dusie : the tuesday poem,

The Tuesday poem is more than a dozen years old, with new poems by six hundred and sixty-five different authors (so far) since April 9, 2013. For those unaware, I've been curating this weekly poem series over at the dusie blog, an offshoot of the online poetry journal Dusie (http://www.dusie.org/), edited/published by American poet and publisher Susana Gardner.

http://dusie.blogspot.ca/

The series aims to publish a mix of authors from the dusie kollektiv, as well as Canadian and international poets, ranging from emerging to the well established. Over the next few weeks and months, watch for new work by dusies and non-dusies alike, including Ealhwine, Matthew Taylor Blais, Farah Ghafoor, Larry Sawyer, Nicholas Selig, Binoy Zuzarte, Christina Wells, Frances Cannon, Dana Teen Lomax, Susan Robertson, Micha Solomon, Emilie Lafleur, Gage Michael Wheatley, Robin Durnford, Madelaine Caritas Longman, Sarah Wolfson, Patrick O’Reilly, Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi, Amirah Al Wassif, Ben Berman Ghan, Dagne Forrest, Melanie Power, Lisa Fishman, Kristin Lueke and Mike Bagwell, among many others.

And submissions to this series remain open: send poem(s) and bio as .doc w photo to rob_mclennan (at) hotmail (dot) com with subject line: "tuesday poem submission"

A new poem will appear every Tuesday afternoon, Central European Summer Time, just after lunch (which is 8am in Central Canada terms).

If you wish to receive notices for poems as they appear, sign up here for the weekly email list.

So far, the Tuesday poem series has featured new writing by Elizabeth Robinson, Megan Kaminski, Marcus McCann, Hoa Nguyen, Stephen Collis, j/j hastain, David W. McFadden, Edward Smallfield, Erín Moure,Roland Prevost, Maria Damon, Rae Armantrout, Jenna Butler, Cameron Anstee, Sarah Rosenthal, Kathryn MacLeod, Camille Martin, Pattie McCarthy, Stephen Brockwell, Rosmarie Waldrop, Nicole Markotić, Deborah Poe, Ken Belford, Hugh Thomas, nathan dueck, Hailey Higdon, Stephanie Bolster, Jessica Smith,Mark Cochrane, Amanda Earl, Robert Swereda, Colin Smith, Sarah Mangold, Joe Blades, Maxine Chernoff,Peter Jaeger, Dennis Cooley, Louise Bak, Phil Hall, Fenn Stewart, derek beaulieu, Susan Briante, Adeena Karasick, Marthe Reed, Brecken Hancock, Lea Graham, D.G. Jones, Monty Reid, Karen Mac Cormack, Elizabeth Willis, Susan Elmslie, Paul Vermeersch, Susan M. Schultz, Rachel Blau DuPlessis, K.I. Press,Méira Cook, Rachel Moritz, Kemeny Babineau, Gil McElroy, Geoffrey Nutter, Lisa Samuels, Dan Thomas-Glass, Judith Copithorne, Deborah Meadows, Meredith Quartermain, William Allegrezza, nikki reimer,Hillary Gravendyck, Catherine Wagner,Stan Rogal, Sarah de Leeuw, Tsering Wangmo Dhompa, Arielle Greenberg, lary timewell, Norma Cole, Paul Hoover, Emily Carr, Kate Schapira, Johanna Skibsrud, Joshua Marie Wilkinson, Richard Froude, Marilyn Irwin, Carrie Olivia Adams, Aaron Tucker,Mercedes Eng, Jean Donnelly, Pearl Pirie, Valerie Coulton, Lesley Yalen, Andy Weaver, Christine Stewart,Susan Lewis, Kate Greenstreet, ryan fitzpatrick, Amish Trivedi, Lola Lemire Tostevin, Lina ramona Vitkauskas, Nikki Sheppy, N.W. Lea, Barbara Henning, Chus Pato (trans Erín Moure), Stephen Cain, Lucy Ives, William Hawkins, Jan Zwicky, Rusty Morrison, Jon Boisvert, Helen Hajnoczky, Steven Heighton,Jennifer Kronovet, Ray Hsu, Steve McOrmond, Lily Brown, Daniel Scott Tysdal, Beth Bachmann, Harold Abramowitz, Sarah Burgoyne, David James Brock, Elizabeth Treadwell, Shannon Maguire, Mary Austin Speaker, Victor Coleman, Charles Bernstein, Jennifer K Dick, Eric Schmaltz, Kayla Czaga, Paige Taggart,Hugh Behm-Steinberg, Lillian Necakov, Liz Howard, Jamie Reid, Jennifer Londry, Rachel Loden, a rawlings, Jenny Haysom, Jake Kennedy, Beverly Dahlen, Kristjana Gunnars, Eleni Zisimatos, Pete Smith,Julie Carr, Natalee Caple, Anne Boyer, Alice Burdick, Buck Downs, Phinder Dulai, Bronwen Tate, Ashley-Elizabeth Best, Nelson Ball, Laura Sims, Cassidy McFazdean, Paul Zits, Geoffrey Young, Michael Sikkema,Renée Sarojini Saklikar, Emily Izsak, Michael Ruby, Kemeny Babineau, Mairéad Byrne, Amy Bagwell, Jamie Sharpe, Dina Del Bucchia, Endi Bogue Hartigan, Claire Lacey, George Bowering, Muriel Leung,Michael Lithgow, Brynne Rebele-Henry, Kate Hargreaves, Carrie Hunter, Jennifer Baker, Rita Wong, Kristina Drake, Sonnet L’Abbé, Montana Ray, Farid Matuk, Michael Cavuto, Mark Truscott, Virginia Konchan, Christine Stewart and Ted Byrne, Chris Martin, Jason Christie, Marie Buck, George Stanley, Sean Braune, Natalie Lyalin, Donato Mancini, Shannon Bramer, Anne Cecelia Holmes, Kiki Petrosino, Emily Abendroth, Melissa Bull, Barbara Langhorst, Suzanne Zelazo, Aaron McCollough, Éireann Lorsung, Alexandra Oliver, Klara du Plessis, Daphne Marlatt, CAConrad, Sarah Dowling, Sara Renee Marshall, Sarah Fox, Nyla Matuk, Cody-Rose Clevidence, Brian Henderson, Adrienne Gruber, bp sutton, Laura Walker, Jessica Popeski,Collier Nogues, Mark Goldstein, Zach Savich, Jacqueline Valencia, Gerry Shikatani, Jennifer Stella, Matthew Henriksen, Sharon Thesen, Sarah Cook, Eryk Wenziak, 신선영 Sun Yung Shin, Ander Monson, Carrie Etter, Sarah Moses, Julia Polyck-O’Neill, Aimee Herman, Christine Stoddard, Aaron Boothby, John Barton, Shazia Hafiz Ramji, Steve Venright, natalie hanna, Melissa Eleftherion, Adam Clay, Jennifer Zilm, Michelle Detorie, Kyle Flemmer, Biswamit Dwibedy, Rebecca Salazar, Ryan Eckes, Kate Siklosi, Lissa McLaughlin, Ashleigh Lambert, Shane Book, Anna Gurton-Wachter, James Meetze, Conor Mc Donnell, Jake Syersak, Domenica Martinello, Stephanie Grey, Christy Davids, Jay Ritchie, Katie Fowley, Emily Sanford, Geoffrey Nilson, Simina Banu, Marty Cain, Chelene Knight, Madhur Anand, Matthew Johnstone, Chia-Lun Chang, Andrew Wessels, Michael Martin Shea, Kimberly Quiogue Andrews and Sarah Blake, Lance La Rocque, Callie Garnet, Kerry Gilbert, Laura Theobald, Felicia Zamora, Eléna Rivera, Christian Schlegel, Janet Kaplan, Stuart Ross, Beth Ayer, Laressa Dickey, Beni Xiao, Annick MacAskill, Jenna Lyn Albert, John Phillips, MC Hyland, Di Brandt, Anthony Etherin, M.H. Vanstone, Sommer Browning, Melanie Dennis Unrau, Madeleine Stratford, Liz Countryman, Jamie Townsend, nina jane drystek, Nicole Steinberg, Lauren Haldeman, Catherine Cafferty, Cath Morris, Kristi Maxwell, Shira Dentz, Taryn Hubbard, Joan Naviyuk Kane, Joel Robert Ferguson, Jane Virginia Rohrer, Elisha May Rubacha, Noah Falck, Rebecca Rustin, Seth Landman, Marvyne Jenoff, Mikko Harvey, Erin Emily Ann Vance, Michael Turner, Heather Sweeney, Tanis MacDonald, Evan Gray, Conyer Clayton, Laynie Browne, Timothy Otte, Tim Atkins, Erin Bedford, Alex Manley, Jen Sookfong Lee, Kirby, Emma Bolden, Ruth Daniell, Lindsay Turner, Brenda Brooks, Rob Winger, Jordan Davis, Avonlea Fotheringham, Winston Le, Diana Arterian, Manahil Bandukwala, Samuel Ace, Zane Koss, J.I. Kleinberg, Luke Bradford, Sadie McCarney, Shelly Harder, Ariel Dawn, Arisa White, Ian Martin, Charles Rafferty, Andrew Cantrell, Terese Mason Pierre, Guy Birchard, Kimberly Campanello and Léonce Lupette, Franco Cortese, Dale Tracy, Lucy Dawkins, Shannon Quinn, Tom Snarsky, Aja Moore, Paul Perry, Erin Lyndal Martin, Alice Notley, katie o’brien, Chad Sweeney, Nicole Raziya Fong, Emily Lu, Henry Israeli, Jónína Kirton, MLA Chernoff, Wren Hanks, Catherine Graham, Geoffrey Olsen, Jami Macarty, David Groulx, Emmalea Russo, Kyle Kinaschuk, James Hawes, Anne Lesley Selcer, Amelia Does, Franklin Bruno, Matea Kulić, Breanna Ferguson, émilie kneifel, David Bradford, Trish Salah, Astra Papachristodoulou, Amy Parkes, K.B. Thors, JoAnna Novak, Jean Van Loon, Brandon Krieg, Jennifer Wortman, Kim Fahner, Cameron Gearen, Hamish Ballantyne, Diana S. Adams, Bill Carty, Khashayar Mohammadi, Allyson Paty, Mia Ayumi Malhotra, Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch, Ginny Threefoot, Mahaila Smith, Lloyd Wallace, Nicole McCarthy, Jérôme Melançon, Jessica Q. Stark, Jaime Forsythe, SJ Fowler, Emma Tilley, Jake Byrne, Kimberly Alidio, William Vallières, Cecilia Tanburri Stuart, Michael Edwards, Julia Drescher, James Lindsay, Edric Mesmer, Kat Cameron, Brandon Brown, kevin mcpherson eckhoff, Courtney Bates-Hardy, Barry Schwabsky, Tom Prime, Jennifer Falkner, luna ray hall, Endre Farkas, Gregory Betts, Kate Angus, Ren Pike, Helen Robertson, Jack Jung, Nate Logan, Natalie Rice, Emily Brandt, Christina Shah, David Buuck, Ellen Chang-Richardson, Benjamin Niespodziany, Katie Jean Shinkle, Ken Norris, Howie Good, Lesle Lewis, Jaclyn Piudik, Alexander Joseph, Alina Pleskova, Christopher Patton, Nathanael O’Reilly, AM Ringwalt, Allison Pitinii Davis, Carla Harris, Adam O. Davis, Camille Guthrie, Paul Pearson, Andrew Dubois, Trevor Wilkes, Liam Siemens, Saba Pakdel, Moira Walsh, Natalie Jane Edson, Monica Mody, Grant Wilkins, Maw Shein Win, Jade Wallace, Wayne Miller, Meghan Kemp-Gee, Katie Naughton, Julian Day, Evan Nicholls, Therese Estacion, Jessica Laser, Matt Robinson, Ayaz Pirani, Elizabeth Clark Wessel, Sue Bracken, Gregory Crosby, Roxanna Bennett, Jessie Janeshek, Leah Sandals, Lindsey Webb, Robert Hogg, Daniel Owen, Kimberley Orton, Colin Martin, Michael Boughn, Kate Bolton Bonnici, Joey Yearous-Algozin, James Yeary, Ellie Sawatzky, Sharmila Cohen, df parizeau, Shane Kowalski, Rose Maloukis, Andrew Gorin, Vivian Vavassis, Micah Ballard, Angeline Schellenberg, Robbie Chesick, Douglas Piccinnini, Sue J. Levon, Olive Andrews, Matthew Hanick, Ben Jahn, Mary Rykov, Phillip Crymble, Chris Kerr, Sarah Feldman, Ben Meyerson, Jaeyun Yoo, Kirstin Allio, Heather Cadsby, Ori Fienberg, Isla McLaughlin, Nathan Anderson, Margo LaPierre, Chris Banks, Joseph Kidney, Anna Zumbahlen, Jay Stefanik, Clare Thiessen, Kōan Brink, Simon Brown, Dessa Bayrock, Tolu Oloruntoba, Réka Nyitrai, Brad Aaron Modlin, Miranda Mellis, Guy Elston, Jon Cone, Robyn Schelenz, Tara Borin, Emma Rhodes, Peter Myers, Adam Katz, Jessica Gigot, Kyla Houbolt, Michael Betancourt, Isaac Pickell, Emily Tristan Jones, Russell Carisse, Amanda Deutch, Matthew Owen Gwathmey, Lori Anderson Moseman, Caelan Ernest, Kate Spencer, Adriana Oniță, Alana Solin, Eric Weiskott, Lynn McClory, Jason Heroux, Terri Witek, Colin Dardis, Tricia Eddy Woods, Erin Robinsong, Jason Emde, Jerome Sala, Ian LeTourneau, Sandra Ridley, John Levy, Alina Stefanescu, Brandon Shimoda, Yoyo Comay, Lydia Unsworth, Constance Hansen, Barbara Tomash, Ron Silliman, Nicholas Molbert, J-T Kelly, Margaret Ronda, Catherine Rockwood, William Cirocco, Elana Wolff, Iordanis Papadopoulos, Bruce Whiteman, Sonia Saikaley, Summer Brenner, Robert van Vliet, Lock Baillie, Anna Reckin, Kyle McKillop, Mark Valentine, Nico Vassilakis, Isabel Sobral Campos, Maya Clubine, Henry Gould, Noah Berlatsky, Charlene Kwiatkowski, Ted Landrum, Sarah Alcaide-Escue, Ian Seed, Beatrice Szymkowiak, Nicholas Bradley, Megan Nichols, Adam Beardsworth, Concetta Principe, John Elizabeth Stintzi, Asher Ghaffar, Maggie Burton, George Shelton, Gabriel Ojeda-Sague, Karl Jirgens, Naomi Foyle, Joel Chace, Tracy Quan, Neil Surkan, John Stiles, Katie Ebbitt, Patrick Grace, Dawn Macdonald, Marilyn Bowering, Han VanderHart, Joseph Donato, David Harrison Horton, Hannah Siden, Jillian Clasky, Steven Ross Smith, Nikki Wallschlaeger, Mari-Lou Rowley, David Currie, Charlie Petch and Dag T. Straumsvåg, Catriona Strang, Maria Hardin, Beth Follett, Beatriz Hausner, Alison Stone, George Murray, c. a. r. refuse, Carlos A. Pittella, Ellen Boyette, David Martin, Cara Goodwin,  Dominic Dulin, Larkin M. Higgins, Siân Killingsworth, Sean Howard, Louise Akers, Lillian Nećakov and Gary Barwin, Fiona Tinwei Lam, Jennifer May Newhook, Jill Stengel, Lisa Pasold, Marc Perez, Mandy Sandhu, Susan Gevirtz, Paul Corman-Roberts, Lauren Peat, Michael Chang, R. Kolewe, Ashley D. Escobar, Colin Browne, Paul Ryudo Lampert, Diana Manole, arien wolf, Ronna Bloom, Babar Khan, Conal Smiley, Marita Dachsel, Kit-Xgwelemc Kennedy, Mark Laba, Chris Johnson, Nicole Mae, Brendan H. O'Connor, Eva Haas, Jamella Hagen, Ian Lockaby, Sunnylyn Ballard Thibodeaux, Holly Loveday, Lisa McCabe, Jessie Jones, Salma Hussain, Dani Spinosa and Tom Jenks.

12 or 20 (second series) questions with Bruce Smith

Bruce Smith is the author of six books of poems, The Common Wages, Silver and Information, Mercy Seat, The Other Lover which was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, Songs for Two Voices, Devotions, a finalist for the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the LA Times Book Award, Spill, and most recently, Hungry Ghost from Arrowsmith Press.  He lives in Syracuse, NY.

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

Bruce Smith: Poetry first through the grid of the AM/FM radio: songs from Philadelphia’s WHAT and WDAS where Georgie Woods, The Man with the Goods, played “Cry Baby” by Garnet Mims and The Enchanters, The Miracles, The Orlons, Marvin Gaye, Martha and the Vandellas.  Those songs had the necromantic power to raise the dead and set the feet in motion and rip you up and question any notions you had about being comfortably in your body in America.  So, poetry through poetry’s sexy cousin, song.

rm: How long does it take to start any particular writing project?  Does your writing initially come quickly, or is it a slow process?  Are you the author of short pieces that end up combining in a larger project, or are you working on a “book” from the very beginning?

BS: Writing project suggests something planned or devised or schemed.  I’m interested in the next poem.  Did Dickinson have a book project?  Or a career for that matter?  Or did she move from one blank, ecstatic moment to the next?  I move slowly, an ox not a cat, a crane not a hummingbird.  I like the notion of “book” in quotes since I usually feel skeptical about the endeavor if not ironic about the author.

rm: Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process?  Are you the sort of writer that enjoys doing readings?

BS: I dislike public readings, all those eyes, and so judgy.  And those questions about your “process” and your book cover.  Plus, I get anxious, apprehensive, worried, irritated: the Four Muses.

rm: Do you have theoretical concerns behind your writing?  What kind of questions are you trying to answer with your work? 

BS:  I have concerns, maybe not theories. Skepticism toward power and authority, “mastery”.  The acoustics of poetry and associative modes as another kind of logic.  James Baldwin memorably remarked: “I know I can’t drive a truck. And I can’t run a bank. And I can’t count. And I can’t lead a movement. But I can fuck up your mind.” 

rm: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve heard [not necessarily given to you directly]?

BS:  "First you learn the instrument, then you learn the music, then you forget all that and just play." A quote attributed to Charlie Parker.

rm: When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for [for lack of a better word] inspiration?

BS: I give the I Ching a ring.  I turn to Buddhist books, sutras, and books of art criticism, books that try to translate an aesthetic experience of color, shape, an ethical experience, a political experience into words.  I walk the dog: that kind of instinctual intelligence I wish I had.

rm: What fragrance reminds you of home:

BS: Good question: that metallic, chlorinated, clean, sharp, electrical spark that is ozone from the El mixed with Freihofer’s bread smell and gingkoes dropping their fragrance along the Roosevelt Boulevard in October.  Philadelphia, mon amour.   

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

BS: I’m looking at the books on the floor: Dickinson’s letters; Balakian’s New York Trilogy; Clarice Lispector; Heather Cox Richardson, Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America; Anne Carson’s Grief Lessons: Four Play by Euripedes; Gayl Jones, Corregidora; poetry by Alice Notley, Linda Norton, Askold Melnyczuk, Hala Alyan, Inger Christensen, Joyelle McSweeney, Wanda Coleman, Tom Sleigh, D Smith, P Smith.  The Oresteia.  Peter Schjeldahl’s art reviews, James Marcus on Emerson.  Minima Moralia.  Awakening of the Heart: Essential Buddhist Sutras and Commentaries, Thich Nhat Hanh, Karen Armstrong, Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life.

rm: What do you see the current role of the writer being in larger culture? What do you think the role of the writer should be? 

Our new poet laureate says poetry resists all forms of coercion.  And maybe the writer creates a kind of intellectual, cultural turbulence that resists Donald Trump and his assaults on America and American universities and American education.  Poetry resists the tactics that resemble extortion and are violations of the First Amendment. Critical thinking and especially that strange kind of knowledge that is poetry and art are important antidotes in our democratic structures. Without that culture and our systems of learning, we would not have a democracy.

12 or 20 (second series) questions;

Ongoing notes: the ottawa small press book fair (part three, : Mahaila Smith + Janice Colman,

Further to what I picked up at the most recent edition of the ottawa small press book fair [see my first post on such here; see my second post on such here]. What might 2026 bring for all of this small press fair goodness, possibly? And, as ever, check out Bywords.ca for all of your Ottawa literary events listings, as well as an array of new poems posted monthly.

Ottawa ON: Produced as part of Smith’s 2024 John Newlove Poetry Award win (as judged by Toronto poet, editor and publisher Jim Johnstone) is Ottawa poet Mahaila Smith’s latest, the chapbook After All This Hurt (Bywords, 2025). After All This Hurt follows their recent “novelette in verse” Seed Beetle (Stelliform, 2025) [see my review of such here] and a handful of chapbooks, including one from above/ground. Across sixteen poems, only one of which sits even slightly beyond a single page, Smith’s narratives suggest a straightforward patter, but offer narrative twist and turn, hard left and right. Each poem offers a descriptive clarity, unfolding scenes, and a meditative push, seeking answers to impossible questions, perhaps, or to find that pinpoint of what otherwise might seem out of reach. “My things, undisturbed,” closes the poem “After all this wandering,” “stuck in the dirt / under my hoard of leaves and feathers.” Smith attempts to write their way through and beyond “all this hurt,” as a way to understand what it means. To understand how best to set down, move beyond.

Time to leave 

I collect the objects I think I will need,
as swiftly as I can.
Socks and matches,
thick clothing and a waterproof coat,
gloves and dried food.
I hold my breath,
passing from bedroom to pantry.
I will not breathe the spores
of recent infection, scattered
from shared ventilation
entwining the entire building.
I get out quickly.
Hoping I’ve done enough.

Grant Wilkins and James Spyker

Toronto ON/Montreal QC: I hadn’t been aware of the work of “Montreal-born, emerging Toronto poet” Janice Colman, author of the chapbook PLAYING CELLO FOR A DEAD BIRD (Montreal QC: Turret House Press, 2025), a chapbook that suggests itself, despite whatever journal publishing credits within, as Colman’s debut. While I do find the type a bit small in this title, Colman’s poems are intriguing for the slow movement of her accumulated phrase-lines, one set against another in a kind of purposeful meandering. “I need to buy more milk,” the poem “I want to write a poem about heartache” begins, “we’re running / low    I want to write a poem about / running & low // to the ground.” There’s such lovely pacing through her poems, such vibrant ease in her lines and her line-breaks. Oh, I would be interested to see where her poems might next go.

what is another word for bird?

warbler through my left hip into
groin right beside sharp 

on my feet my grandmother’s bunions
veer to the right beside
index leaning left    what 

another word for low-lying
fragments bruised fruits that fall
my daughter on the same floor
a few doors down 

there are no walls
only words spoken
through a hornet’s nest