Erin Emily Ann Vance, A History of Touch

 
 

WHISKERS

Between classes I haunted the vault of the University of
Calgary archives where I worked as a grad student.
I lingered, always, by the first editions of Plath and Sexton.
Like a luck charm I’d run my finger along the tip of a
badger’s whisker that Ted Hughes taped into a hand-stitched
chapbook shelved next to an early edition of The Colossus.

One day I will run my fingers along the marbled spine of
the box at the Lily Library that contains Sylvia’s hair shorn
in childhood, hair that never felt Ted’s brute fingers.
I wonder if Ted plucked those whiskers from a badger
in the wild, its thick musk like Sylvia’s heavy memory. 

But no, Ted couldn’t touch a woman without cowering in
his study, never mind a wild animal. He always did like to
pluck bits and pieces from the dead as they lay helpless.

From Erin Emily Ann Vance, a Canadian writer currently studying in Ireland, author of the novel Advice for Taxidermists and Amateur Beekeepers (Edmonton AB: Stonehouse Publishing, 2019) as well as a handful of poetry chapbooks, comes the full-length poetry debut, A History of Touch (Toronto ON: Guernica Editions, 2022). The poems that make up A History of Touch are constructed as curious breath-phrases, each line built to articulate rhythm on the page, each line break offering where the breath might stand. Her poems exist as short narratives, little lyric stories in the form of poems, that, as the back cover offers, “explore the natural, the supernatural, and the in-between, interrogating the position of the female body in folklore, pop culture, and history.” “Earliest memory: mother in coffin,” she writes, to open the poem “HAT BOX,” a poem dedicated to Lucy Maud Montgomery and her loss, due to a son stillborn, “the tubercular bed I grew in. / A haunted wood: I thought the birch / was the monarch of our forest / but it was mother’s grave that ruled. // In the fairy room I split in two, / by Maiden Lake I became a tree.” She writes of witches and mysteries, matrons and mothers, stillbirth, kittens, rabbits and silk; she describes a darkness of dolls, the institutional life of Rosemary Kennedy and the photographs of the Cottingley Fairies, and it wouldn’t be hard to see how the poems collected here directly relate to her time as co-host of the folklore and history podcast Femmes Macabres. Vance writes the stories of women who were maligned by their cultures and communities, from being sentenced to death for witchcraft to being dismissed as difficult or hysterical, and examining the depictions of these women and their surroundings. As she writes in “The Purported Last Words of Ruth Blay,” telling the story of a woman executed by hanging in the Province of New Hampshire, 1768, after being convicted of concealing the body of her stillborn illegitimate child: “Don’t let my students watch, don’t / let the girls see. I haven’t yet / taught them what it means to be // a woman.” Further on, adding: “Let them live quietly / for now. I’ll visit them in their dreams, / tell them of this pain when they are ready.”

Spotlight series #49 : Erin Emily Ann Vance

The forty-ninth in my monthly "spotlight" series, each featuring a different poet with a short statement and a new poem or two, is now online, featuring Canadian poet and fiction writer Erin Emily Ann Vance.

The first eleven in the series were attached to the Drunken Boat blog, and the series has so far featured poets including Seattle, Washington poet Sarah Mangold, Colborne, Ontario poet Gil McElroy, Vancouver poet Renée Sarojini Saklikar, Ottawa poet Jason Christie, Montreal poet and performer Kaie Kellough, Ottawa poet Amanda Earl, American poet Elizabeth Robinson, American poet Jennifer Kronovet, Ottawa poet Michael Dennis, Vancouver poet Sonnet L’Abbé, Montreal writer Sarah Burgoyne, Fredericton poet Joe Blades, American poet Genève Chao, Northampton MA poet Brittany Billmeyer-Finn, Oji-Cree, Two-Spirit/Indigiqueer from Peguis First Nation (Treaty 1 territory) poet, critic and editor Joshua Whitehead, American expat/Barcelona poet, editor and publisher Edward Smallfield, Kentucky poet Amelia Martens, Ottawa poet Pearl Pirie, Burlington, Ontario poet Sacha Archer, Washington DC poet Buck Downs, Toronto poet Shannon Bramer, Vancouver poet and editor Shazia Hafiz Ramji, Vancouver poet Geoffrey Nilson, Oakland, California poets and editors Rusty Morrison and Jamie Townsend, Ottawa poet and editor Manahil Bandukwala, Toronto poet and editor Dani Spinosa, Kingston writer and editor Trish Salah, Calgary poet, editor and publisher Kyle Flemmer, Vancouver poet Adrienne Gruber, California poet and editor Susanne Dyckman, Brooklyn poet-filmmaker Stephanie Gray, Vernon, BC poet Kerry Gilbert, South Carolina poet and translator Lindsay Turner, Vancouver poet and editor Adèle Barclay, Thorold, Ontario poet Franco Cortese, Ottawa poet Conyer Clayton, Lawrence, Kansas poet Megan Kaminski, Ottawa poet and fiction writer Frances Boyle, Ithica, NY poet, editor and publisher Marty Cain, New York City poet Amanda Deutch, Iranian-born and Toronto-based writer/translator Khashayar Mohammadi, Mendocino County writer, librarian, and a visual artist Melissa Eleftherion, Ottawa poet and editor Sarah MacDonell, Montreal poet Simina Banu, Canadian-born UK-based artist, writer, and practice-led researcher J. R. Carpenter, Toronto poet MLA Chernoff and Boise, Idaho poet and critic Martin Corless-Smith

The whole series can be found online here.

the ottawa small press book fair (part one,

[Phoebe Hancock of Unravelling Dykes Press]

It seems strange to have actually attended three small press fairs this season [see my most recent post on the Meet the Presses Indie Literary Market here; my posts on the Toronto International Festival of Authors’ Small Press Market here], with the third of the trio being the 25th anniversary of the ottawa small press book fair! I really am quite baffled at how we managed to make it to a whole quarter-century (I mean, really). And you saw my recent post on who came to our first fair way back in October, 1994, yes?

Ottawa ON: From Ottawa’s Coven Editions comes Grimoire (October 2019), a collection edited by Coven co-publishers Mia Morgan and Stephanie Meloche [see their '12 or 20 (small press) questions' interview here] in an edition of sixty copies, and offer an assemblage of work that one might suspect, given both publisher moniker and chapbook title. The small collection features the work of a number of familiar names, including Ariel Dawn, Allison Armstrong, Ellen Chang-Richardson, Erin Emily Ann Vance, Nisa Malli, nina jane drystek, Emily Coppella, Samantha Godwin, Manahil Bandukwala, Vivian Wagner and Helen Robertson. Victoria poet Ariel Dawn, for example, is a name I’ve seen increasingly over the past few months (two different editors, for example, included works of hers in my journal G U E S T [a journal of guest editors]), and I’ve been quite taken with many of the prose poems I’ve seen of hers so far.

CASTING THE CIRCLE

Mark the gates with feather, wand, salt-water, stones, and in the centre, chair and table with books, pen and cauldron burning bay laurel and cinnamon. Turn to the East, Air, and call: sylph, Mercury, primrose, mind, bless me with the power to know. Turn to the South, Fire, and call: salamander, Jupiter, red poppy, spirit, bless me with the power to will. Turn to the West, Water, and call: undine, Moon, rain, moss, soul, bless me with the power to dare. Turn to the North, Earth, and call: gnome, Venus, rose, crystal, body, bless me with the power to be silent. Turn to the Centre, everywhere, nowhere, and call: sphinx, flowering almond, God and Goddess, bless me with the power to go. Open the old dairy in air, let leaves and flowers fall, then open the new and write beyond lines into this land of grey-green hills and starry root matter.

For her part, Ottawa poet Manahil Bandukwala’s work has been gathering a steady momentum for some time now, collecting publishing credits and even the occasional prize [see her 2018 “Spotlight” appearance here], all of which make me curious to see each new step as it reveals itself. Erin Emily Ann Vance, also, a poet with a chapbook produced through Coven, as well as a newly-published novel, has a piece inside the new issue, a piece that slowly unfolds as both direction, offering of hope, and potential warning:

VERY SMALL NUDE

Steal the pews from the church that refused to baptize you.

Build a large box

and a smaller box

and then a box the size of a twin bed.

Place them together like matryoshka dolls.

Line the largest box with parish newsletters,

the smaller box with alter boy entrails

and the smallest, line with the blanket of your great aunt

crocheted upon hearing of your birth.

Here, you are safe.

Although one of the most interesting poems in the collection has to be “IN A CANDLELIT ROOM, a spell for when you don’t know who to call,” by Ottawa poet nina jane drystek, that includes, at the end:

choose a vowel sound

make it low

let it grow

let it fill the room

hold the cup tight and drink

recite seventeen times:

            for this i am this

Coven, it would seem, is very much aware of emerging poets (with an editorial preference to the first-person narrative lyric) and offering support, providing an opportunity to learn the names and the works of young writers on their ways to doing some very worth things; so, doesn’t this mean, in turn, you should be paying attention?

Ottawa ON: The afternoon immediately following our small fair, Ottawa poet Michael Dennis did a house reading with Cobourg, Ontario poet, writer, editor and publisher Stuart Ross, and their host, Alexander Monker, even produced a small item for the occasion: 8 Poems (Sunday Afternoon Poems), “Published on the occasion of a reading held in Ottawa on November 24, 2019.” I’ve always liked the idea of a small item produced in a limited quantity for the sake of such occasions (Ross has been producing single-poem leaflets for similar occasions, through his Proper Tales Press, for a very long time), and this small and charming chapbook allows for the intimacy of a house reading in published form. The collection, wisely, opens with the recent tribute Ross wrote to the late poet Nelson Ball, composed “for, after, and with Nelson”:

Willow Street

Nelson and I

sit facing

each other

in silence

I get up

put a kettle

on the

two-burner

stove

sit back down

resume

our silence

the kettle

rattles

I pour myself a tea

sit back down

resume

our silence

we cover

a lot

of ground

With this small collection of two well-published poets and long-time friends, four poems each, the overlap between their writing becoming more obvious, more pronounced: the observational commentaries, and the unexpected twists (something, obviously, less overt in Dennis’ work than in Ross’, but still there). I’m disappointed to not have made the event, and had we not the sixth birthday party for our Rose on the same afternoon, I would certainly have been at this reading.

Sonnet

the lightning staggered across the sky

the sky carved its initials into itself

into itself the glass of water poured

water poured into my basement, destroying my books

my books are all about emotions

emotions are often sold by the pound

Pound turned to skywriting antisemitic slogans

antisemitic slogans can win you free pizza

you free pizza from rusting cages

rusting cages hold your most tender thoughts

most tender thoughts are insincere

insincere is the dolphin that buries the coffin

the coffin contains a banjo and a banjo-playing duck

playing duck is a worthwhile occupation

12 or 20 (second series) questions with Erin Emily Ann Vance

Erin Emily Ann Vance holds a Masters Degree in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Calgary and is pursuing a Masters Degree in Irish Folklore and Ethnology at University College Dublin. Vance attended the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry summer course at Queen's University Belfast in July 2018, and was a fellow of Summer Literary Seminars in Nairobi in December 2018. She attended the Writers Guild of Alberta Banff Centre Residency in February 2019 and worked with author Kimmy Beach as part of the 2019 WGA Mentorship Program. Vance was a recipient of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts Young Artist Prize in 2017 (nominated by Aritha van Herk) and a finalist for the 2018 Alberta Magazine Awards for her short story “All the Pretty Bones.” Her debut novel, Advice for Taxidermists and Amateur Beekeepers will be released November 1, 2019 by Stonehouse Publishing, and her most recent chapbook of poetry, The Sorceress who Left Too Soon, was published by Coven Editions in June 2019.

1 - How did your first book or chapbook change your life? How does your most recent work compare to your previous? How does it feel different?

My first chapbook was published by Loft on Eighth press in 2016 with their Long Lunch, Quick Reads Program, which occurs nearly every month with a new chapbook and lunchtime launch. The Night Will Be Long But Beautiful was an adaptation of my undergraduate honours thesis, which was a hybrid poetry memoir about the life and death of my uncle, Jeff Lakes, how his death had a ripple effect on our family, and an investigation of mountaineering and writing about mountaineers. It was unique because it utilized my uncle's photography and ephemera from his expeditions, particularly the 1995 expedition to K2 that led to his death. This chapbook absolutely had a profound effect on me and my my career, because it was later anthologized in a year-end collection of Loft on Eighth's chapbooks and then became part of the Print(ed) Word Project with Loft 112 (a Calgary arts organization) and Alberta Printmakers. I was paired with artist Tim van Wijk, who turned the chap into an exquisite art book. For Print(ed) Word, twelve artists and writers were paired with the intention to create limited edition art books. Copies of these art books are now on permanent display outside of the TD Great Reading Room in the Calgary Central Library, and a catalogue with all of the artwork and writing is available as well. The books have also been on exhibition in several galleries along the way. Not only did my first chapbook lead to amazing things (a speaker series, an upcoming salon series, and now a documentary!), it was a hugely important book for me to write. It allowed me to process parts of my family life that I didn't understand, and connect with my living family on a deeper level, as they were by my side every step of the way. I participated in this project alongside writers such as Aritha van Herk, Jani Krulc, Lee Kvern, and Barb Howard, and being considered in the same league as writers I have admired for years gave me the confidence to pursue more publishing opportunities.

Recently, I've published two more chapbooks, Someday I Will No Longer Write About You: Poems for My Family (Loft on Eighth), and The Sorceress Who Left Too Soon: Poems After Remedios Varo (Coven Editions). My chapbook with Coven was illustrated by Manahil Bandukwala. This was my first experience of having a book illustrated and the finished product is absolutely exquisite. The Coven team, (Stephanie Meloche and Mia Morgan) was a dream to work with, and I am over the moon with how it turned out. The Sorceress Who Left Too Soon feels very different to my two previous chapbooks because it was a longer journey from acceptance to publication, and there was the added element of illustration and design. Each Coven publication is completely different and I believe this is their first full-length chap! An immense amount of thought goes into every element, from paper to ink to incredible attention to editing.

Loft on Eighth produces multiple chapbooks a month, so their process is very different. Editor Igpy Kin is incredible to work with and one of my favourite artists, Stacey Walyuchow recently joined the team as designer. I love working with Loft on Eighth and hope to do more with them in the future!

My first novel, Advice for Taxidermists and Amateur Beekeepers, will be out on November 1st with Stonehouse Publishing. It's sort of surreal to go from chapbooks to a novel! Most people go from chapbooks to full length poetry collections, rather than poetry chapbooks to novels. I always thought I would, too, but I can't for the life of me stick to one genre and when I finished my first novel, I was still only about 1/4 done my first full-length collection. The editing process for a novel is more involved- there are more people at a publishing house than a small or micro press!

2 - How did you come to poetry first, as opposed to, say, fiction or non-fiction?

I've always written poetry and fiction, and I honestly can't recall a time when I only wrote one or the other. Being a poet makes my fiction infinitely better, and being a fiction writer gives me the liberty to take an image or a line and turn it into a book. I love writing in both genres because I never get bored this way, and an image or a story will appear to me and I have the freedom to find the right genre for it.

3 - How long does it take to start any particular writing project? Does your writing initially come quickly, or is it a slow process? Do first drafts appear looking close to their final shape, or does your work come out of copious notes?

I am an obsessive self-editor, so the first draft feels like I am running on a very slow treadmill. I write in slow bursts. I also research constantly, so from idea to pen on the page may be weeks. A first draft for a chapbook can take two weeks to two months. I will spend hours writing a poem and then put it aside and edit at a later time. I approach fiction in the same way. It’s usually a slow but steady process all they way through.

4 - Where does a poem or work of prose usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a "book" from the very beginning?

I never used to work from the place of "is this a book?" but now I do. I think that after a few bigger projects your brain just starts to organize poems and scenes and stories into larger projects. It's subconscious, really. I took part in this year's Writers Guild of Alberta Mentorship Program, with Kimmy Beach as my mentor, and she showed me how amongst the pages and pages of poetry I gave her, were common threads tying all of the poems together into what I hadn't yet realized was a book.

5 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?

I enjoy doing readings and have been doing them for over a decade now. As a teenager I competed in poetry slams and did spoken word. I worked with Sheri D Wilson who taught me so much about performance that my readings are infinitely better because of her, even though I no longer write spoken word.

Readings are part of my process, because they are a way to stay involved in my community and meet and interact with other writers. I am quite shy so I don't go to as many as I should, but whenever I do they are always a lovely experience. I love hearing other writers read their work, and then carrying their voice in my head when I return to their books.

On a more selfish level, readings are a great way to gauge how people react to your work, and an avenue through which people can discover your writing.

6 - Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds of questions are you trying to answer with your work? What do you even think the current questions are?

I think the current questions have a lot to do with who is telling which stories. We are finally, as a literary world, understanding that this idea of ‘giving voice to the voiceless’ is absolute fallacy and thus I think that the biggest and most important concern is that you are not telling someone else’s story for them, for your own gain. I think that whenever we decide to write a new book or story we have to ask ourselves if we are taking space away from others. It is important that we are not co-opting the experiences of others for our own gain.

More specifically, my writing often addresses fear and grief relating to the bodily experiences of women. I often find myself grounding my work in the female gothic and Kristeva’s work on abjection.

7 – What do you see the current role of the writer being in larger culture? Does s/he even have one? What do you think the role of the writer should be?

The writer always has a role, especially in a culture that is continuously devaluing the arts and upholding an unsustainable gig economy. It is an act of resistance to dedicate your life to something that capitalism deems unworthy. In a continually plugged-in world, it is also the writer’s job to provide a reprieve from screens and notifications; as a fully-engaged with the internet millennial, one of the most powerful things is a book that makes me ignore my phone and computer until I have finished it. I want my books to be the sort of books that people leave their phones in the other room for.

8 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?

It is essential AND enjoyable. All good writing needs to be in collaboration with a good editor at some point, and so far I’ve had amazing editors.

9 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?

Stay curious and question everything.

10 - How easy has it been for you to move between genres (poetry to the novel)? What do you see as the appeal?

It’s really easy for me, though I do occasionally favour one over the other. Writing in multiple genres helps me to stay limber in my writing and to not lose sight of the joy in writing. Whether you write multiple genres or not, it is vital to move between genres while reading.

11 - What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?

I’m moving to Dublin in a month, so with all of that preparation I don’t have a routine at the moment! I write whenever possible, whether it’s dictating to an app on my hour long commute to work, or scribbling something down half awake in the middle of the night. I do try to take a half-day off of work to go to the library and write every week. With my most recent chapbook just having been released and with a novel coming out, my work is mostly follow-up and admin at the moment, however!

12 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?

History and folklore. When I am stuck, I read history books and folklore. Without a doubt, something always piques my interest.

13 - What fragrance reminds you of home?

Wet dogs, coffee, pipe-smoke, chickens, whiskey, cigarettes, grass, sawdust, wood smoke, English breakfast tea, and lavender

14 - David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?

I write ekphrastic poetry so art is a huge influence on my work, especially surrealism and dadaism. I dabble in mixed media collage art. My father and brother are both musicians, so music is also important to my practice; I use it to get into the tone of a particular piece, or to help transport myself to a time or place in history. I mentioned before the importance of history and folklore to my work, so I spend as much time as possible steeped in that; I’m even beginning a second masters degree in folklore in September!

15 - What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside of your work?

The writers most important to my work right now are Shirley Jackson, Barbara Comyns, Sandy Pool, Sandra Kasturi, Doireann Ni Ghriofa, Annemarie Ni Churreain, Seamus Heaney, Miriam Toews, Anna Burns, Joy Williams, Carmen Maria Machado, Amber Tamblyn, Camilla Grudova, Gaetan Soucy, Marie-Claire Blais, Toni Morrison, Helen Oyeyemi, Christine Dwyer Hickey, and Emma Donoghue.

16 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?

I’m very interested in non-fiction, particularly investigative journalism. I would love to branch into True Crime writing one day. I’d also love to start a podcast.

17 - If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?

Funeral director, criminologist, or forensic anthropologist. I wanted to be an FBI agent and catch serial killers when I was growing up, probably because of all of the X Files, Six Feet Under, and Criminal Minds I watched. I don’t really believe in only ever having one job or occupation, and I am still in school with hopes to work as an archivist in the future, in addition to writing.

18 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?

I always loved writing, and other things that interested me (like the aforementioned serial killer catching) involved a lot of science and math, which I did not excel at in school. I toyed with being a teacher for a long time and was even accepted to an education program, but I decided to do my MA instead, which I am very thankful for, because although I do enjoy teaching, teaching grade school just isn’t in the cards for me! I worked in the Archives and Special Collections at the University of Calgary during my undergrad and first masters and found that environment to suit me much better. Turns out this introvert likes the quiet- who knew?

19 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?

Can I go by genre? It’s been a good year for books!

I just finished Maryse Meijer's new short story collection Rag, and was blown away by it. I couldn't put it down. The stories are disturbing and fascinating and deeply, deeply human.

I think my favourite novel of the year so far was Milkman by Anna Burns. I read it at the beginning of February and haven't stopped thinking about it. It’s lead to what may be a bordering on unhealthy obsession with The Troubles. Milkman is quirky, nuanced, and nothing short of brilliant; it’s a great companion novel to my favourite nonfiction book of the year, Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe. At its core, this book explores archival practices during and after conflict, something I am absolutely fascinated with and on the surface is concerned with the disappearance and murder of Jean McConville in 1972.

I'm reading Robin Richardson's poetry collection Sit How You Want right now, and it's highly addictive: intelligent, sharp, and exciting.

I don’t watch many films (that’s my partner’s territory) but I recently watched the documentary I, Dolours written by Ed Moloney and directed by Maurice Sweeney. It uses archival footage of IRA activist Dolours Price to tell her side of the Jean McConville story.

20 - What are you currently working on?

Right now, my second novel is with beta readers and my first full-length poetry collection is out on submission. I am in the idea stage of a third novel, which will be a slight shift in genre (diving into a bit of historical fiction), and 2/3 of the way through a short fiction collection. I am also working on two follow-up chapbooks to The Sorceress Who Left Too Soon, each one responding to the work of another female surrealist painter. I’m also working on a true crime essay about a murder that occurred in my hometown

12 or 20 (second series) questions;

post ghost press: Deglane, Jordan + small poems for the masses

what’s left of the wild animals,

the rainforests, the savannahs,

will eat human corpse after corpse

until their descendants no longer

hear tales of the soft-skinned

two-legged monsters. (Wanda Deglane)

I’m pleased to see the emergence of another micro poetry press, especially in Ottawa, over the past few months, with publications appearing regularly by post ghost press, “a tiny publisher of microchapbooks and other strange projects, committed to publishing something new, weird, and lovable every month.” Three recent publications I’ve managed to get my hands on include the anthology zine small poems for the masses volume one (September 2018), things that will happen after the end of the world no one will be around to witness, a poem by Wanda Deglane (2018) and CALCIFICATION by Susannah Jordan (2018). I really like the updated 1990s cut and paste feel of these tiny zines, full-colour sheets of images with text literally cut and pasted in as strips. small poems for the masses volume one is the first volume (obviously) of a series of small anthologies focused on the small poem, and this current volume, at least, includes a single poem per poet, one to a page, with pieces by Alex Everette, Frances Boyle, Juliana Rupchan, Kristin LaFollette, Katy DeCoste and Erin Emily Ann Vance—but for Boyle and Vance, the contributors to all three of these publications are entirely unknown to me, and the lack of author biographies, a peeve I seem to forever hold, is less of an issue here (although it makes it far more difficult to provide links for authors, if I have no idea where they are situated, or anything about them). This is a press that appears to favour and focus on the emerging, and there is a good energy to these small publications, one that easily comes through every publication.

athena

when we drive the ravine rushes by

you sound lost feel lost are lost in

your red flannel your levis your doc martens

everything orange and blue blurry

and neat– something about fall feels

lost– and dirty– like a t-shirt shed in the

backseat of the volkswagen and never

taken inside to be washed like the coffee

cup you keep reusing without rinsing

because it’s just coffee without any milk (Katy DeCoste)

For anyone interested in their publications, they do have an extensive website, as well as an Etsy store, and will be tabling this June, for the first time, at the ottawa small press book fair.