PoetryTag

"All Language is Your Playground" Poet Otoniya J. Okot Bitek on Chance Encounters and the Power of Poetry

In her new collection, decorated poet Otoniya J. Okot Bitek plays with form and expectation, rewriting history both colonial and literary. A Is for Acholi (Wolsak & Wynn) sees Okot Bitek rewriting ...

On Shooting Stars and Poetry as Fuel

To live at all is to grieve;but, once, to have it all at onceis to see a shooting star: shooting starshooting star.Arthur Sze (From Shooting Star) I read a poem every morning. Not because I have a pile ...

Insomniable Grief

Many moons have fallen this way since last did I stand here,the stairwell yawning before me,my naked feet cold and full of pain in the night surrounding meand beneath me gaping back an ocean brackishly ...

Remembering Steven Heighton and the Vancouver 125 Poetry Conference

One of the jokes I have with myself is that my first exposure to the public world of poetry was so traumatizing that I had no choice but to accommodate what I saw, however subconsciously. Ten years ago, ...

Aanii, Boozhoo, hello, hi there and do you speak my language

Language of the day is all about decolonization or re-indigenization and I watch the conversations taking place all over the place by Nish and non-Nish alike discussing points of view on the subject. ...

Ann Shin and Bardia Sinaee Win Big at the 35th Annual Trillium Book Awards

Yesterday, the evening saw writers and publishers gathered at Toronto's historic Arcadian Court to honour the finalists and winners of the 2022 Trillium Book Awards. Ontario Creates, the body which runs ...

In All Fairness Though

In all fairness though, and this is something that I've had thoughts about for a great long time, conflicted ones at best so I'm sure some of what I'm writing about I'll get wrong. Yesterday I wrote that ...

I Love it When a Plan Comes Together

I don't know what other writers' process is so I've no idea if this will be unique or interesting, but this would be mine. It's evolved over the years because I like to imagine that I've grown as an individual ...

Douglas Kearney and Tolu Oloruntoba Win the 2022 Griffin Poetry Prizes

This morning, the Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry announced via video stream that acclaimed American poet Douglas Kearney is the International winner of the Griffin Poetry Prize and West Coast-based ...

Indigenous, Aboriginal, Indian, Native canadian and being a poet

So the challenge in being Nish and a writer or graphic novelist and I imagine anything creative that brings your work into the public light is being asked to represent the opinions of your people on stuff ...