Centre, Rm #413A Close to Skytrain. Wheelchair accessible.

Come to listen! Bring a friend!

Bring a short story to share on Open Mic. Description: A program of monthly readings designed to engage fans of the short story genre with emerging and published short story writers.

Bio Across a Narrow Strait, Sharon McInnes’ debut novel, was released in October 2018. Sharon is also the author of Up Close & Personal: Confessions of a Backyard Birder, a compilation of columns written for The Flying Shingle when she lived on Gabriola Island from 2007 to 2018. She’s a guest author for Bird Canada and has had articles and essays published in various magazines and newspapers. Her personal essay, The Formative Years, was included in Writing the West Coast: Artful Identities, by Key Publishing House in 2012.

Sharon is a past board member of the Federation of BC Writers and is on the board of the North Shore Writer’s Association. These days she lives, happily, next door to the North Vancouver City library, where she is working on a series of short stories and taking notes for a memoir.

RCLAS Writing Workshop: “Exploring the Poetry of Place” Facilitator: Alan Hill Date: Saturday April 13, 2019 Time: 1:30pm – 3:30pm Location: Anvil Centre, 4th Floor Close to New West Skytrain Station.

Wheelchair Accessible.

Workshop Fees: RCLAS Members $15/Non-members $25 Payment available online https://rclas.com/workshops/ Pre-register at secretary@rclas.com Description: Come and explore and experience the power of writing about the significant places in your life. Create poetry that explores significant locations that are important to you and your life in our community. Improve your poetry writing skills and find out more about your City and the places that are important to the people that live here. Maybe that important place is your local park, store, café or historic site, or maybe it is a place that is much more personal to you? Come and share, create and learn.

Poetry of place is poetry which values locales, which sees and lets the reader experience what makes a place unique amongst places. Much contemporary poetry focuses on psychological states, feelings, intellectual concepts, or language play totally devoid of reference to the real, lived, sensually experienced and infinitely varied physical world. Poetry of place may focus on such interior subjects, but it lets us experience them more profoundly and more authentically because they’re rooted in a specific time and place.

Bio: Alan Hill is the Poet Laureate of the City of New Westminster and RCLAS President. Alan is the author of The Narrow Road to the Far West: Travelling New Westminster by Postcard (Silver Bow Publishing 2018). He has published three collections of poetry in addition to being published in over forty literary magazines and periodicals across Europe and North America.

...and a reminder for all the poets and lovers of poetry:

“Poetic Justice/Poetry New West” Sunday Afternoons (except Holiday Weekends) Time: 2:00pm – 4:00pm, Free admission.

Location: The Heritage Grill, Backstage Room, 447 Columbia St, New West Description: Two Featured poets and Open Mic. For information visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/poeticjusticepnw/ and https://www.facebook.com/groups/215251815176114/ Email poeticjusticepnw@gmail.com

WATCH FOR UPCOMING National Poetry Month Events and more including Cat Musings Open Mic and Blue Pencil Sessions with Poet Laureate Alan Hill starting in mid-April at New West Artists Gallery, 712C 12th Street, New Westminster

WORDPLAY AT WORK FEEDBACK & E-ZINE SUBMISSIONS

Janet Kvammen, RCLAS Vice-President/E-zine janetkvammen@rclas.com OR secretary@rclas.com

RCLAS Members Open Call for Submissions No theme required to submit.

Submit Word documents WITH YOUR NAME and Title on document to Janet Kvammen, RCLAS Vice-President/E-zine Email janetkvammen@rclas.com

Poetry, Short Stories, Book excerpts, articles & lyrics are all welcome for submission to future issues of Wordplay at work.

Thank you to our Sponsors & Venues 

City of New Westminster

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Anvil Centre

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Arts Council of New Westminster

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New Westminster Public Library

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The Network Hub

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The Heritage Grill

See upcoming events at www.rclas.com

Instagram @royalcitylit March 2019 Wordplay at work ISSN 2291- 4269 Contact: janetkvammen@rclas.com RCLAS Vice-President/ E-zine