Over the years

...I've learned to look more closely at the world around me. I owe H for this. Watching him photograph everything from insects to lichen has put me in closer touch with the environment. A different way of looking. Anyhow, the other day I was telling some people about H's photographs of spiders and how his work had inspired my latest poetry project. They asked if he has work online. I passed this on to H who then put some of his work on a blog. Since I know a few arachnophobes visit my blog, please beware, Harvey's Spiders N Stuff is not a place to visit if you're afraid of spiders.

While I was inside

…studying The Urban Prairie by curator Dan Ring, with essays by Dan Ring, Guy Vanderhaeghe and George Melnyk, a ptarmigan browsed through the willows in our yard. It doesn’t seem to mind the traffic or the stop sign.



While I wrote a poem, H watched the ptarmigan stroll through our yard.



If only my poem could move that easily.

I spent the colder days

…of this week reading books that I borrowed. These include Immigrant Blues by Goran Simic, Lunar Drift by Marlene Cookshaw, Clinic Day by Diana Fitzgerald Bryden, Souwesto Home by James Reaney, and Point No Point by Jane Munro. This morning I’ll start Paul Auster’s Disappearances.

While I’ve been inside reading, H has been outside, hanging out with the ermine that I’d posted about back in December. It’s living in our junky compost area, which is partially fenced in, and has left holes and tracks all over the yard. What I didn’t know until I saw H’s video is that the ermine has been eating off of my favourite plates!

The readings

...on Thursday night by Sylvia Legris and Daniel Scott Tysdal were excellent. I got the rust out of my reading voice that evening as Dan had some members of the audience, including myself, participate in the reading of his poem "Experiment in Form." It worked really well. There were a number of surprises that evening, including the fabulous cookies Sylvia had baked for the event. I took a cookie back to the hotel, intending to photograph it and post it here, but due to my clumsiness it suffered a fracture in transit. Ugh. The only thing left to do was eat it. Also, Sylvia surprised me with two lovely moleskines. One has nifty memo pockets. The other is a Japanese album with zigzag folded pages. Very cool. I opened them both this morning and already have plans for them.

After the reading we raced over to La Bodega where we had a dinner engagement. One of the highlights of the dinner was meeting and chatting with Amy Snider, a photographer from Regina, whose work is currently on display at La Bodega.

Friday was a fun day. In the afternoon I rehearsed my face-off poem at CBC. Because my poem plays with a certain song, we all ended up in CBC's vinyl room to pull out the music and have a listen. I'm thrilled with the music Lee Kozak created for my poem.

After the rehearsal, we met a mentor for dinner. Then we headed back to CBC for the face-off. The place was packed with people. It was a record turnout. All the poets gave great performances. I don't know if I'm allowed to say who won, but wow, it was a fantastic poem and a fantastic performance. Be sure to keep an eye out for the broadcast date and time. Hats off to Kelley Jo Burke and everyone at CBC who had a hand in making it a great event.

Funding for the arts

...is the subject of this substantial post by Zachariah Wells on his new blog Career Limiting Moves.

Another Wednesday

...is upon us. It's cold up here, so cold that the cat grunted and clawed her way under the covers at 5 a.m. What a racket! No doubt the sheets have holes now.

I see "NPR's List of Essential Poetry Books" by Dani Couture is now posted on Northern Poetry Review. I received an email from Dani in the fall, asking for a contribution to this article. When the email came, I was sitting in a makeshift office in my in-law's basement. I set up an office wherever I go. Anyhow, within no time I replied. This morning I've been having fun trying to match the titles to the contributors.

If all goes well, tomorrow night I'll hear readings by Sylvia Legris and Daniel Scott Tysdal at Campion College in Regina. I've heard them both read before and know it will be a great event.

On Friday I'm taking part in the Sixth Annual Poetry Face-Off. I'm looking forward to it. The event is tons of fun. And I'm really excited about rehearsing and performing the poem with Lee Kozak on guitar. He's amazing.