Introducing You Break It You Buy It and Canadian Poet Lynn Tait

“Don’t judge a poet by her age or her eye-liner.” – Lynn Tait*

If I had to give Canadian poet Lynn Tait a nickname, I would call her the “cliché crusher”.

Back in June in a small Perth County, Ontario town called Mitchell, Tait walked on the stage and provided a sneak peek of her debut poetry collection You Break It You Buy It. Not only did she hold the audience’s attention with her wordplay and witty zingers, but she made people laugh.

Officially launching this September 2023 – You Break It You Buy It (Guernica Editions, 2023) by Lynn Tait

This autumn, more readers will get a chance to hear Tait read as she begins her official book tour with readings already scheduled for Whitby, Sarnia, Toronto, and London. (Scroll down this blog post for times and locations or check out the event section of my blog for future updates.)

According to Tait’s prestigious publisher Guernica Editions, “You Break It, You Buy It features poems about disconnection, misconnections: the loss of friendships and identity, our voice, our purpose. At its core, it is a collection of elegies railing against and dealing with toxic relationships, from fair-weather friends, controlling mothers to narcissists. These poems invite the reader into personal experiences, public observations, and the price we pay, positive and negative for our interactions with the media, our global and local conflicts, environmental challenges, the pandemic, the Me Too and Black Lives Matter movements. She writes about the dark underside of our lives with a sense of danger, humour and of hope for reconnection in the future with our community and our world.”

Coming Soon to London, ON – Black Mallard Poetry Series

Let’s dust off the microphones and bring out the sign-up sheets! Live poetry events are back!

If you love poetry and reside in or within driving distance to London, Ontario, Canada, mark your calendar for the first Wednesday of every month. There’s a new “live” poetry series being planned for this city and I’m expecting it to draw a crowd especially from those poets who have been patiently waiting for more literary events to return on a regular basis.

This new monthly series will spotlight two featured poets, followed by an open mic in which anyone can sign-up and share some work.

Black Mallard Poetry Series will spotlight two featured poets, followed by an open mic at Mykonos Restaurant, in their popular patio location on 572 Adelaide Street North. The event will run from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Admission is free. 

This week, I chatted with Black Mallard Poetry Series curator Andreas Gripp about some of his personal goals and his plans for this new series.

Andreas, I’m so glad that poetry events are returning to Mykonos Restaurant and that established and emerging poets will have a home to share their work in a welcoming environment. You’ve planned several literary events in the past, including the Mykonos Open Mic Poetry Series in 2019, the Red Lion Reading Series in Stratford in 2021, and more recently special event readings with other poets in the London area. Where did the idea for the new series come from, why did you decide to organize it, and where did the name Black Mallard come from? 

I thought there was a need for a locally-focused reading series here in London. There are so many talented poets in this area and as you may know, it’s not always easy getting invites to do a featured presentation. I originally thought of going with just one featured poet every month, then began thinking how many bards there are in this vicinity and decided to go with two a month, as well as have an open mic, which Mykonos, of course, was known for. Since the pandemic put a close to the last incarnation of the restaurant’s monthly series, I thought the timing to try another one was good, with all of us emerging from our covid cocoons. 

Several poets from London, who were first noticed reading at the Mykonos open mic, graduated to doing a featured spot, then had chapbooks and debut full-lengths published within a few years. I’m always excited to hear and read the work of a new poet I might not be familiar with yet—and this series will be a platform for that to continue. 

Back on the Literary Road Less Travelled

Hello? Is anyone out there in this vast digital world of #readers and #literary bloggers?  

It’s been a while, my absence from #writing.

The pandemic shut down many creative minds and places.

When I checked, it was over a year since I’ve sat in my office chair and written a blog post. Let’s say all the COVID restrictions, lockdowns, and negative news finally wore me down like the flattened lead in an old chewed-up pencil. 

Was anyone even listening or reading my posts anymore or were they just AI bots phishing for what? Ways to sell me products that I didn’t need.

Like a wilted dandelion, I aged and watched my grey roots take over until people no longer recognized me when I ventured outside my home. Oh, how I cheered when former CTV News Anchor Lisa LaFlamme stood firm in her decision to keep her grey locks. She paved the way for more women to embrace their age without succumbing to society’s obsession with youthful appearances.

And what a crazy journey, each of us were faced with in the last three years. So many stories of unexpected illnesses and deaths – family, friends, co-workers, and neighbours. Faced with mortality, grief, and the loss of community, some people wrote and wrote and wrote. Others, like me, lost their voices and pursued new creative outlets based on their long and once forgotten bucket lists.  

Goodbye computer screens. Hello sketch books.

I cleaned closets and downsized, found bags of wool and knitted hats and scarves for the homeless, made homemade cards, sketched, and coloured in my daughter’s old colouring books. 

Introducing Thimbles by Canadian Poet Vanessa Shields

“I saw the thimble on your finger but I didn’t know//you were our thimble.” – Vanessa Shields

I fell in love with Thimbles, the third and latest poetry collection by Canadian poet Vanessa Shields, while it was still an infant in PDF format.

Published by Palimpsest Press, Thimbles is the third and latest poetry collection by Canadian Poet Vanessa Shields.

Wow, such a raw and honest ravelling and unravelling of emotions. Such a heart-wrenching tribute to the late Maria Giuditta Merlo Bison, her loving, seamstress grandmother (or as the Italians would say Nonna).

As I slipped inside Shields’ imaginary sewing basket and learned more about her personal inter-generational love story, my appreciation for the book grew stronger!

Thumbs up!

In my opinion, it’s Shields’ best poetry collection to date. Even CBC Books recently listed it as one of the “55 Canadian poetry collections to check out in spring 2021”.

As I mentioned in my Goodreads review, her work not only explored a new maturity in subject matter but her use of the sewing and mountain themes and motifs beautifully stitched together the narrative thread of her 94 poems.

Embracing Books About Trees

“We need trees. They give us oxygen, wood, medicine, food, shelter, shade, paper –the list goes on and on.” –Dearborn Public Library; Dearborn Michigan*

When was the last time you hugged a tree? Admit it, during these pandemic on-again-off-again lockdowns, reading a good book or taking a quiet stroll through a tree-lined park often eased the emptiness from those missed social gatherings with family and friends. 

Forests have healing powers and that is one reason trees need to remain in good health for future generations.  On Sunday, March 21, 2021, concerned organizations and individuals with the help of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations celebrated International Day of Forests ( #IntlForestDay ). This year’s theme was “Forest restoration: a path to recovery and well-being.” For additional details, here is the link.

International Day of Forests was celebrated March 21, 2021.

I’m not much of an activist, but as a writer and a reader, I’ve been impressed by some of the tree-themed literary projects that have been organized and promoted over the years. The following books were not affiliated with International Day of Forests, but I wanted to draw attention to them.

TREE BOOKS – HOT OFF THE PRESS:

Tree Anthology edited by Henry Fischer, Nicole Lane, Kathryn Takach, and Dan Lodge (Dearborn Public Library 2021) 294 pages.

What a beautiful book. I am hugging this anthology now and I look forward to reading the variety of stories and poems written by 67 contributors ranging from the school aged youth to the retired young at heart. There is also a Picture-a-Tree section featuring striking black and white images taken during Michigan’s stay-at-home orders.

A Strong Collection – Sharon Berg’s Naming the Shadows – Stories

 “Don’t shake your head, shadow, I’m serious.” -Sharon Berg*

Canadian author/publisher/poet Sharon Berg* prefaces her short story collection Naming the Shadows (Porcupine’s Quill 2019) with a quote by C. G. Jung: “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”

Not everyone yearns to peer or dig deep into the darkness but for those readers who appreciate great literature and take the time to analyze the content in more detail, they shall be rewarded.

Naming the Shadows: Stories (Porcupine’s Quill 2019) by Sharon Berg ISBN 9780889844292 (softcover) was officially launched September 29, 2019 at The Book Keeper in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada.

Berg never flinches from tough subjects nor sugar-coats her work. She pushes boundaries and draws attention to such inequalities and injustices as betrayal and infidelity, bullying, manipulation, torture and assault, rape and sexual deviance, the exploitation of Midgets in a freak show, street living and abuse, theft and consequences, love lost and grief, adoption and single parenting, ageism, plus the heaviness of dark secrets and confessions. These are the shadows that Berg clearly names and wants to bring to light.

Throwback Saturday – The Love of Poetry Gathering 2020

somewhere between Arrivals and Departure/and Duty Free/we are grounded.* – K.V. Skene

Cancelled! Postponed! Grounded! Stay home! Stay safe! What is a lover of poetry to do?

Since March, due to the threat of COVID-19, Canadian literary and arts organizations have been banned from hosting public events or large gatherings. Non-essential travel has also been discouraged.

Prior to the cancellation of events due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Ontario Poetry Society held a members’ reading and open mic early February 2020 in North York, Ontario, Canada. Photo by Raj Moonsammy.

After two months of social distancing, The Ontario Poetry Society (TOPS) website still states, “No events are being planned during the Pandemic.” That means the May reading in Cobourg has been cancelled and it is still not known when poets will be allowed to publicly (or even privately) gather in large groups again.

Yesterday, I received my copy of Verse Afire, the bi-annual publication of TOPS and was reminded of The Love of Poetry Gathering held February 9, 2020 at the union social eatery in North York, Ontario, Canada. It brought back so many fond memories of reuniting with and hugging poet-friends as well as meeting new people who also love the genre of poetry.

Another Win for Toronto Poet Donna Langevin

I’ve learned to listen with my eyes. – Donna Langevin*

Try it! Listen with your eyes! If you read the back cover of The Banister Volume 34, an Ontario poetry anthology launched October 26, 2019 by the Niagara Branch of the Canadian Authors Association (CAA), you will be transformed by Donna Langevin’s award-winning and heart-felt words.

For example, imagine what it would be like to have trouble hearing: “I’ve lost the inner ear within my ear, the sea of sounds once filling up its shell – cathedral bells…echoes in the belfry.”  Such lines introduced her poem “Even With the Help of My Hearing Aids” which won first prize in the CAA’s 2019 poetry contest.

Congratulations to Toronto poet/playwright Donna Langevin who won first prize for her poem “Even With the Help of My Hearing Aids”.

It’s a poignant piece and contest judge Bruce Meyer praised it highly. In his comments (p. ix and x) he wrote that Langevin’s first place creation is “a beautifully crafted poem…The poet has a wonderful idea of what constitutes a poetic line, and within those lines, the poem connects, not by paltry simile but through the unison of image and language.”

Meyer also stated that “language [in a poem] should engage both the ear and the eye”.(p. ix)

Langevin’s work certainly does that and this poet has a habit of winning contests. One of her humourous poems, “The first time”, received an honourable mention while two more of her poems were also selected for the same anthology.  Two years earlier, she won second prize in the CAA’s 2017 Banister contest and in the 2014 GritLIT contest, plus she was short-listed for the Descant Winston Collins Prize 2012.

A few days ago, I chatted with Donna (via e-mail) about her recent win, her poetry books including Brimming (Piquant Press, 2019), her writing space, and her plans for the future. 

Supporting Sarnia-Lambton’s Literary Scene

“Create community wherever you find yourself.” – Audrey Stringer*

Sarnia-Lambton’s literary community continues to evolve.

Between 2010 and 2018, this southwestern Ontario region has lost seven key and prolific members of its literary community, a few others have moved to other areas, several more have vanished behind closed doors to write, read, or just mourn their loss of friends, family, pets, health, or job.

So many fond memories of Sarnia and area writers sharing their work at The Lawrence House Centre for the Arts.

However, despite the changes, several local writers continue to write and share their words with the public. Some are already well known; others are just making a name for themselves. Some are traditionally published while others have self-published their manuscripts. Over the years, I’ve featured several Sarnia-Lambton writers on my blog.

Today, I’m sharing a compilation of new and familiar writers who are in the literary spotlight this autumn. I hope you will help to celebrate their accomplishments with a loud standing ovation. (My apologies if I’ve missed anyone. Please send me a note in the comment’s section and I will make a note to feature them in an upcoming blog.)

Audrey Stringer’s Fourth Book has Arrived at The Book Keeper

111 Butterfly Moments: Tips to Embrace and Live Life with Joy.

‘Travelling The Lost Highway’ with Sarnia Writers Deahl & Linder

We awaken to distant thunder,/the sound of rain in the black walnut – James Deahl*

Three cheers and a thunderous applause for Sarnia’s literary couple James Deahl and Norma West Linder who continue to travel and entertain readers and audiences with their prolific work.

Norma West Linder – September 9, 2019

James Deahl – September 9, 2019

James Deahl and Norma West Linder are prolific award-winning Canadian writers who call Sarnia, Ontario, Canada their home. Both launched new work on September 9, 2019.

Last month, their double book launch officially introduced Travelling The Lost Highway, Deahl’s 164-page poetry collection inspired by some of the secluded Canadian and American roads Deahl and Linder travelled as a couple plus Perk’s First Love– A 1984 Drum Corps Summer, Linder’s fictional novel aimed at the youth or young adult market.

 The double book launch featured more than just two books.

Both shared their work at the literary celebration which also included readings by four contributors to Tamaracks and Lummox anthologies. Guest readers were Joseph A. Farina, Ryan Gibbs, David Haskins, and Rhonda Melanson.

The launch included readings by Joseph A. Farina, Norma West Linder, David Haskins, James Deahl, Ryan Gibbs, and Rhonda Melanson.