graffito: the poetry poster (1994-2000): bibliography, and an interview

this interview was conducted over email from August to September 2015 as part of a project to document Ottawa literary publishing. see my bibliography-in-progress of Ottawa literary publications,past and present here

A graduate of Seymour Mayne’s and the University of Ottawa’s Creative Writing Program, b stephen harding has published poetry in Bywords, Chasing Sundogs, Hook & Ladder, Ottawa Poets ‘95, Volume 1 (audiocassette), Paperplates, and Remembered Earth, Volume 1 (Bywords), and is the author of the chapbook surcharges sometimes apply (Ottawa ON: Friday Circle, 1996). A former co-director of The TREE Reading Series, he was the founder, co-editor and managing editor of the monthly poetry broadside graffito: the poetry poster, a free poetry journal that existed in poster format, distributed monthly via bulletin boards across Ottawa (and worldwide, via Canada Post), as well as through electronic graffito, most of which is archived at the National Archives of Canada. Guest-editors for the series included Stephanie Bolster, Robin Hannah, rob mclennan, David Collins and Tamara Fairchild, with Robert Craig and Christal Steck serving as part of an informal editorial board, and Seymour Mayne serving as editorial advisor.

Q: How did graffito first start? I know there were at least a couple of you that had emerged from a creative writing workshop with Seymour Mayne at the University of Ottawa. What was it that prompted the creation of a monthly poetry publication?

A: graffito is your fault. Maria Scala and I were walking down Dalhousie St. and we saw one of your poetry posters. We both agreed that we could do something better. Not sure what happened next, but I’m guessing that we went to Seymour Mayne at some point and suggested graffito to him. Seymour was our Prof. of Creative Writing at the time. He liked the idea and got us the necessary resources i.e. access to free paper, and a place to do free photocopying at the University. It became a group project with Maria Scala, Robert Craig and Crystal Steck as joint editors.

Q: Were all four of you from the creative writing workshop? Was each issue edited as a group? How did you decide on the format of four or five poems per monthly issue, and how were they distributed?

A: All four of us where product of the Creative Writing program having taken both the beginner and advanced classes in poetry. In the beginning we edited the poster as a group. This would change over time. The size: well, I remember I wanted something bigger than 8x10 inches as I wanted it to have more than one poem, and wanting the visibility of a larger format to catch attention. Using tabloid size paper also folded well into 8x10 for mailing proposes. I’m not sure how we decided on 4 or 5 poems per issue, but we wanted to give as much exposure to poets as the size would allow. Distribution for all the run of graffito was me and my feet or via mail. I walked around the university into the market and up Bank St. as far as Billings Bridge Mall stapling posters on poles and in any shop, store or bar that would let me.

Q: What else was happening in Ottawa during the time you were producing graffito? What kind of reception did the journal have, whether in Ottawa or beyond?

A: I’m foggy on what was happening back then. There was a number of poetry readings including one I regularly attend at the Royal Oak on Laurier, TREE Reading Series, Dusty Owl; Bywords was being published as well. There was a lot more than this; the art scene was hopping back then. Robert Craig was hosting salon poetry readings in his apartment. I remember great poetry there and awesome Turkish coffees.

My general impression of the time was that Ottawa was the place to be if you were writing or an artist. As to what kind of reception graffito got, I’m not sure. I remember a couple of good reviews of it, but I think the kinds of poets that submitted to it say it was well received. graffito was very limited in the beginning with only 50 copies to start and at its peak was 350 copies. It did get some international distribution over time. This was done by trading with other poets/writes or mags.

Bywords was the poetry mag/events calendar and it was a definite influence on what graffito would be and become.

Q: At what point did you decide to turn graffito over to guest-editors and why?

A: That was more or less the result of editor fatigue. Also, the editors where moving on to other things at the time. Guest editors made sense to me as it was a way of including local poets. Getting other poetic views for the poster seemed a way to also keep the poster fresh and moving forward. For me it allowed more time for layout design and distribution, and networking with fellow poets, writers and editors.

Q: How involved were the guest-editors in soliciting work? What was the process of inviting and receiving submissions?

A: The guest editors had a free hand when it came to soliciting work. graffito got most of its submission based on word of mouth. It was also reviewed in a number of publications with helped get the word out.

Q: After four years of publishing, what do you feel graffito best accomplished? What were your frustrations?

A: My aim with graffito was to produce a vehicle that would give poetry a wider and diverse audience. I think we achieved that. The reality of a poster placed in public places is there is not a lot of feedback.

There were only a few frustrations... meeting deadlines, having enough quality poetry submissions to choose from, and all the walking required to get the poster out to its target audience. Oh, and then there was the funding, especially in the last 2 years.

Q: What happened to the funding? Is that the reason the publication finally wound down?

A: It wasn’t so much the funding as it was me winding down on the project. I was finding it harder and harder to meet my own deadline. I’d like to say it was more complicated than this, but in truth it wasn’t. From the point of view of the project it was fine, it had a constant stream of good to great submissions. There were some issues with attempting work by locals, and good poets to act as guest editor, but even that was not big enough to keep the project moving. In the end my shoulder was not strong enough to carry the project forward.

Q: What effect, if any, had graffito on the way you saw your own writing?

A: I would say that graffito had no effect on my writing. Well, that is not completely true. I would say it helped refine what I wanted my poetry to become.

graffito: the poetry poster bibliography:

Volume one, issue one. November 1994. Poems by Robert Craig, b stephen harding, Cherry Heard, Rocco Paoletti and Christal Steck.

Volume one, issue two. December 1994/January 1995. Poems by Claire Chippindale, Leila S. Goldberger, Seymour Mayne and Ros Ivan Salvador.

Volume one, issue three. February 1995. Poems by Adam Perry, Catherine Jenkins, Maria Scala and rob mclennan.

Volume one, issue four. March 1995. Poems by Micheal Abraham, Richard Carter, Tyson Dahlem, Joelle Kovach and Arturo Lazo.

Volume one, issue five. April 1995. Poems by Joe Blades, P.C. Chynn, Leonard Gasparini, Arthur Kill and Matthew Stanach.

Volume one, issue six. May 1995. Poems by Jill Battson, Richard Carter, Robynn Farrah Collins and Tamara Fairchild.

Volume one, issue seven. June 1995. Poems by Clare Latremouille, Erin Manning, Randy Smith and Christal Steck.

Volume one, issue eight. July 1995. Poems by Sylvia Adams, Scott Broderson, b stephen harding, Jim Larwill and Heather Tisdale-Nisbet

Volume one, issue nine. August 1995. Poems by Edward Jamieson, Jr., Christine Leger-White, Phil Mader, Sharon Ann Maguire and Patrick White.

Volume one, issue ten. September 1995. Special Edition: Haiku from the North American Haiku Convention. Poems by Winona Baker, Frances Mary Bishop, Marianne Bluger, Robert Craig, Garry Gay, LeRoy Gorman, Muriel Ford, Dorothy Howard, Marshall Hryciuk and Hans Jongman.

Volume one, issue eleven. October 1995. Poems by John Degen, Alan Cohol, Lea Harper and Stan Rogal.

Volume one, issue twelve. November 1995. Poems by Agatha Bedynski, Erin Gill, Susan L. Helwig, Daniel Nadezhdin and Ted Plantos.

Volume two, issue one. December 1995. Poems by Catherine Jenkins, John B. Lee, Daniela McDougall, Susan McMaster, Brian Pastoor and Louise O'Donnell.       

Volume two, issue two. January 1996. Poems by P. Bainbridge, George Elliot Clarke, LeRoy Gorman and Robin Hannah.

Volume two, issue three. February 1996. Guest editor: Tamara Fairchild. Poems by Lynn Atkins, Eric Hill, rob mclennan and B. Z. Niditch.

Volume two, issue four. March 1996. Guest editor: Tamara Fairchild. Poems by Ronnie Brown, Joseph Dunn, S. Geddes, Janice Lore, John Rupert and Grimm Krowder.       

Volume two, issue five. April 1996. Guest editor: Tamara Fairchild. Poems by Tamara Fairchild, Peter Layton, j. a. LoveGrove and P. A. Webb.

Volume two, issue six. May 1996. Guest editor: Tamara Fairchild. Poems by Seymour Mayne, Rocco Paoletti, John Rupert, James Spyker and b stephen harding.

Volume two, issue seven. June/July 1996. Guest editor: David Collins. Poems by Alan John Barrett, Cynthia Clarke, Adam Dickinson, Maggie Helwig and Stan Rogal.     

Volume two, issue eight. August/September/October 1996. Guest editor: David Collins. Poems by George Elliot Clarke, Marlise MeiLan, James Spyker and Kane Faucher.

           

Volume two, issue nine. November 1996. Guest editor: David Collins. Poems by p. j. flaming, Karen Hussey, Catherine Jenkins and Micheal Dennis.          

Volume two, issue ten. December 1996. Guest editor: Robin Hannah. Poems by Kim Fahner, David Sutherland, Nevets Dier, R. M. Vaughan, Luke Whitby and Kathryn Hunt.         

Volume two, issue eleven. January 1997. Guest editor: Robin Hannah. Poems by Charles Ardinger, jwcurry/gio.sampogona, Magie Dominic, Maria Scala and Kane Faucher.    

Volume two, issue twelve. February 1997. Guest editor: Robin Hannah. Poems by Robin Hannah, Elizabeth Robitaille, Luke Whitby and Trish Pennie.

Volume three, issue one. March 1997. Guest editor: Stephanie Bolster. Poems by Errol Miller, Giovanni Malito, Emma Lew and Michelle Desbarats Fels.

Volume three, issue two. April 1997. Guest editor: Stephanie Bolster. Poems by Rebecca Comeau, Joanne Epp , Tamara Fairchild, Jim Larwill.

Volume three, issue three. May/June 1997. Guest editor: Stephanie Bolster. Poems by Sylvia Arnold, Richard Carter, Ken Cather and Myrna Garanis          

Volume three, issue four. July/August 1997. Guest editor: allison comeau. Poems by Alan Cohol, Peter Bakowski, Pauline Gauthier and Emma Lew.

Volume three, issue five. September 1997. Guest editor: allison comeau. Jeff Bien issue.

Volume three, issue six. October/November/December 1997. Guest editor: allison comeau. Poems by Eirik, David Morris, Paula deArmas Looper and Greg Evason.

Volume three, issue seven. January 1998. Guest editor: Laurie Fuhr. Poems by Ben Ohmart, Jill Battson, Ken Norris, James Nordlund and Joan Pond.

Volume three, issue eight. February/March 1998. Guest editor: Laurie Fuhr. Poems by David Collins, Craig Carpenter, Bernadette Higgins, Timothy Hodor and Larissa.

Volume three, issue nine. April/May/June 1998. Guest editor: Laurie Fuhr. Poems by Stephanie Bolster, E. Shaun Russell, Gerald England, Laurie Fuhr and Zita Maria Evensen

Volume three, issue ten. 1999. Guest editor: rob mclennan. Poems by George Bowering, rob mclennan, Irene Parent, Dahlia Riback and Ian Whistle.

Volume three, issue eleven. 1999. Guest editor: rob mclennan. Poems by Robin Hannah, Natalee Caple, Jen Gavin and David W. McFadden.

Volume three, issue twelve. 1999. Guest editor: rob mclennan. Poems by Derek Beaulieu, Susan Elmslie, Ellen Field and George Elliott Clarke.

Volume four, issue one. 1999. Guest editor: jwcurry. Poems by jwcurry (uncredited).

Volume four, issue two. 2000. Guest editor: Gwendolyn Guth. Poems by Agustin Eastwood De Mello, Amber Hayward and Kenneth Tanemura.

The Peter F. Yacht Club: a miscellany,

The Peter F. Yacht Club writing group, if you can even call it a proper group, came out of informal gatherings that occasionally became a bit more formal, before dissolving altogether, starting four or five years before the first issue of The Peter F. Yacht Club appeared in August, 2003 (accidentally ten years to the month after above/ground press’ first official publication). Does a group even still exist? It does, but as a scattering of social interactions and individual connections, but for the pages of the publication itself, over a dozen issues long.

By the mid-1990s, into the adjacent years, Ottawa writing seemed in flux; Rob Manery and Louis Cabri, so active through the previous decade, had left, taking hole magazine, hole books, Manx’s N400 Reading Series and The Transparency Machine with them, in 1994 and 96, respectively. Toronto’s jwcurry landed in 1996, but was still on the sidelines; the writers festival had been invented, but its true influence hadn’t quite solidified. Stephanie Bolster arrived in 1995 from Burnaby, published a first book in 1998, won the Governor General’s Award and, by 2000, had left for Montreal, to teach at Concordia. On January 1, 1999, b stephen harding and I formally handed over Ottawa’s TREE Reading Series, the third longest continuing reading series in Canada, to others, thus ending two and four-and-a-half year long tenures, respectively.

Christopher Levenson ran his Ottawa Poetry Group in one direction, clinging to a set of fixed formal ideas, and where were the rest of us to turn? William Hawkins and Michael Dennis, once enormously active in the 1960s and 1970s and 80s, respectively, in and around the Ottawa literary communities, skimmed the margins, well back from publishing and public events. John Newlove as well, head down in his daily paths between home, work and Patrick McGahern’s Books. There were first poetry collections by myself, David O’Meara, Michelle Desbarats, Ian Roy; return to a life of poetry by former Montrealer Stephen Brockwell after nearly a decade, and Monty Reid had quietly arrived from Drumheller, landing in Luskville, Quebec, but had not really let any of us know about it, yet. After degrees at the University of Victoria and University of Alberta, Mark Robertson had returned after an Ottawa hiatus with a new energy, a stack of writing and a new moniker, Max Middle. Within a couple years of publication, two-thirds of the nine writers included in Shadowy Technicians: New Ottawa Poets (Fredericton NB: Broken Jaw Press, 2000) had moved away, or simply vanished. This was not any engine by which to sustain a community.

Originally, my idea for regular meetings was a kind of informal sharing of writing, a support group, in this odd thing we did, writing poems and sending them out to journals. Could spouses, partners, parents, co-workers really understand? The first meetings were disorganized, rambling events at my shared house at 96 Rochester Street attended by b stephen harding, Clare Latremouille (who had only recently returned from a decade around British Columbia), Stephen Brockwell, Anita Dolman, James Moran, jwcurry, Jennifer Mulligan and a sixteen-year-old Laurie Fuhr. Could Max Middle have been there as well? We read new work both finished and unfinished, talked about what we had recently sent out, had accepted, turned down; books we were working on. We drank too much, and stayed up far too late. Laurie looked afraid, but stayed. curry grumbled. Clare and I conspired. Eventually meetings also included Melanie Little and Peter Norman, recent arrivals from Vancouver, and Vivian Vavassis, who had arrived from London, by way of Western; or was it Montreal?

It’s as though The Peter F. Yacht Club is more in line with what the 1970s Montreal group the Vehicule Poets were, a grouping of writers who originally formed through defining themselves and their group by what they weren’t. Seven Montreal poets, including Endre Farkas, Ken Norris and Artie Gold, who, for whatever else they accomplished, originally came together through not being a part of the poetic of such as Michael Harris and David Solway.

One thing I’ve always found frustrating about any history of Ottawa literature, and poetry specifically, is a lack of continuity; once a group has dispersed and gone, it’s as though it never existed, and there’s very little in place to let you know it had even been. Do you remember Sparks? Oroboros? Northern Comfort? The Carleton Arts Review? Anthos magazine and Anthos Books? Back when Mark Frutkin and Riley Tench collaborated as sound poets. Were you aware of the infamous 24-hour poetry reading at SAW Gallery circa 1981 that included Robert Craig, Seymour Mayne, Patrick Lane and Lorna Crozier? Jane Jordan, who ran poetry readings at Pestelozzi College (Ottawa’s own Rochdale) in the early 1970s, or William Hawkins who ran readings and musical performance at his infamous Le Hibou, years before? That series of poetry cassettes produced by Gallery 101 in the 1980s, during the tenure of artistic director Dennis Tourbin, back when Ottawa still had a poet laureate? Once gone, they appear to be completely gone. You should have seen the stuff, for example, Gallery 101 and SAW Gallery were getting rid of during dumps of their archive. Three copies of the first edition of Michael Ondaatje’s The Collected Works of Billy the Kid (1970) for fifty cents each (considered a $600 book, at least) during one of their “garage sales,” left over from when he launched the collection in Ottawa the same year.

Once I moved out of that shared house in 2001, more formal workshop conversations were held at Anita’s apartment on McLeod at Elgin Streets, and at Melanie and Peter’s on Bronson, a door or two south of the intersection at Somerset. It was in Anita’s lobby I first found the pair of purple pillows that currently adorn the back of my couch, decorated with The Peter F. Yacht Club logo emblazoned centre-squared on each. Where did these pillows come from? A recently-deceased resident of her building, and their belongings waiting for disposal in the lobby (I offered one to Anita, who politely returned it). As Clare asked at the time, what if it were the pillows that killed them? What the hell is the Peter F. Yacht Club, then? So far just us. Internet searches have so far come up cold.

A support group. Created to achieve, at least, the support to continue. To have conversation about what we were doing, trying and reading. The movement of the group can be seen best through the pages of the publication itself, something I originally based on Vancouver’s TADS, an informal Friday night group that had each issue edited by a different member, moving through George Bowering, Jamie Reid and Jason Le Heup. Ours, it seems, have predominantly been edited/published by myself, but others have joined in as well, each with the guidelines of inviting all from the group, and able to put in some others that might appeal to them as well. Part of that appeal, Max Middle would certainly have a different group of outsiders than, say, Laurie Fuhr or Jesse Patrick Ferguson, and who wants a journal only to read yourself? Good conversations happen with a good foundation, and then it’s important to see who else might have a say.

Issues were often distributed informally, with a couple of copies each to contributors, fifty more to the editor to disseminate as they saw fit. Another sixty to eighty were sent out to subscribers of above/ground press, not only scattered across Canada but into the United States, including library collections at Simon Fraser University and SUNY-Buffalo, with the occasional distribution point of the semi-annual ottawa small press book fair. The fourth issue was even produced in a run of five hundred copies for free distribution at the fall 2005 ottawa international writers festival, including writers scheduled to appear, such as George Bowering, Suzanne Buffam, Stephen Cain, Margaret Christakos and Susan Musgrave. Without regular meetings, the ongoing conversation of new writing continued through the open set of the TREE Reading Series, a place where many Ottawa writers over the past three decades often managed their first or second public readings, with regular open sets filled with much of the group, as well as other Ottawa writers—Shane Rhodes, David O’Meara, Michelle Desberats and Peter Richardson—an ongoing conversation that, at least in that form, unfortunately seems to have fallen by the wayside.

[photo by John W. MacDonald] As issues progressed, other “regulars” were brought into the fold, including Amanda Earl, Marcus McCann, Pearl Pirie, Sandra Ridley, Nicholas Lea, Jesse Patrick Ferguson, Wanda O’Connor, Roland Prevost, Janice Tokar, Cameron Anstee, Monty Reid and Lainna Lane El Jabi. We even held a few launches, often held as “office Christmas parties” at the Carleton Tavern, Parkdale Market (and even an Edmonton launch, in the fall of 2007). Keeping with our nautical theme, calling our launch reading “regattas,” one even included a captain’s hat. Still, part of the success of these initial connections have been in watching the evolution of the individual writers, and the inevitable offshoots, from Norman and Brockwell’s magnificent collaborative sonnet-essay, Wild Clover Honey and The Beehive, 28 Sonnets on the Sonnet (Ottawa ON: The Rideau Review Press, 2004), Norman and Fuhr’s voice-work with jwcurry, Max Middle’s AB Series, which has featured a number of Yacht Clubbers, Fuhr’s help in publishing more than a few in the pages of filling Station, eventual above/ground press publications by Brockwell, Dolman, Ridley, Earl, curry, Mulligan, Fuhr, Norman, Reid, Middle, Anstee, Lea, Ferguson, McCann, Pirie and Prevost, or even Mulligan and I founding Chaudiere Books, home to the work of a number of the same.

A camaraderie, but one I admit to missing in person, now that so many have moved on: Peter and Melanie went west for her writer in residence position at the University of Calgary, then east and finally Toronto, where she is currently senior fiction editor at the House of Anansi Press and he, author of a first poetry collection and a forthcoming novel; Laurie moved west and west again, landing in Calgary, where she runs filling Station magazine; Wanda moved to Montreal to attend Concordia University; Jesse headed further to Fredericton, to the University of New Brunswick, publishing a first poetry collection as well; and James and Anita moved to the east end of Ottawa with their new-third, now a toddler. Who has any time?

Issue #1, August 2003, edited by rob mclennan; 200 copies. Contributors: Stephen Brockwell, Anita Dolman, Laurie Fuhr, Clare Latremouille, Melanie Little, rob mclennan, James Moran, Peter Norman, Artie Gold, Suzanne Zelazo & Rob Budde. back cover image by Tom Fowler.

Issue #2, April 2004, edited by Anita Dolman (out of print); 200 copies. Contributors: Stephen Brockwell, Anita Dolman, Laurie Fuhr, Melanie Little, rob mclennan, Max Middle, James Moran, Peter Norman, Vivian Vavassis, Wes Smiderle & Zachary Houle. Distributed free.

Issue #3, October 2004, edited by Peter Norman and Melanie Little; 200 copies. Contributors: Stephen Brockwell, jwcurry, Anita Dolman, Laurie Fuhr, Clare Latremouille, Melanie Little, rob mclennan, Max Middle, James Moran, Peter Norman, Vivian Vavassis, Amanda Earl & Wanda O’Connor.

Issue #4, September 2005, edited by rob mclennan; 500 copies. Contributors: George Bowering, Stephen Brockwell, Suzanne Buffam, Stephen Cain, Margaret Christakos, Anita Dolman, Gwendolyn Guth, William Hawkins, rob mclennan, Max Middle, James Moran, Jennifer Mulligan, Susan Musgrave, Wanda O'Connor, Sandra Ridley & Vivian Vavassis. Produced as a handout for the ottawa international writers festival, September/October 2005. Otherwise, sold for $5.

two-by-two on that oversized lifeboat, A Peter F. Yacht Club special, December 2005, edited by rob mclennan; 200 copies. Contributors: Jesse Ferguson, Nicholas Lea, rob mclennan, Max Middle, Jennifer Mulligan & Monty Reid. produced "for the first ever Peter F. Yacht Club Christmas Party, Saturday December 17rh, 7:30pm until forever, at the Carleton Tavern, Parkdale Market, Ottawa (hosted by rob mclennan & Clare Latremouille). (thanks to Laurie Fuhr for providing an accidental title)." isbn 1-897224-10-9.

Issue #5, April 2006, edited by Max Middle; 200 copies. Contributors: Gary Barwin, Anita Dolman, Jesse Ferguson, Laurie Fuhr, John Lavery, Nicholas Lea, rob mclennan, Max Middle, James Moran, Jennifer Mulligan, a. rawlings, Sandra Ridley, Vivian Vavassis & Rachel Zavitz.

Issue #6 (mis-numbered Calgary special), February 2007, edited by Laurie Fuhr; 200 copies. Contributors: Jonathan Ball, Derek Beaulieu, Ryan Bird, Stephen Brockwell, Weyman Chan, Anita Dolman, Jesse Ferguson, ryan fitzpatrick, Richard Gorecki, Jocelyn Grosse, Joy Hendrickson-Turner, Nicholas Lea, Laurie Fuhr, Melanie Little, David McGimpsey, rob mclennan, Max Middle, James Moran, Tom Muir, Jennifer Mulligan, Peter Norman, Sharron Proulx-Turner, Stuart Ross, Wes Smiderle, Joanne Underwood, Vivian Vavassis, Yvonne Werkman & Garth Whelan.

Issue #7, April 2007, edited by rob mclennan; 200 copies. Contributors: John Barton, George Bowering, Stephen Brockwell, Amanda Earl, Jesse Ferguson, Laurie Fuhr, Phil Hall, Nicolas Lea, Clare Latremouille, Marcus McCann, rob mclennan, Max Middle, Wanda O'Connor, Roland Prevost, Sandra Ridley & Wes Smiderle.

Issue #8, October 2007, “Edmonton issue,” produced at the University of Alberta, edited by rob mclennan; 200 copies. Contributors: Stephen Brockwell, Marita Dachsel, Amanda Earl, Jesse Ferguson, Laurie Fuhr, Clare Latremouille, Nicholas Lea, Roland Prevost, Marcus McCann, rob mclennan, Jonathan Meakin, Max Middle, Carla Milo, Paul Pearson, Monty Reid, Sandra Ridley & Christine Stewart

Issue #9, January 2008, edited by Jesse Patrick Ferguson in “The Poets’ Corner” (Fredericton, New Brunswick), and produced at the University of Alberta; 200 copies. Contributors: derek beaulieu, Amanda Earl, Jesse Patrick Ferguson, Laurie Fuhr, Nicholas Lea, rob mclennan, Max Middle, Roland Prevost, Monty Reid & Hugh Thomas.

Issue #10, March 2008, produced at the University of Alberta, edited by rob mclennan, “in by one, out by four” special; 200 copies. Contributors: Jeff Carpenter, Trisia Eddy, Lainna Lane (El Jabi) and rob mclennan.

Issue #11, May 2008, “Edmonton issue the second,” produced at the University of Alberta, edited by rob mclennan; 200 copies. Contributors: Douglas Barbour, Jenna Butler, Amanda Earl, Jesse Patrick Ferguson, Laurie Fuhr, Lea Graham, William Hawkins, Karen Massey, Marcus McCann, rob mclennan, Max Middle, Sean Moreland, Jennifer Mulligan, Catherine Owen, Pearl Pirie, Roland Prevost, Wes Smiderle & Janice Tokar.

Issue #12, September 2009, edited by Amanda Earl, “Fifth anniversary issue: Anarchy, Apocalypse, & Madness.” 200 copies Contributors: Stephen Brockwell, Anita Dolman, Amanda Earl, Jesse Patrick Ferguson, Marcus McCann, rob mclennan, Pearl Pirie, Roland Prevost, Monty Reid, Sandra Ridley, Janice Tokar, Christian S. Aluas, Cameron Anstee, Jamie Bradley, Caleb JW Brasset, Patrick Edwards-Dougherty, F.C. Estrella, Jose Fernandez, Warren Dean Fulton, John Gilles, Csaba Andras Kertész, Joseph Kuchar, Ben Ladouceur, Leopold, Stephen Rowntree & Robert Williams.

Issue #13, July 2009, edited by rob mclennan, “lucky thirteen – the white album.” 200 copies Contributors: Cameron Anstee, Stephanie Bolster, Amanda Earl, Lea Graham, Gwendolyn Guth, Lainna Lane El Jabi, Marcus McCann, rob mclennan, Sean Moreland, Pearl Pirie, Roland Prevost, Monty Reid, Sandra Ridley and Janice Tokar.

Ongoing notes: late December, 2008

[jwcurry and b stephen harding at Pubwells during recent drinks] Will we see you at The Peter F. Yacht Club Christmas party/reading? Did you see this amazing interview with our own literary photographer, John W. MacDonald? Apparently a few people noticed my open letter to that Ottawa mayor; and then this interview with me I forgot to mention, before the last small press book fair. Does anyone know who wrote this anonymous poem for our own John Newlove? Did you see Sina Queyras' review of Amanda Earl's Eleanor (above/ground press)? And apparently Carleton University students have nothing better to do than discuss whether or not I use capital letters in my name, not even bothering to ask themselves why...

Edmonton AB: In early November, I was able to attend the most recent issue launch of Edmonton’s Other Voices: Journal of the Literary and Visual Arts. Considering the journal has made it to Volume 21, No. 1, I find it strange that I haven’t actually seen a copy of the journal for at least half a decade before this (including the nine months I actually lived in Edmonton). Why is the journal so invisible? For years, it has seemed as though Calgary has had all the journal and chapbook publishers, and Edmonton has had all the book publishers, and never the twain shall meet, so to speak, but for this semi-annual publication.

iii

coyote’s rain-
bow collar. pear
& saffron, i-

ris: light re-
laying what? st-
rategic target: rain-

bow bridge. log-
ical fit: the sun
in the wind-

ow. the moment-
ary truth. the lost
count… the in-

undated mind.
blue sky: bl-
ack rain-

bow (Sean Howard, “sandpaper (caught light, for judy pratt)”)

An odd mix of quality, the journal publishes poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction (this issue highlights the winners of a recent contest they held in such), as well as some visual art and a book review, with some of the highlights from the current issue including Edmonton poet glenN robsoN with two poems (the formatting of which make both of them impossible to replicate; lately, he’s apparently been doing some extremely interesting sound poetry with Edmonton poet Jeff Carpenter), a suite of poems by Sean Howard, and new pieces by Toronto poet Amy Dennis; how is it she seems to be in every second journal I’ve been looking at lately?

Still, I like what this journal is doing, and what it’s trying to do; but why can’t they tell more people?

Vancouver BC: New from Peter and Meredith Quartermain’s Nomados comes L’Aviva by Nicole Brossard, translated by Anne-Marie Wheeler (Nomados, 2008). Part of what appeals about this small collection (a Nomados chapbook with perfect binding, by the by) is how the sections are separated, as to be two different texts, as opposed to the merged text. One belongs to Brossard exclusively, to be sure (as much as any text “belongs” to any author), and the first, in English, a kind of merged text through translation.

aviva

aviva a face and the relaying
of complexity, ample images
leaning toward the lure, her mouth
now the looks there are normally words
on the edge of emotion a phrase related
hidden and unknowingly caressed
while running the length of her arms in excitation
applied, the idea tenable tenacious
for linking

Brossard has been a favourite of English-language readers for decades, and numerous of her works of poetry, fiction and non-fiction have been translated into English by various translators, and this new series of texts is absolutely lovely. Is this part of a larger project that might see book-length publication at some point? And at the same time, are there other French language poets in Canada that we, in English, should be looking at? Someone emailed me recently and even asked if there was a French equivalent to the new Best Canadian Poetry in English 2008 anthology. Who even is out there?

Edmonton AB: One of the things I’ve been waiting for a few years now is that book by Vancouver poet Fred Wah that would include further of his “music at the heart of thinking” poems and “artknot” pieces that have been appearing here and there the past decade or so in journals and other places (a few appear as part of Wah’s contribution to Louis Cabri’s Phillytalks). Over the past decade or so, Wah’s publishing has certainly slowed, with a rare chapbook here or there, a series of reissues, and a new publication with Talon this past spring, his Sentenced to Light (Talonbooks, 2008). On December 2nd, he appeared in Edmonton to read at the Olive Reading Series and launched the small publication Dark Matter & Other Radicals (Edmonton AB: Extra-Virgin Press, 2008) as part of the reading series (now in its ninth season) including a couple new pieces from that same series of poems that began with his Music at the Heart of Thinking (Red Deer: Red Deer College Press, 1987).

Music at the Heart of Thinking 134

The plateau of the poem
pulling a story from a fire
smouldering under foot
on a periphery of words
as things while sentenced
to a periphery of counting
so nearly uncontained (it)
documents no geography
nor memory the windmill
street and all that walks
or reminds crankshaft, smoke
sits at the corner cheering
past the end of telling you
can smell the stones burning

For years I’ve been wondering, when do we get to see the collection that includes these scattered pieces, written as a series of “responses”? According to the bio at the back of the small publication, he has a new poetry collection out next spring, again with Talonbooks, called Splice. Is this what we’ve been waiting for all this time?