Poetry London Presents Nicole Brossard – Lecture-rencontre avec Nicole Brossard
Wednesday October 23rd, 2019 – Mercredi, le 23 octobre 2019
We are incredibly fortunate to host legendary writer Nicole Brossard for a bilingual (French/English) poetry reading on Wednesday October 23rd. You won’t want to miss this event! – Un événement bilingue (français/anglais) organisé par Poetry London Gratuit, en accès libre.
- Landon Branch Library at 167 Wortley Rd
- Readings 7:00-8:30pm • Workshop 6:00-7:00pm
- Lecture-rencontre, de 19h à 20h30
- Atelier, de 18h à 19h (en anglais)
- Free admission
Join our 6:00pm pre-reading workshop (in Landon Library’s basement) to discuss work by the evening’s poets, and bring your own poem too; original work will be discussed as time allows. All welcome!
Atelier (discussion et échange de poèmes), de 18h à 19h (en anglais). Pour toute question, contactez-nous: poetrylondon.ca@gmail.com
Finding Pleasure in Ubiquity: A Review of Emma Healey’s Stereoblind
by Amelia Eqbal
To read Emma Healey’s latest collection of poems is to feel as though you are stealing glimpses into the pages of your older sister’s diary, with all the affection and curiosity that simile conveys and none of the questionable ethics involved. The title of the collection, Stereoblind, refers to the inability to perceive depth – a deceptive title as there is much depth to be perceived within Healey’s poetry. Her unwavering voice unravels the realities of living in Toronto, working as a professional writer, and being a millennial woman in a pitiless world all while peppering in moments of humor and magic so that you can never quite predict what awaits you on each page.
The narrative structure of Stereoblind serves up Healey’s poetic account of life in snapshots. It’s rare that Healey uses the full page; the majority of her prose poems don’t extend past the top half. Arranging these bite-sized pieces in this way effectively keeps the reader flipping from page to page, creating a pace and sense of urgency that mirrors the one we find in the speaker’s mind, which similarly jumps from memory to memory, worry to worry, lament to lament. Her poems are arranged in symphonies, so to speak, with new movements filling the intervening pages: where there is a titled poem, there will follow a stretch of stanzas from that poem in the ensuing pages, encouraging the reader to puzzle out where one poem/thought/experience ends and the next begins. These suites of poems present a uniquely fragmented narrative structure, one that teases out the anxieties living both between and within the lines of the collection.
The first poem of the collection, “Flat Earth,” stands out as a sort of manifesto for today’s millennial, who is wise to how generations before them made the world what it is today but is too exhausted to push back. Healey puts words to the plight of her peers trying to build careers: “Every morning in dark with the birdsong and buzzsaw we wake and are not paid enough to build things.” However, she infuses a little hope as she continues: “Still, we climb and daylight climbs with us.” This is a speaker who knows that “Power lies in definitions,” and yet can still admit that “It hurts and is a privilege to know the world for what it truly is.” She continues to expose the whole truth of modernity throughout the collection, such as when she conveys the anatomy of her anxiety on page 24. Mirroring the rapid onset of a panic attack, Healey puts her stream of consciousness to paper as she goes from examining the “punishing multiplicity of hummus” at the grocery store to the sense that “something endless and dark wants its way through me” within a single line.
The author’s preoccupation with the passage of time and all things fleeting permeates the text as we revisit her personal history. The piece “Here and Now” plays with meta-poetry as the author thinks back to her first published collection and the writing process leading up to its debut. Her reflections on this period of her life play with temporalities – although the title refers to the present, the poem looks to the past (from the future) while also thinking about the future. At the same time, her repetition of the words “past”, “present” and “future” within this poem refer back and forth to each other, in themselves playing with the reader’s notions of memory and time. Later in “Here and Now,” Healey acknowledges that time is malleable when she writes: “I want to make something that climbs, pivots, arranges, a way to work the past against the present and reverse them both. I want to tell you history is nothing – that sometimes when you’re alone and walking in the city, it could be any year.” She reminds readers of this practice throughout the collection, whether she’s contemplating “the city’s smallest places, breathing in centuries of dust, trying to imagine a future underground” or the demise and renewal of Ontario Place.
In Stereoblind, Emma Healey lays out her spellbinding take on life itself. These poems give voice to life’s most ubiquitous moments, making even the sleepiest segments of CBC Radio seem poetic. Fraught with tension and relatability, this book feels akin to a long-awaited letter from an old friend. With this collection, Healey establishes herself as a voice for this generation, inviting you into her world with a measured sense of control, telling us only what she wants us to know about her without ever sounding guarded, and reminding us that every moment is fleeting.
Poetry London Presents Emma Healey & Jason Dickson
Wednesday September 18th, 2019
Join Poetry London on Wednesday September 18th for a reading by poet Emma Healey and poet Jason Dickson.
Before feature poets, local opener Gabrielle Drolet will read at our event! Gabi is a poet/journalist & Student-Writer-in-Residence at Western.Join our 6:00pm pre-reading workshop (in Landon Library’s basement) to discuss work by the evening’s poets, and bring your own poem too; original work will be discussed as time allows. All welcome!
- Landon Branch Library at 167 Wortley Rd
- Readings 7:00-8:30pm • Workshop 6:00-7:00pm
- Free admission
Conversation with Emma Healey for Poetry London
NEW: Poetry London’s 2019-2020 Season
Poetry London is delighted to announce the readers for its upcoming 16th season. We look forward to seeing you at these events!
- September 18th, 2019: Emma Healey / Jason Dickson
- October 23rd, 2019: Nicole Brossard
- November 20th, 2019: Deanna Young / Joshua Whitehead
- January 22nd, 2020: Dale Smith / Kirby
- February 26th, 2020: Gillian Sze / Doyali Islam
- March 25th, 2020: Mary di Michele / Susan Gillis
- April 22nd, 2020: Lucas Crawford / D.A. Lockhart
Questions? Email us at poetrylondon[dot]ca[at]gmail[dot]com
Help Celebrate Poetry London’s 15th Anniversary on May 15th, 2019!
Join Poetry London on Wednesday May 15th for a celebration of our 15th 
Anniversary! This catered event will feature special guest Cornelia Hoogland, stories about the development and history of Poetry London, and readings by members of the Poetry London community!
Landon Branch Library at 167 Wortley Rd
Refreshments/mingling: 6:00-7:00pm • Readings 7:00-8:30pm
Free admission • All welcome!
Announcing 2019 Poetry London Contest Winning Poets
We’re pleased to announce the winners of our 2019 Poetry Contest judged by Canisia Lubrin. Thanks Canisia for being the judge and to all contestants for submitting a poem!
• 1st Prize: “Recycling Humanity” by Kayla Skinner
Recycling Humanity by Kayla Skinner
The river is almost empty,
just a leaking sponge that has absorbed all of the city’s problems.
Every now and then it coughs up receipts from the people that didn’t have time to make
dinner at home,
spits out syringes from the people that didn’t eat at all.
Yesterday’s meal: a bottle of Olde English and a torn pair of sneakers.
Dessert was a mother trying to stare at her reflection but only a murky silhouette looked
back.
Her child, mirroring her image, tossed crumbs to the ducks that floated along the bank.
His light smile blows away with the breeze realizing his pockets are empty.
Nothing left to give back to the river; nothing left to trade for the stories his mother has
shared,
or so he thought.
Today, an Olde English bottle rests upon a desk, housing an assortment of pens.
Somewhere, a man walks in patched up sneakers and with a pocket full of crumbs.
• 2st Prize: “No Words” by Kelly McConnell
No Words by Kelly McConnell
For my son, age 2
no words
plucked from this infinite keyboard staccato
from the splayed fingers of ink
covering gasps of white pages
can explain the vastness of the ocean
to a tadpole
no way
to chew and swallow the wholeness of absence
the throat-gouging edges of loss
with a mouth tender like moth wings
with teeth just small seeds
alphabet letters planted in the gums
draw in sunlight through his laughter
will it ever be enough
to germinate syllables and symbols
that can twine around his breath
and bear the true weight
of life and death?
• 3st Prize: “Abyss” by Isabella Kennedy
Abyss by Isabella Kennedy
Hidden in the underbelly
of a rotten wharf, my body is dead
weight. My hair, a slimy mess
of rope. My legs, chains
in this stagnant sea.
Your voice crawls
over the broken glass rocks,
over the swollen wood panels, peers
into the dregs of the Pacific
and here I am
a crude mask, face afloat
staring up at the storm.
you whisper into the water:
take off the mask
tell me about it
my ears hear the cloth-stuffed
scream of metal ground against metal—
the handle of my empty pail
hanging from a pillar
like the flag of my depression
half-mast in the wind.
One day you will rise
from this incubation in the mud water
wet like baptism
on the soft tongue of a cracked clam shell—
but Sister, I am drowning
in this marina’s mouth. Swallowed,
sinking like sewage
away from the surface
away from the sky
away from you.
I won’t rise from this
abyss.
Poetry London Presents Canisia Lubrin & Jack Davis
Wednesday April 17th, 2019
Join Poetry London on Wednesday March 17th for a reading by poet Canisia Lubrin and poet Jack Davis.
Join our 6:30pm pre-reading workshop (in Landon Library’s basement) to discuss work by the evening’s poets, and bring your own poem too; original work will be discussed as time allows. All welcome!
Landon Branch Library at 167 Wortley Rd
Readings 7:30-8:45pm • Workshop 6:30-7:30pm (in the basement)
Door prizes • Free admission
A Walk in the Woods with Jack Davis: A Review of Faunics
By Amelia Eqbal, Poetry London Student Representative
Jack Davis is no stranger to nature. Not only is he a northern Ontario native and current resident of Parry Sound, but he has also spent ten summers operating a remote fire lookout post in the northernmost Alberta wilderness. Getting up close and personal with the environment for all that time has given him a unique perspective on the natural world; it has also given him a lot of time to put it down in writing. Davis’ love of the natural world and the animals that inhabit it cannot help but shine through in his debut poetry collection, Faunics.
Davis’ poetry gives you the sense that he really sees the world around him wholly and completely for what it is, in a way that few others can; his knowledge of the natural world, and quite simply his world view, are imbued in every line and syllable.This collection reads almost as a field guide or a bible; he offers an intimate picture of the environment that in turn leaves the reader with a fresh perspective on the natural world, a renewed desire to see it for themselves in this new light. In between the lines you can imagine the experiences it took to get this intimate knowledge – the camping weekends and canoe trips, the hikes up mountains, the walks along rivers and runs through forests.
This poetry collection is a linguistic feast. Indeed, the title even seems to harken back to primary school phonics classes, where we as children learned about language and grammar for the first time. With this poetry collection, however, Davis schools us all over again, challenging us to broaden our vocabulary and open our eyes to the world around us. In the opening poem, “Listening,” his use of alliteration draws attention to every single syllable; to quote the poet himself, we as the reader are “made to / make / some sense / from sound.”
It is clear from the beginning that Davis has put a lot of thought into each word choice; his economical style requires him to make every word count. In this same vein, the sparseness of Davis’ writing allows his peculiar word choices to stand out. The words he chooses are simple for the most part, which leaves the reader with the impression that there is more to this poetry than meets the eye. He shows off the breadth of his vocabulary with words like “feuilletons,” “deckled,” and “laconic.” Such word choices that reach beyond the realm of his simpler bits of text effectively draw the reader out of the poem in order to understand their full meaning; and yet, at the same time, readers find themselves drawn further into the natural world Jack Davis describes because of these thorough and unorthodox depictions.
Perhaps the most notable quality of this collection is the way in which the poet has seemingly curated each and every poem to ensure the way it is displayed on the page is reflective of the piece itself. Because of the sparse nature of his poetry, Davis has the leeway to play around with how his words are arranged on the page. He spaces out his words, creating shapes and patterns of flow reminiscent of shore lines, tides, gusts of wind, and even craters (quite literally with “The Brent Crater”). In playing around with the order and aesthetic of his words on the page, Davis makes the experience of reading his poetry akin to that of stumbling through a wood, as you try to follow his words up, down and around the page; likewise, this manipulation of the reader’s line of sight feels reminiscent of how one’s head would swivel to take in one’s surroundings when hiking through a forest. His use of line and stanza as poetic devices in of themselves feels fresh.
Jack Davis’ stunning debut collection offers a beautiful new perspective on the natural world most of us take for granted. He re-writes the characters of creatures like mice and birds, and makes nature and her tendencies feel more magical and full of promise than readers may perceive at first glance.
Poetry London Presents Arleen Paré & E Martin Nolan
Wednesday March 20th, 2019
Join Poetry London on Wednesday March 20th for a reading by novelist and poet Arleen Paré and poet, essayist and editor E Martin Nolan.
Poetry London’s 2019 Open Theme Poetry Contest
Deadline EXTENDED! noon on Saturday March 16th, 2019
Submit your best work to Poetry London’s 2019 Open Theme poetry contest, judged by acclaimed Canadian poet Canisia Lubrin!
Rules/regulations: Submit no more than 40 lines on any topic, in any style. All poems must be original work that has not been published anywhere else. Email your work (along with your phone number and complete mailing address) to poetrylondon.ca@gmail.com as a DocX or PDF file. You must live (or attend school) in London, ON (and area) to enter the contest. Winning poets will have their poems published on the Poetry London website and will read their work live at our April 17th, 2019 Poetry London event!
First prize: $100 Second prize: $75 Third Prize: $50
Poetry London Presents
Susan Elmslie & Dane Swan
Wednesday February 20, 2019
Join Poetry London on Wednesday February 20th for a reading by Montreal-based poet Susan Elmslie and Toronto-based poet Dane Swan.
Opening for our feature readers will be local poet Jennifer Wenn.
The event will include poetry door prizes donated by Brick Books. Join our 6:30pm pre-reading workshop (in Landon Library’s basement) to discuss work by the evening’s poets, and bring your own poem too; original work will be discussed as time allows. All welcome!
Landon Branch Library at 167 Wortley Rd
Readings 7:30-8:45pm • Workshop 6:30-7:30pm (in the basement)
Door prizes • Free admission
Poetry London Presents
Susan Holbrook & Julie Cameron Gray
Wednesday January 23rd, 2019
Join Poetry London on Wednesday January 23rd for a reading by Windsor-based poet Susan Holbrook and Toronto-based poet Julie Cameron Gray.
Opening for our feature readers will be local poet/fiction writer/visual artist Sile Englert.
The event will include poetry door prizes donated by Brick Books. Join our 6:30pm pre-reading workshop (in Landon Library’s basement) to discuss work by the evening’s poets, and bring your own poem too; original work will be discussed as time allows. All welcome!
Landon Branch Library at 167 Wortley Rd
Readings 7:30-8:45pm • Workshop 6:30-7:30pm (in the basement)
Door prizes • Free admission
Workshop with Louise Bernice Halfe
Thanks to Louise Bernice Halfe for giving London writers such a fantastic 2018 poetry workshop!
Photos from a Great Night
Photos of Poetry London’s final 2018 event with poets Louise Bernice Halfe & Catriona Wright.
Wednesday’s Local Opener: Maxwell Lucas
On Wednesday November 21st, Maxwell Lucas will open for feature poets Louise Bernice Halfe & Catriona Wright.
Maxwell Lucas is a poet, composer, and artist working in London, Ontario; his work has been published in Western’s Occasus creative writing journal and Iconoclast magazine. As a composer, Lucas has written for solo instruments, vocal and chamber groups, electroacoustic and live electronics as well as for film and art installations. Hands (2016-17), a game piece for musicians interpreting poetry was a collaboration with artist Faith Patrick and was performed at Wordsfest 2017. Lucas received a first place prize in the 2018 SOCAN Young Composer’s Awards for his work Ovum/Azoth for solo bassoon and live electronics. Lucas is currently pursuing a Masters of Music in Composition at Western University.
Poetry London Presents
Louise Bernice Halfe & Catriona Wright
Wednesday November 21st
Join Poetry London on Wednesday November 21st for a reading by Saskatoon-based poet Louise Bernice Halfe and Toronto-based poet Catriona Wright.
Opening for our feature readers will be local poet/musician/composer Maxwell Lucas.
The event will include poetry door prizes donated by Brick Books. Join our 6:30pm pre-reading workshop (in Landon Library’s basement) to discuss work by the evening’s poets, and bring your own poem too; original work will be discussed as time allows. All welcome!
Landon Branch Library at 167 Wortley Rd
Readings 7:30-8:45pm • Workshop 6:30-7:30pm (in the basement)
Door prizes • Free admission
Poetry London Presents Sina Queyras
Wednesday October 24th
Join Poetry London on Wednesday October 24th for a full length reading by Montreal-based poet Sina Queyras. Joining Sina will be local opener, poet/artist Faith Patrick.
The event will include poetry door prizes donated by Brick Books. Join our 6:30pm pre-reading workshop (in Landon Library’s basement) to discuss work by the evening’s poet, and bring your own poem too; original work will be discussed as time allows. All welcome!
Landon Branch Library at 167 Wortley Rd
Reading 7:30-8:45pm • Workshop 6:30-7:30pm (in the basement)
Door prizes • Free admission
What an Amazing Opening Event
What an amazing opening event with Shane Neilson, Tom Cull & Camille Intson! Thanks to the poets & to all who attended, as well as to our generous event sponsors.
Tonight’s Local Opener: Camille Intson
On Wednesday September 19th, Camille Intson will open for feature poets Shane Neilson & Tom Cull
Camille Intson is an emerging multidisciplinary artist working in theatre, performance art, multimedia, and music across Southern Ontario. A theatre artist in residence at TAP: Center for Creativity and this summer’s Theatre Ontario Youth Scholarship recipient, Camille has written, produced, and directed for the stage through festivals in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Newmarket, Toronto, and London, and earlier this year won the Lillian Kroll Prize in Creative Writing at Western, where she’s currently completing an undergraduate degree, and cultivating a growing academic and practical interest in post-humanism and digital performance art.
Poetry London Presents Shane Neilson & Tom Cull
Wednesday Sept 19th
Poetry London’s new season opens on Wednesday September 19th with readings by poets Shane Neilson from Hamilton & Tom Cull, London’s Poet Laureate.
Joining Shane and Tom will be local opener, Camille Intson. More information to follow shortly.
The event will include poetry door prizes donated by Brick Books. Join our 6:30pm pre-reading workshop (in Landon Library’s basement) to discuss work by the evening’s poets, and bring your own poem too; original work will be discussed as time allows. All welcome!
Landon Branch Library at 167 Wortley Rd
Readings 7:30-8:30pm • Workshop 6:30-7:30pm (in the basement)
Door prizes • Free admission
NEW: Poetry London’s 2018-2019 Season
Poetry London is delighted to announce the readers for its upcoming 15th season. We look forward to seeing you at these events!
- September 19th, 2018 – Shane Neilson / Tom Cull
- October 24th, 2018 – Sina Queyras
- November 21st, 2018 – Catriona Wright / Louise Bernice Halfe
- January 23rd, 2019 – Susan Holbrook / Julie Cameron Gray
- February 20th, 2019 – Susan Elmslie / Dane Swan
- March 20th, 2019 – Arleen Paré / E Martin Nolan
/ Sachiko Murakami - April 17th, 2019 – Canisia Lubrin / Jack Davis
Questions? Email us at poetrylondon[dot]ca[at]gmail[dot]com