PoetryTag

Writing the same poem as everyone else, over and over

If you’re in Southern Ontario you might have spent last week soaking in the sun, switching from sweatpants to shorts, and strolling along a river, lake, stream, etc. I walked along my usual path around ...

"My Poetry isn’t Mine to Define to You, My Friend" Ayomide Bayowa on His Masterful Debut Collection, Gills

Mississauga poet laureate Ayomide Bayowa's full length debut Gills (Wolsak & Wynn) is a lyric, thoughtful exploration of the immigrant experience, the insurmountable challenges of economic inequality ...

Love Poems in the Wild

Moments of love from photos in my camera roll from 2020-present. 1. A heart-shaped piece of limestone from Elora Quarry2. Chalk graffiti reading "Love is the only engine of survival"3. Love Song from ...

Cool-down Time

There’s a third part to the poetry tour series. This post doesn’t have resources or logistical advice, but rather on how to survive the way a book tour suddenly occupies huge parts of your life.In ...

Poetry Tours: Funding

Last time on the WIR blog, I talked about tips for planning a poetry tour, including tips on building a tour from existing events. In this post, I hope to share some resources on funding a poetry tour, ...

Read an Excerpt from Richard Sanger's Final Poetry Collection, Way to Go

Facing a terminal diagnosis, poet, playwright, and translator Richard Sanger had to decide how to use his final days – and how he felt about the end. In time, he decided to do what he'd been doing ...

Vera Constantineau on the Haibun Form & Finding Poetry in Buddhism's 108 Defilements

While Catholicism has its seven deadly sins, Buddhism gets a lot more specific, with a whopping 108 temptations that practitioners seek to avoid. Alternatively translated as impurities, vexations, or ...

Poetry Month Starts Strong with a Massive Increase for the Newly Renamed Latner Griffin Writers’ Trust Poetry Prize

A surprise announcement from the Writers' Trust of Canada today contained some good news for Canadian poets, just in time for National Poetry Month: The former Latner Writers’ Trust Poetry Prize, awarded ...

Poetry Tours: Planning

Planning a book tour is a lot of work, and it’s the kind of work I dread the most. Events are unpredictable. You can plan and plan, but factors like weather, health, money, and so many others can come ...

Poetry as Joy: A Retrospective and Introduction

April in Ontario is unpredictable. There can be warmer days to soak up the sun by a river, or ice storms to coat everything with a perfect translucent film. In any case, April feels ideal for poetry—the ...