Ms. Lyric's Poetry Outlaws

I chat randomly for ten minutes on why and how to perform as a poet and then recite Edna St Vincent Millay’s Time Does Not Bring Relief, 1931.

It’s a snippet today of one of my rare and relished 94th street Trobairitz series in which i do a three question live interview with Vancouver poet Kevin Spenst on how he started performing, what are some of his techniques and why is performance important for poetry. Then he recites with some preamble two pieces that have mélanges of lexicons and even backwards masking with culminating screams. And there are birds. Enjoy!

In which I conclude season 7 with a necessary rant about the system as spurred on by Chris Hutchinson and then introduce the fantab James with his chat on sound and his poem Dishwasher. Stay fierce!!

(1941-1987). Starting with a Wimen quote and talking about the internal and external lives of art plus the nature of being prolific and getting dated. Gwen’s life and two poems follow. Enjoy!

An engaging chat and a lovely poem but with a few tech glitches caused by an unstable internet link. Why I ask for files ;) I popped a bit of music in between to make it bearable. Enjoy!

I blather about writing couples and poets who relocate and then introduce Catherine Greenwood and she chats about process and reads a piece with geese and bagpipes and delicious sounds in it!

I recite these five short parts as an invocation to spring, including slightly hoarse voice here and there and, in the middle, cat.

Memories from Joe Rosenblatt, a bio from James Deahl, his 100th anniversary, I shout love. Enjoy!

As translated by Jeramy Dodds. I love the multiplicities of naming here. Chris’s 13th death day. Go well in the unknown realms my love.

There are cats and magpies and thanks. Nikki talks language and music and re-mixes Mary Oliver (whom I loathe but remain open minded about ;) Enjoy!

Wow. So this is a longish and most delightful lecture on the origins of poetry in one’s being by this lovely Calgarian and it’s preceded by me trying twice (phonecall interrupted!!) to do her bio and intro after reading a passage about religion and art from Christian Wimen! Enjoy :)

A five minute poem from her book Shiner (which is curiously not listed as one of her books in her latest collection The Natural Hustle!). I love the last lines I must say. Only one inversion occurred: when I say doing nothing, she wrote nothing doing. Thanks Eva.

In which I speak of supporting this podcast and other artistic endeavors via Patreon and otherwise (o and thanks to Susan McCaslin and Robert Priest too for their one-time $50 contributions!) and then chat about Ralph and his work and life including reactions to him from those such as Phyllis Webb ;) I read his poem Sessional Memoranda at the end and mispronounce IMPUDENT but o wel. Nothing is perfect but birds! Enjoy.

I almost get through this nearly 7 min poem without one stumble. It’s not easy. It’s a beautiful elegy.

I bemoan Monday and people who fear poetry and Adam talks about writing and reads a wonderful poem Inherit. Enjoy!

It’s afternoon! I saw the Northern Lights. Does poetry have an audience? Hollay ghadery talks of this and reads a poem on sobriety. Enjoy!

A short week for outlaws! I recommend Stephen Marche’s On Failure and then Nyla extemporizes and reads poems by two other poets. Enjoy!

Ten difficult stanzas of outrage and examination. From the Ecopoetry Anthology.

I chat about publisher tardiness in response and recall a quote from Les Murray and then introduce Brian (with apologies for not editing the end of the chat), followed by his ekphrastic talk and four short pieces from Shakespeare in Halifax. Enjoy!

Dec 13/84-Mar 13/23. Rest in power drummer and friend.

I talk about grief and David Bowie and multimedia art then intro the one of a kind Gary Barwin’s life and talk and poem. Enjoy!

In which I say you know too much and miss “miserably” from the WCW lines, and also I have two intros: one on a personal tragedy and the further decimations of newspeak, and the other on the Griffin and then a bio/intro for Barger. And then his talk and poem. Enjoy! (And also get fiercer!)

Beautiful devastating poem in a variety of stylistic parts from The Ecopoetry Anthology!

In which I ramble through texts, starting with a line from the Poetic Edda and delving through my headache into notions of wrongness with Stephen Marche’s On Writing and Failure, Christian Women’s Ambition and Survival and Rachel Sucker’s The Poetics of Wrongness , ending with a poem from 1937, Orpheus, by WH Auden (repeating the last line twice because I read it wrong ;) There you have it! Enjoy :)

I still have a cold ;) I read a poem against Daylight Savings, intro Kate and she chats about China and poetic influences and reads a poem against domestic abuse called Derrick’s Fist. Enjoy!

Some snow falls, a bit of a grrrr about blurbs and identity, intro to Chris and her compelling talk and beautiful poem, Privilege. Enjoy!

A difficult one to do but I want to honour her enduring poems!

I was sick yesterday so couldn’t record an episode and my voice is still somewhat rough but I had to recite a poem by a fierce female poet for Women’s Day. So much to say about being a woman and a poet. Suffice to say, it remains challenging and deserves to be fought for. Yar!

A short one about geology and poetry which I introduce by speaking of my parents and blues fest. Enjoy!

In which I chat about being home, mouse slaughter, Jeopardy questions and then intro my ill-fated reading with Jim Nason who has a wonderful chat and poem: This Tree is a Rabbit. Enjoy!

A sleepy read of this 1980 poem as I’m flying home today and also Kinnell’s is the book of poems I brought with me and he’s fond of long pieces. So here you go. Dedicated to Frank, twenty years gone today (1974-2003)

It’s old but still beautiful. Eliot borrowed the last line for his Wasteland. It’s snowing.

In which I read a birthday poem for Chris first (1981-2010) then intro how I met Steve and chat about his once-cat and sketch out his short talk and then he reads his longer poem Late Stages. Enjoy!

In 14 sections. It’s awful and beautiful. And hey it’s an early woman writer and Scottish immigrant writing her way into the new (to her) world.

In which I recollect a bathroom incident, talk laughter, introduce Alice’s marvellous chat and poem and tell you we love cats ;) this one is a good time!

A reading of this moving poem in five parts from Kinnell’s Selected Poems.

A grrrr against censorship of books, an intro and bio for Banoo Zan, her talk and poem Iran. Enjoy!

With a tiny grrrrr about wishing poetry editor positions were paid and then an intro to the delightful and meaningful chat and poem by Robert Priest from Toronto. Enjoy!

From the Ecopoetry anthology. A ten minute poem about everything.

In which I chat about routine and writing and Sven Birkerts The Electric Life from 89 then read a poem by Charles Simic “untitled (soap bubble set) 1936” from Dime Store Alchemy (92). Enjoy!

An intense poem about death and rejuvenation that has many shifting line breaks and lacunas. Both beautiful and challenging to recite! Forgive me Barb :) From her collection Restless White Fields (2012).

In which I chat about reverberations and performance series and then introduce Penn Kemp who speaks of her beginnings and recites a poem about Diane di Prima from P.S. Enjoy!

A ten part piece of trance ecology from the Ecopoetry Anthology. Enjoy!

With personal connections, an obit, rob mclennan’s commemoration excerpts and a River Suite poem. Thanks Joe.

An intro of two grrrrs and a shout out and even a weather report and then Bruce Kauffman: bio, chat and a Dr Zhivago poem. Enjoy!

A 24 part piece from his Selected Poems and the same-titled book from 1987. For Black History Month. Hard to read such a long poem so I did my best, especially amid a cat battle near the end! Enjoy :)

In which I recite a Francis Ponge piece on a match in French and then intro Marguerite and her talk and she chats about origins and forms and then reads a segment from The Endless Garment. Enjoy!

I love this devastating poem. Read from the Ecopoetry anthology. I highly recommend his books. He died far too young.

In which I talk about James Longenbach’s vital book The Resistence to Poetry and then conclude with a random poem about weird beauty from Paul Vermeersch’s New and Selected. Enjoy!

I chat about how we met and read her bios and notes and then Barb talks about poetry and specifically the glosa and ends with her poem Cello. Enjoy!

A ten minute recitation from 1856. Also can be found in the Ecopoetry anthology.

I apologize to Alden Nowlan who never lived in Nfld, read a silly cats poem inspired by a question from Lynn, and talk about where we met then intro her and she chats and recites a poem called A change in travel plans. Enjoy!

1959 long narrative poem on visiting a nearly abandoned village that can be found in her selected poems called Country without Maps.

1946-2020. Wilderness man and poet of ecology. A rare voice.

I chat about absurdities and time and read a bio and then Kat talks influences, grief, mentors and reads the longer poem Haunting. Enjoy!

A ten minute poem from the Eco Poetry anthology! A few mispronunciations happened but mostly it sings. Enjoy.

I chat about happiness and irks then do a bio and intro to Sharon’s chat and poem from her collaboration with Penn Kemp called PS as she promotes her upcoming volume Refabulations. Enjoy!

A nine or so minute poem tracing several key eras in the States, poetically, personally, politically through the perspectives of three women. It’s from Maxine Kumin’s 1989 collection Nurture. Taking a wee break from the Ecopoetry anthology where, alas, she is ill-represented by only one short lyric. Enjoy!

In which I intro his bio and chat and then he talks about grief, collaboration, emptiness, the dead and craft. And reads his poem Form of Losing. Enjoy!

In which I draw from novelist David Adams Richards account of the challenging life of Alden (1933-1993) and then recite his stirring poem The Bull Moose.

I read from Edge: essays, reviews, interviews (Palimpsest Press 2015) on contests and inspiration for young poets, then recite a random piece Allegro non Troppo from the great Polish poet.

From the Ecopoetry anthology. Five parts on the life and loss of a whale. I only randomly replaced one word “hunters” with “hundreds.” Sometimes my eye gets distracted by a cat ;) Otherwise, a stirring piece.

From the Ecopoetry anthology. Her long lines, jagged breaths, parenthetical pairings all bespeaking questions of the world’s energies.

In which I intro Pam through memory and bio and she chats about influences and origins and recites segments from her pregnancy difficulties poem called “Ways of Knowing.” Enjoy!

A poet who died in 2015 at 56, Elise was brilliant, ebullient, fiercely alive. I speak of the two times I met her (I say 2011 for the first but it was actually 2013!) and read excerpts from others memories as published in Quill and Quire and then her poem Waltzing. Thanks Elise.

In which I tell you the plan for the week in Season 7, then introduce The Admen move on Lhasa by Steve Heighton, read some underlined segments from the chapter In the Suburbs of the Heart and comment on them, insert a sentence from the book’s review and then at the end, recite Island by Gluck as my random connecting poem. Enjoy!

This is a brutal long poem to read with all its many names of rivers. I think I only flubbed once though the pronunciation of the names was dubious at times! Still, one of his finest. And from the Eco Poetry anthology!

Collected in the Ecopoetry anthology. Four parts. Beautiful.

In which I talk about my first official royalty cheque, offer reader responses then after a musical break, read two random passages from Mary Ruefle’s On Fear lecture in Madness, Rack and Honey and finish by reciting Murmuration by Frances Boyle. Enjoy!

Bits about her self (1956-2001), fragments from a review of her last book and a reading of The Sparrow Drawer from Radiant Life Forms (1990). Thanks Diana!

An earlier poem in the Ecopoetry anthology (Fisher-Wirth and Street, Trinity Press, 2013) and a beautiful reminder of the moose I saw on New Years Day, as I returned from Fort St John.

It’s Jan 2nd and I have thoughts! Since I put out my first trade book in 1998 so much has changed in the poetry scene in Canada. I talk about reading venues, publishing in presses and mags, the MFA glut, supporting poetry through sales/PLR and grants, ageism, boxes, the biz and the continued joys of reading and writing. Enjoy?!?!

In ten parts. Some tongue-twisters in here but her work endlessly fascinated. From Saskatchewan but this book was published in 2021 by New Directions on New York. She’s too wild for Canada ;)

Her poem is about a vanished toad. Which we, poets, must not become by yielding to the robots. Contains reactions by Katherine Autio, Katherine Bitney, Chika Buston and Karen Moe with AI input from Michael Bendner and quotes from Krista Tippet and unknown on art as vocation not work. Also includes a cat fight!!

From her small beautiful collection Orchid Heart Elegies, out this year from McGill-Queens. I love reciting long poems. It’s a challenge and meditative too. And elegies are the highest form of poems. Enjoy :)

In which I chat about the AI experiment going on lately via social media and counter it with a defence of criticism and a very human (even to the slip up in recitation) poem. Take solace!

In which I greet all you outlaws again and explain the universe haha then introduce Susan and her talk about sounds and forms before she reads her palindrome Like Instruments. Enjoy!

The final episode in Season Six is about nothing. And also joy. And the tragic. And contains a little grrrrr about poets needing to be able to teach in schools more often without all the hoops. Ok thanks for listening. Back for Season Seven in awhile :)

I begin with a recitation of Ancient Music by Ezra Pound to honour the winter and also to exemplify the yawp. And then I say what it is and why it matters to me and yes, more death!!

Another recitation of a longer poem by a wonderful American eco poet. Enjoy.

In which I bring in Tony Hoagland and Oscar Wilde, Wordsworth and Purdy to chat about why and how to revise, wildly.

Interesting that this is episode 41 and that’s how old Chris would have been now had he not died at 29. This poem was written to commemorate what could have been our 21st anniversary today though he died before our 9th. The bench isn’t ready to be installed yet actually but the poem is :)

Which I chat about, despite feeling like caca, and then read Galway Kinell’s wonder-full piece Daybreak.

And I also gripe a bit about people wanting me to mentor for free and then, at the end, recite a new villanelle I wrote based on mature love not wrenching grief.

And the impossibility of translation! Robert Bly tries and it’s better than nada but it all falls flat compared to the intricate sounds of Swedish. I read the first part of the three in my just-learning Swedish accents and then all three in English. Be kind ;)

In which I psychoanalyze myself in relation to why I’m useless and then define it and read a Gunnar Ekelof poem on his own uselessness.

A long narrative poem grounded in truths that should still be required reading today for its delectable (and sometimes tongue twisting) sonorities. And for what it says about living life to the fullest.

In which I ask why suffer for one’s art? And then read a poem of a former suffering. Phew. That’s done.

A lil bit of a grrrrr here first on why secret poets are judging a magazine’s poetry contest (does it have anything to do with identity politics over art? Seriously!) and then the sonnet and a combinative example of the form Joe Rosenblatt and I published in Dog (2008).

1941-2022. Renegade writer and exister on the edges. I chat about his life and excerpt from some interviews and end with a poem about hitting the road. Wild travels Len.

I wonder about rhythm vs meter and then I recite the Robinson Jeffers’ poem Return.

1926. Parts 1-4 minus the final Lament just because I wanted to only read four parts to give you a sense of her intensely lyrical narrative style. Someone also says “Ok” and I recorded it in a closed bathroom so it’s delightfully echoey ;)

In which I question my questions and read excerpts from an interview with Sylvia Plath and conclude with a poem about an apple.

From the 2018 same-titled slim and stirring volume of poems. RIP Richard (1960-2022)

From her 2003 Tin House collection “shattered sonnets love cards and other off and back handed importunities.” A wild piece of Berryman, Roethke, Joycean muckery w foul language! ;)

In which I define the art and give valuable pointers. Or just ramble about in my weird head ;)

From her 2010 collection of six long poems called Heavenly Questions. Stunning elegy. And yes I have a cold.

It’s all about poetry, the poem. Sometimes I don’t want to talk. I just want to recite. This poem is majestic and from 1923.

I ramble. I talk about my cat. I wonder why I wrote some things that seemed meaningful at the time. It’s disorder about order! Enjoy.

And I talk of Roethke and defamiliarization and my headache too.

I forgot to say the Christakos book came out in 2021 from Palimpsest Press. Marrow review out next week. And here she “reads” with Lilburn from 1994. After a quote on looking. And an addendum on muses. Seeing is all.

What’s the difference between a muse and inspirations? Why have I had male muses? Are muses essential or detrimental? Find out here ;)

I speak of the resistance to poetry and how line breaks are part of this and also talk about love.

With a notion about a philanthropy of infrastructure rather than fame, a quote from Anne Waldman and a draft of a poem giving courage if not hope ;)

I invoke Dean Young to say a few things about what’s wrong with the Griffin and no Canadian prize and only one prize and the ickiness of it all that has nil to do with poetry. Yep.

Is it for the poet or the audience or both? What do scholars say? Let’s think about it.

1940-2021. One of our most mysterious and humble poets I’d say.

And also Jarring and another word for Diary and even Jeffers (Robinson). Enjoy!

Happy back to school! I speak of the crucial value of intensity in a poetic practice and read Emily Dickinson’s “I felt a funeral.”

I chat about the form and read an example. Mess about with it!

I talk about these forms and read an example each from Diane Seuss and Naomi Foyle. Experimenting is everything.

From Inventory (09, Anvil Press) and Listen Before Transmit (18, Buckrider Books). I lament the losses of books and then feature these two tough and sharp poets with their poems about enumerated dwellings.

In which I take back this word and think about what it means for the poem and especially the pursuit of muses and also, for women.

I ramble, I read Larkin and I contradict my own perceptions so it’s all most entertaining!

I chat about my own sonorous language obsessions, mention Longenbach and pop Death in at the end too.

Craft is the patterned heart of the poem. No poet can be without it.

Hard to scratch at the aesthetic surfaces of this concept but I try. Is beauty the core of poetry or its downfall or irrelevant or or or?

In which I imagine that Sylvia Legris and Tim Bowling were able to recite poems together from her 2005 book Squall and his 2019 collection The Dark Set. What are the echoes? You decide.

In which I commence a series called an Abecedarian of Poetics, each featuring a paragraph or two on some element of poesis. This is on stance and ferocity. Wait and see what else I come up with!

1940-2018. He reads a poem at the Griffin ceremony, I have memories and recount bio bits and then read a Gary Barwin piece for him at the end. Thanks Dave and connect with you word musicians again in Season Six!

In which there are still tech difficulties and I say wonderful too often (with Chris Banks it was incredible! Always one dominant word). I also talk too much (and cough) but sometimes that’s the way it goes. We chat about grief, cadence, writing revenge ditties, working in offices, university workshops, poetic infrastructure, the importance of reviews, and her latest book Nuclear Family! And Jean reads her poem Peopling the Night.

We triumphed over a range of tech challenges to chat deeply about music, form, nostalgia’s dangers, small towns, the need to read widely, growing up, transforming style, and the sustenance of the poem. And he reads his poem Hit Parade. A terrific time!

Gone at 44, she left us fierce poems about living as women in the world. Read her!

I’m a bit quieter in this one as we progress as I develop a cough! But boy did we have a deep chat about allusions and freedom, the Me Too movement, grandfathers, children, the importance of readings and dreams of a Poet’s Place other than on the bottom shelf. And she reads her piece Fiat Lux.

1956-2020. Poet, life adventurer, reviewer. Bio, memories and messages, chat about reviewing, a poem about the death of his mother. Thanks Michael.

In which the Ottawa poet and I talk about breath, writing processes, mentors, the origins of poetry in grief, the importance of reviews and the unimportance of prizes and much else. And she reads a poem called The Whole Tall World. O and I believe the writing workshop we met at was called Writing Wild Mind. Ah well, it was long ago!

Gone at 43 she filled a room with her bountiful accomplishments and colourful presence. I read her obit and then her poem of death that has no angels in it.

Fraser Valley poet who wrote about India and Canada and died in 2009. And was an elegant effervescent life force!

1904-1995. Bon vivant, mountaineer, experimentalist, life force of a poet. Thanks Earle!

In which I chat with a poet I’ve known a long time. From England! On the couplet, sound in poetry, being wild, sexuality, a parental death, publishing and audience, the arrogance of the young and the maverick world of art!

What does community mean to you as a poet? Why do you write? Are you only interested in what you get paid, awards, accolades? Why does one do interviews or reviews or host events? I am wondering. Today, I wonder.

1917-2004. Poet, translator, scholar and social worker. A fierce creator. Personal memories, a bio and her poem Mechanics for Women!

A two-parter with this People’s Poet from Toronto on form, mental health, reading, early poetic development, politics, publication, old school submission procedures and love for the art. And he recites a haunting ghazal. Thanks Robert!

In which he recites his poem “How to be a Canadian Poet” and then I read his bio, some review excerpts and a few messages. I um too much for once and get a bit emotional at the end but it’s all well meant. Thanks Dave.

1926-2013 Vancouver poet and bon vivant of being fully alive. Reminiscences and a reading of At the Pornographer’s.

1917-2009. Eventual Vancouver poet who had more than a few words to say about not growing old, about painting, and most of all, about her prized roses. I read her poem The Lack. And I wish I still had that photo of her posing so regally in a red gown!

A ghazal-like chat with the Ontario poet about grief (and with an emotional reading of his pantoumn), forms, the importance of translation, reviews and reading series, poets like Steve Heighton and M Travis Lane and process. Complete with sniffling, barking dogs, and a few cars and planes ;) Enjoy!

I still can’t believe he died two days ago. 1961-2022. Here are my memories, segments of him singing and reciting, fragments of my tour diaries and emails from him, of his texts and my review. Bits of a beautiful life devoted to art. Made with love. Thank you always Steve

(1940-2001) poet and creator from Newfoundland. I recollect a difficult reading from him near the end of his life, tell you a bit about his bio and recite a poem The Dance of the Mayflies. Thanks Al.

Truly an energetic Zoom chat, the longest yet, with this Toronto poet. About grief, publishing different genres, the importance of a good editor, tentacles and fountains, the organic core, Stafford and Dickinson and Gluck and age and auralities. Chock a block full of this and more and so much laughter!

Find this poet’s books!! She is worth it. Thanks environmentalist, writer and warm as a seal human :)

1938-2003 peripatetic poet supremo. I talk a bit about his life, when I heard him read, share a few critical reflections and recite his famous piece Ride off any Horizon. Happy Birthday Dad.

In my first Zoom interview, I converse with Travis Lane from Fredericton NB about everything from Elizabeth Bishop to the war, from the importance of being able to learn to howl like wolves to how Canada radically lacks saints. And first, she recites the poem Rich Autumn (along with a few childhood ditties!) I laugh and gush too much but there you have it. She’s 87 and an amazing force :)

For Ellen. Who died on March 16 at 77 and who was a fabulous human and committed poet and lovely presence in the world. Thank you.

In homage to Joe Rosenblatt’s third passing away day, the final elegy in The Art of Losing. Passage yes. And Beauty. Gone and yet forever. See you in Season Five outlaws.

Ok I’m sick but I’m still recording this second to last piece in The Art of Losing and one of my fave poets, Mr Merrill. Whose Last Words are beautiful.

I went to a show. It was amazing. Except the writing. Why? Cliche. Why do we accept this in our art making. I say nay. A writer’s job is to refresh the language so one can feel again. And do. I bring in definitions and a bit of a draft and Pound and Frost. It could go in many directions. Here’s a start.

Happy international Women’s day! Herewith a poem on gratitude and the senses and reality from The Art Of Losing and a poet we lost too soon.

This atheist-earthiest still loves this god poem by the nutty Cummings and his typographical jolliness. And it was a day like that for me today. Giving thanks by a fire pit under a blue sky. Includes a 1953 recording of the poet reading the piece himself. Yes.

Enjoy this curmudgeon librarian and his too true poem about the lies of nature’s renewal as I bumble about trying to explicate rhymes ;) From the Redemption section of The Art of Losing.

Boy it’s a challenge to talk about form and rhythm schemes! At any rate, here’s a reading by the poet himself, me nattering and then reciting it too. One of the most mysterious villanelles. Last elegy in the section on Recovery (loathe that word!) in The Art of Losing.

I blather a bit here as sometimes happens when I’m trying to trace deeply embedded rhythms but yes, the shifting tones, the deeply human beauty of dying at just the right time and not malingering.

I forgot to talk about the title! It means where a train goes off on its own track. But only lightly. O Ashbery. This one’s for Frank.

A curious, compelling thought. We don’t know the date we will die but we pass the day each year. For Chris. Whose birthday it was yesterday when he was alive.

Hey if one could only still write poems like this at 85! An elegy for her husband in the Recovery section of The Art of Losing.

It’s Part Five or Recovery (a misnomer) in The Art of Losing and Frank O’Hara gives us My Heart which I stumblingly discuss and then try to leave it to its own messy resonances!

A gorgeous villanelle that both makes and breaks the form to evidence the art of losing and how it’s done :)

From the Ritual section of The Art of Losing. Valentine’s paean to the somatic, the origins, the real. Happy Family Day. Hug your mother.

A gorgeous elegy from the Ritual section of the grief anthology on the tangibilities of loss, the wardrobe of mourning.

To face the Vietnam memorial; to face losses, the war’s past and now. Reflections. Real? Imagined? All is one in this elegy from the Ritual section of The Art of Losing.

A listener’s/interviewee’s choice poem from Susan McCaslin! She read it under a tree in the Han Shan forest and I talked about McEwen’s life and poem with its rich echoes and metaphysical resonances. Happy Day of Love!

In which I hmmmm a lot and a dog barks while we sip tea in a gloriously sunny Fort Langley kitchen, but also we chat about flowers becoming Wonderland, form poems, saving a forest, singing opera, literary allusiveness, cancel culture, poetic diversity and transcendence. And Susan reads Dear Lovers’ Tree in the Han Shan Woods. Thank you mentor and teacher and friend.

This poem, from the Remembrance section of the Art of Losing, and one of Thomas’s most sonorous pieces is nonetheless problematic. I relish its resonances and get irked by its intents. Such is poetry. There to make you feel and think!

A beautiful elegy for the knowledge of sacrifice and duty one could re-read eternally. From The Art of Losing’s Remembrance section.

Although I accidentally misname Doug’s wife and deal with the dog’s barkings I aim to otherwise create a true homage to this poet, speculative fiction creator and community builder for the arts, pastiched from other homages, his bio, a poem on Cezanne and my own memories. Thanks Doug!

Yay new intro and outro! And also another elegy, this time from the Remembrance section of The Art of Losing, on parents picking their cemetery plots. It’s a bit funny. And Hal is a new poet for me so also yay!

A reading of this poem as selected by Yvonne Blomer, then me chatting about its form and content and reciting it too! Wright rocks. Relish!

At the Penny Farthing pub in Victoria BC, I have a grand chat with the former poet laureate Yvonne Blomer. We talk about workshops, feminism, parenthood, Woolf, the sonnet, rhythms, pandemic pursuits and the meat of it all. And she reads a poem called Broadening! Enjoy the ambiance too, including an interruption by four scooter denizens ;) We aim to disrupt yes we do.

As recited by my brother Simon and then discussed in its form, repetitions, sounds and content by me! Plus I tell you what else the inimitable Bringhurst writes.

The last piece in the second section Regret in the Art of Losing anthology, a beautiful rhymed elegy on a refusal to accept by one of America’s once deeply loved poets. And no one interrupted me! Miracle of miracles!!

Herewith Kevin Spenst reciting his Listener’s Choice selection, me trying to chat about it while people move boxes behind me (hence forgetting the significance of the last line’s colon), and then hey I read it to. What an obsession this world was for Mr Berryman indeed.

In which (in a Vancouver coffee shop with its background music) he reads his amazing poem The Geology of a Moment and we talk about the 70s, the 90s, Roy Miki, the sounds of words, border blurs, the academy, love, the importance of venues for poetry, and how to chill. And we giggle or guffaw a lot too. Enjoy!

In which I pick a very short poem to recite from the Regret section of The Art of Losing thinking I won’t be interrupted at my parents’ house. But of course there is always a dog somewhere or a closing door. At any rate, I aim to engage in this dream elegy. We always want them to return.

In which I read a couple of her short lyrics, consider why she stopped writing poetry, talk about her work life, along with her painting and collage, note her supporters, quote her on the writing process and recollect the four times I encountered her in Vancouver and on Saltspring Island. Thanks Phyllis.

The American poet Ruth Stone’s elegiac sonnet from the Regret section of The Art of Losing. Be always in the moment.

Based on a real and tragic episode, this elegy from the second section, Regret, in The Art of Losing anthology, is Orr’s accounting of his accidental killing of his brother and how he turned to poetry in his grief. Language. It’s there to mourn with too.

Another stirring elegy from the first section, Reckoning, in The Art of Losing. And prior to this a paragraph on the elegiac mode from Kevin Young’s intro. And my bumbling abouts ;)

Another elegy from the first part of The Art of Losing with a little background info and a recitation of this gorgeous and tragic blues sonnet.

Another elegy from the first section of The Art of Losing with a further paragraph from editor Kevin Young’s intro then a reading and discussion of Larkin’s paean to the need to be kind to all creatures who suffer death.

In which I begin a random sampling of elegies in sections from the anthology The Art of Losing: poems of grief and healing, edited by American poet Kevin Young (2010). I read the first two paragraphs of his introduction and then Lawrence’s haunting four stanza piece. And talk about some of its impacts and effects. Enjoy outlaws!

Happy New Year outlaws! In which I chat about her books, how I met her, and read a bio, a blurb by Joe and a poem called Quince. Thanks Anne :)

A Listener's Choice Poem from my recent interview subject in Winnipeg. And Katherine actually introduced the pleasures of Merrill to me! A perfect poem to end 2021. Enjoy poetry outlaws :)

Ms Lyric's begins Season 4 in Winnipeg having a wild conversation with poet Katherine Bitney about all things crow, poem, grief, witness, wildness and spells that make you go whoopsie! But first I start with a brief wrap of Season 3 and an intro to the new approaches of Season 4. Happy Merry word musicians :)

The final episode of Season Three, featuring a raucous conversation with Vancouver poet Heather Haley at the Italian restaurant Marcello's on the Drive. Let's call this one We Have Muzzled Nothing and Meat of the Matter where we cackle and chat about being tomboys, the punk rock circus, minimalist ethos, the importance of fucking, detachment from the scene and the hubris of youth. And she recites her poem Voracious. Amid sirens while sipping sauv blanc! Thanks poets and listeners :) Back with Season 4 in late winter 2022!!

Fugues are about voicings, repetitions, hauntings. This is the last piece I'm reciting from the Planet Earth poetry anthology. Thanks to all Victoria poets who host and run series and workshop events! And to all the poetic forms in the world.

A poem about love from the Planet Earth anthology. A Vancouver poet. It's Wednesday and snowing in Edmonton too.

A palindrome of grief and beauty within the lush, lost worlds of indigeneity and nature. From the Planet Earth series anthology and another fine BC poet.

From Planet Earth Poetry poems, Yvonne Blomer's anthology, It's mythical, it's gory, it's true. And boy does it sound good.

From the Planet Earth poetry anthology from 2013. Poem one of five. I introduce the reading series, read from editor and host Yvonne Blomer's afterword and recite and talk about the memories and sounds of the Zwicky piece. Reading series, they matter.

In which I remember Jamie, affable, nutty, incensed, supportive, and jazzy. He was a good writer and person and I will always miss his presence at events as he photographed and absorbed. Thanks Mr Dadababy.

Requested by Edmontonian interview guest Alice Major. She thought I might post it around Halloween but hey it's just as powerful a spell on December 1st. Sexton speaks to all female creators who haven't felt accepted within patriarchy. And she does it here with craft and craftiness. I relate? Do you?

Requested by former interviewee from Edmonton, Paul Pearson. We speak of stones, gems, history, coming to sensual consciousness, the muse and Lowther, one of our mothers in Canadian women's poetry.

As requested by Edmontonian interview guest Kelly Shepherd! It's about family, the environment, the self. And sounds. And it haunts. Happy Monday!

As requested by a Vancouver interview subject, Diane Tucker. A beautiful poem about transcendental power through music and spirituality. And RIP Bly who just died this year!

Another Listener's Choice Poem from an interview subject, this one in Edmonton not Vancouver! O Herbert. Ever challenging to unfold. He resists. He gives. And he forgives my bumblings around with explications of what is after all his mystery :)

A Vancouver poet (who I have indeed interviewed but whose interview won't be posted until the last episode of Season 3!) asks me to read a Hawaiian poet. A gorgeous piece about work and fatherhood and love and loss. And smoking! Relish it.

Selected as a Listener's Choice by my first interview subject Heidi Greco. It's not a simple piece after all! There's violence in this writing. What's that deer doing anyway? And you can hear my cat.

I begin by reading a series of fragments from the ancient satirist Juvenal to show how old this type of grrrrrr is ;) Then I chat to myself in my yard (or maybe all the birds care) about the disparities and insufficiencies relating to big prizes/arts admin pay vs the every day impoverished maker's reality. And end with a quote about the whole notion that if you love something you should never ask to be paid fairly to undertake it. Say what? Let's shift the system and make it different! This poet says yes.

The final poem in the Revolving City anthology for Friday! And I talk the anthology beast in general before discussing verbs and the Commercial Drive neighborhood in Taylor's powerful piece about vulnerability and love.

In which we rant and chuckle and explore aspects of form, eco-poetry, the gift economy of art, the problems with publishing, and the need to transcend what's expected and engage with the alternate. It's a raucous epic fueled by cheap wine at the Cannibal cafe in Vancouver!

Although I sound gooned at the start I can assure you it's a November morning and I am not. I talk about Heather Spears life and work, her death in 2021, her character and life energy. I flub the name of one of her books - it is the Word for Sand not Name. And I read her funny piece about poetry readings. Another amazing female poet and creative gone.

Second to last piece from the Revolving City anthology and I hem and haw and um a lot here, partly because I recorded this episode in my parents' garden and was worried about being interrupted and in part due to the fact that I am aiming to explicate staccato rhythms ;) at any rate, I read the poem well. Relish the vulnerability!

A climate change poem from The Revolving City anthology by an SFU prof. The delicate ways poetry can address gargantuan issues.

Poem two from The Revolving City anthology features a tony hood, aging denizens, heartbreak and survival. I talk about the poem. I read it. Enjoy!

Edited by Compton and Saklikar, this Vancouver-based collection of poems and their stories came out in 2015 as a culmination of the Lunch poems reading series at the downtown SFU campus. Lau's poem reminds us of the hell of Van real estate but also the small joys of living alone.

A Listener's Question from Chika. Actually two questions on whether grief writing can be seen as exploitative and whether personal grief twins with environmental mourning in poems. I aim to address my perspective on this complexity in 10 minutes, drawing on the origins of elegy, elegiac poets, current quotes from Natasha Tretheway on grief and art and the communal fusions of modes of mourning. I love these challenges!

Maja's Listener's Choice poem! By one of my most obsessed over poets ever. Thus I bumble about telling you how and why Ashbery couldn't tell you. But o the anaphora! What identity Majesties!!

A Listener's Choice poem from the wondrous Chika. It's ekphrastic. It's spiritual. It can even recall an episode of Family Guy. It's a poem you won't soon forget.

In which I ramble pointedly for awhile in attempts to address Maja's query - "is poetry a substance that creates altered states? Do you use substances to create poetry?" Rimbaud appears, Coleridge, Berryman, Stevens and the theorist Viktor Schklovsky. And the muse. Of course.

In which he recites it, I talk likely at far too great a length about its ambiguities and then I read it too. And append a note after about both our minor errors. And the beauty of the poem, regardless.

I read the title, Mum recites from mostly memory, then I talk about this mysterious piece and read it again. Repetition. The core of the spell.

This rare episode features Madeleine and Gerald Owen, my parents, from their livingroom in Burnaby BC. We chat randomly about poetry, their childhoods, being culture vultures, our familial diversities, puns, music, translation, and the importance of it all. Made with love. And a lot of laughter.

This is a test. This is only a test. Season three will actually start in a week but this is a recap of Season Two for starters and a dream poem of mine for kicks. Talk to you soon, word musicians!

Herewith the close of a shorter season two because hey such is life and it's my podcast so I can do what I want ;) I conclude with a punchy listener's question from Hollay Ghadery on what is up with Insta poems and the genre and practice? In 6 parts I answer this (or not) with research and personal opinion based on a whack of years of thinking and creating. Enjoy the rants. And then form your own thoughts. Read!! I shall return poetry outlaws!!!

Chapter 11 (the last chapter) of the Other 23 on all the ways a poet can hold weird and wonderful free-range (or at least different from ONLY teaching in the university system) jobs. Jenna has a farm! And writes delectable poems too. Explore! See what's out there poetry outlaws!!

Chapter 10 of the Other 23 on that thing we are missing these days: travel and outward adventuring. How does it assist the process of poetry? O in so many ways. Ask those Grecian beasts.

Chapter 9 of the Other 23 and a half hours where I talk about the fun and essential act of collaborating with other artists to create dances, books, librettos and other beautiful things. And recite Rachel Rose's anaphoric Ars Poetica. Expand your horizons. Make stuff with others!

Chapter 8 of the Other 23 where I talk about the value of painting, dancing, taking photos and playing music for a poet, invoking the words of Joe Rosenblatt and Paul Vermeersch, then reading his vivid and funny poem, Bad at Flowers. Go on. Play with art. Discover what else your poetic sensibilities can create. And happy Friday!

Chapter 7 of the Other 23 where we talk the ins and outs, types and kinds, whys and wherefores of running small presses and printing chapbooks. With John Pass to assist. And his lovely poem, Sparrows.

Hey it's September and this is Chapter 6 of The Other 23 on hosting radio shows and running reading events as a poet. I chat about university radio, the orality of the art, organizing a poetry series, encouraging a diversity of media and end with Yvonne's series Planet Earth and a planetary poem.

There's a fountain. Me turning pages. And talking about translation, mostly drawing upon Steve Noyes' multi-lingual experience, then reading one of his lusciously disruptive poems. Yes it's Chapter 5 of the Other 23 and the last day of August.

Chapter 4 of the Other 23 and I'm outside with the fountain again chatting about the importance of reviews and criticism. The real stuff. Lane knows about this. I read her poem Print too. And it's a beautiful thing.

I'm outside, the fountain is spilling into words and I talk the muse and transcendental nature of research. Chapter 3 of the Other 23 and a half Hours. Then Patricia chats about her process through quotations and I read one of her wondrous simian poems.

Chapter 2 of The Other 23 and a half hours in which I discuss the act of memorization of poems, out of fashion but essential. It doesn't have to be your own. Take the sounds of others within you. They will be there in the dentist's chair then, while on a walk, when traveling. I talk about reciting Jeffers in Cuba. And mostly about my former teacher Susan and read her wonderful mini-corona. Poetry. It's an oral art form first.

Part 3 of Chapter 1 in the Other 23 and Half Hours collection in which I discuss the value performing has to poetry, whether at a single reading or on tour. Graham also contributes with her wise approach and her ability to memorize. It's WEDNESDAY!

Part 2 of Chapter 1 in The other 23 and a Half Hours where I chat about the importance of the ear in making changes to a poem, some thoughts about editorial ideology and then recite the tight sonority of a Dickinson piece. Don't be afraid.

I chat with Chris in my front yard about renegade sonnets, reckless Can lit behavior, the past in Vancouver and Canada's poetry scene (resonating with the Past Lane homage!), selling art on the streets and the ache for crowds again. Thanks for the engaging ramble! And the listening hibiscus relished it too :)

Part off the cuff and part read from a little memoir of the days I knew Pat Lane (1939-2019), this is the Season 2 homage episode to a renowned Canadian poet I once had the fortune to work with. I also read The Far Field, a poem from his 1991 book Mortal Remains. And excuse myself first for trying to recall too many titles from memory. Ahhhhh memories. Enjoy this renegade!

A master of anaphora and refrain, listen to Levine speak about the origins of this sonorous political poem and then its recitation. The final piece from the Jorie Graham anthology Earth Took of Earth (1994). And it's a sunny Wednesday.

A famous piece from Mr Lunch Poems in the Graham anthology. O Hara's compositional style might seem easy to mimic but it isn't. Unlike most Instagram word machines! In remembrance of Billie Holiday.

It's not addressed to you, this poem. But listen to it anyway! Mr Justice from the Graham anthology. We have a few more from there this week and then, onwards to an homage! Happy rainy Monday.

It's Friday the 13th! I speak of the relentless insufficiencies and inevitable ineffabilities of trying to articulate any good poem. Then read a piece about supposed freaks from the Graham anthology. Seems about right.

I start with a Graham quote about the prevalence of water in her anthology selections then discuss and read a piece on wings and a woman's self identity. Enjoy!

Chain gangs? Ghosts? A watery feeling? Is it Wednesday??? Dickey was a tough guy but he wrote some moving poems. Like this one, from the Graham anthology Earth took of Earth. And happy dead birthday Frank who died in 03 at 28.

O that Henry! We are back to the Graham anthology with Berryman's most enduring and creepy persona poem. Also it's haunting. We all have our own Henrys. Mine's a ravenous squirrel!

This is a Listener's choice poem requested by Andrew Boden. One of my early faves too. Life, it brings so many challenging decisions. Even in my interpretations, I stumble. Happy Monday!

How about some good old weird cummings today in his love mode. One apparently not comprehensible by some students! I also talk of the obvious ineffabilities within poetic articulation and read more bits of Graham's anthology intro from which this piece comes. If only YOUR partner was this romantic....right?

Another gorgeous poem from the Graham anthology in which Ms Emily defines death while remaining elusive. She never fails to stun. Like my mother. Whose birthday it is!

The first piece I'll be reading from the Jorie Graham anthology Earth Took of Earth (1996). An oral dance of seasonal rhythm. Recited amid occasional beeps of construction. Shall I pick it up? Shall you?

Welcome back to my awkward lil podcast of fiercely poetic things! Starting this season with a new random series on aspects of the art world that irk and how this connects to what poets require to make poems. It all began with a Van Gogh exhibit..... enjoy!

It's the final and eightieth episode of Season One that I recorded between March and June of 2021. Here we have a summation of the past 79 episodes, a looking forward to things I might do with Season Two when it gets going again in August and one of my recent poems in notebook form, The Metal Nest, read to do homage to the tenacity of sparrows, an endurance we have all needed this year. See you next season Poetry Outlaws and Word Musicians :)

Ok I say it's the final episode of Season One but I AM doing an episode 80 tomorrow with a wrap up, a look ahead and a recent poem of mine! This however is the last Dennis Lee piece for now! Such rollicking tongue fun :) And it's a hot Friday.

Another funny serious poem from Alligator Pie (1974) that tells you how to console nonsensical (or real?) monsters. Happy birthday to Dante who also loves words.

Another children's author three parter where I talk about my love for Dennis Lee's work, especially in Alligator Pie and the early books from the 70s, meeting him as an adult and the way things have become more sadly PC. Then I recite from memory Suzy Grew a Moustache and from the text, In Kamloops. A poem from which I learned Canadian geography. It's Wednesday! And sunny.

During my back yard summer series of the 94th street Trobairitz event, local Edmontonian poet Paul Pearson reads his piece Man Ray and the Jewels of Opar and we chat (and laugh. And death-heckle) about the duty to inclusiveness, multiplicities of voice, Pat Lane, how to make a living as a poet (hint. Be rob mclennan ;), the Olive series, growing up in the backwoods and why he doesn't like punctuation or capital letters. All to the accompaniment of birds, beeping construction trucks and the clappings and hootings of the 14 people in attendance. Such fun! It's a beautiful thing.

The last of three Silverstein pieces. It's a little subversive. Our world. So confusedly PC and full of cancellations without context. Alas. Happy Monday! It's the final full week of Season One of the podcast pre my July getaway!!

Let's start Friday all hyper-like with a fun sound poem by Shel that gives us options and choices for our actions and decisions in life! I'm gonna fly, myself.

The first of three poems I'm reading from the American kids' versifier Shel Silverstein. It's Backwards Bill who acts like the world does today! With a chat about the importance of the imagination and rhyme. And a bonus poem about wavy hair!

Today I have a blast in my bird-full garden chatting with the eminent and enjoyable Edmontonian poet Alice Major. She reads a haibun about astronomy, we chat scientific lexicons, the poetry fest, the League of Canadian poets, memory, the importance of community and the validity of being kind. The magpies concur! Join us. It's fun...and educational!

Today I remember PK Page (1916-2010) whom I met several times in the 90s. I talk her bio, influence, graciousness, her ear, then amid lulling tune interludes I recite one of her famous pieces T-bar from the 50s and a later one, a villanelle, The Castle. Thanks stunning being of language and grace.

The creator of Vigilance magazine, among many other revolutionary acts, and a long-term art compatriot of mine, Ms Moe asks me what poetry has to do with revolution! Apart from reading the segment from Stephen Spender, I stutter totally off the cuff, in the windy yard, for 10 minutes worth of pondering how revolution does and may not happen through the most lyrical form of language. To thinking!!! Happy Monday.

The last poem I'm reading from the Milosz anthology The Book of Luminous Things and from the section on Non-Attachment. Merwin is often stunning in his evocation of concepts one may not ever have thought of before. Like death anniversaries. Hey it's Friday. And sunny finally. Enjoy!

From the People with People part of the Milosz anthology, recorded on a May day of snow is Olds' piece about her parents and the continuity of generations. It's a bit of a longer one. Enjoy! And yes the snow is long gone in June.

From the Place section in the Milosz anthology, a defamiliarized piece about an American street at night. Moody. Like the sky today.

The Travel section of the Milosz anthology and a piece about the ghosts of the iron horse by Mr Haines. We will leave our homes again soon. Even if it's raining.

The secret of a thing section in the Milosz anthology of luminousness and the much discussed Imagist poem The Red Wheelbarrow by DR WCW. The white chickens are everything. Have a jolly Monday.

It's Friday but I'm still in the nature section of the Milosz anthology. And with Frost crashing through the underbrush. Nature ain't easy.

Which is a Narrow Fellow in the Grass, her amazing poem about a snake encounter from the Milosz anthology of Luminous Things and the Nature section. Hear the cat purr.

A poem from the Nature section of the Milosz anthology where he celebrates luminous things. Here I stutter (over-coffeed?) a bit through a discussion of Kinnell's beautiful extended metaphor about starfish and stars. Sip sip sip.

In which I begin the reading of a selection of 9 short poems from the 1996 Milosz anthology, The Book of Luminous Things. He was a great poet. He has fairly magnificent taste. This first section is called Epiphany and hey who can't resist another Jeffers poem about Inhumanism and beauty. Happy June.

From her 2002 collection Science Fiction Saint comes Nancy Jo Cullen and her 2 page piece Girl Dreams on binaries and the patriarchy and some guy called Dennis. Requested by the amazing Leslie Greentree! I ramble on but end up saying a few worthwhile tidbits here and there. It's the last day of May :)

A delightful final classic from Yeats to conclude the We Animals anthology offerings and the Fantasy section. Do we feel this way these days...an ominous approach? Or is it joyous? Either way, Happy Friday.

The first of two final pieces from the We Animals anthology and from the Fantasy section. I manage to ramble on a lot about Bishop's magical and strange piece. Have a creepy Thursday!

From the Communion section in the We Animals anthology. Stevens...was he a savage spirit? A curmudgeon farmer? Or just a brilliant creator of memorable lines that speak to our connections and divisions within nature.

From We Animals. Another from the Fraternity section. Horses. Apples. A sense of kinship. My cat Solstice appears. It's the beginning of another week.

Get a little Fraternity into your Friday with another poem from the We Animals anthology called Animals by one of my deep and abiding faves, the Californian poet Robinson Jeffers who died in 62. Listen to his inhuman majesties!

Another piece from We Animals by the curmudgeon farmer Robert Frost and his poem about a woman and love and yes Dominion. Is it creepy? It may be! And there are real birds in it!

The second piece from the We Animals anthology and from the section called Dominion. It's the fun serious auralities of John Hollander's Adam's Task. And it actually snowed yesterday. I can't hear any birds. My dominion over the garden has ceased for now.

A new set of poems from the 1989 anthology ed by Nadya Eisenberg called We Animals: Poems of our World. This Berry piece comes from the first section on reverence. A great way to start your day!

Kelly, Edmontonian poet, reads Self Portrait in Fur on my sunny, squirrel and bird frequented patio and we talk a jam packed 40 minutes about environmental poetry, our distaste for certain poetic modes like slam; I mention my loathing for the contrived nature of Mary Oliver and the absurdity of prizes based on relatively bad dead poets. We also talk "career" trajectory in poetry land, chapbooks and the necessity of honouring those poets who have stuck to creating over an extensive period of time. There are some chair creaks and I say YOU KNOW too much but hey this is all a learning process and it's VERY VERY real! Even my cackling ;) Enjoy releasing your conditioning!!

It's Ms Lyric's 50th episode!! In which I fumble through a chat about syllabics. You see I adore rhythm but am awful with numbers! At any rate a fascinating poem and thanks to the editors of the In Fine Form anthology, second edition! Have a jolly Friday :)

The second to last form from the In Fine Form anthology that also constructs forms and is, in quite a few senses, the essence of a poem, how the line breaks. I'm interrupted by a phone call but mostly keep my train of thought to read Birney's delightful quatrains in his poem about a lost era.

Another form from the In Fine Form anthology, 2nd Ed. The Palindrome is how one feels on Wednesday, as if one's week could be read backwards or forwards. Nice to feature something from Pam who I've known since I was a teen at the Burnaby Writers Society. Relish the discombobulation!

The In Fine Form anthology, Second Ed and the Epigram. Short but packed with meaning! Atwood knows how to sucker punch no doubt. I remember the month today and finish the podcast before my partner arrives, chatting on his phone. Yay birds!

I say it's April but it's May! I also say that the In Fine Form anthology, second and expanded edition came out in 2015 but it was 2016! Apart from that I think I discuss the Blues form with relatively few errors haha and the Hynes poem is a spectacularly modern feminist version of this essential form. It's Monday! Write your own Blues poem :)

A new occasional series in which I aim to offer a few modes of answer to a particular question about poetry. Here I draw on William Carlos Williams famous couplet In a Station of the Metro to discuss the auralities and textures and efforts of a "good" poem. For the highschool teacher Katherine Autio! Who, I hope, is having a Happy Friday.

In which I talk about Al Purdy (1918-2000), his place in Canlit and my personal encounters with him in the 90s, and the creation of the infamous Purdy podium by my father, Gerald. I also read some teensy lyrics I like of his: Winter at Roblin Lake from Cariboo Horses and Depression in Namu, BC from Sex and Death. Big Al: never to be forgotten.

Actually these are more like conversations, this one at the Earl's patio on Robson in Vancouver in rainy April during another plague semi-lockdown. She reads the poem "A dream of old Vancouver" and we laugh a lot about our reveries of former glory, talk history, form, Hopkins and I call Di Brandt a "beeyatch" as an editor ;) Read poems Diane says! And relish the madness of poetic chatter too (amid pop soundtracks and the server asking about Happy Hour!)

The birds and I bid you a jolly Monday with this Italian form of recurrences from the 2005 In Fine Form anthology, the last poem I'm reading from this edition. The Villanelle, a promising start to any week.

Friday's form, the famed sonnet, from the first ed of the In Fine Form anthology, in both Petrarchan and Shakespearean mode in discussion, with a nod to my sonnet collaborations in DOG with Joe Rosenblatt (also chatted about in the Poet on the Road series). And a movingly sweet sonnet about a young girl and her male caregiver who is attached and resists and yields to pure love. I recorded this last week so while it's still sunny, the temperature drop has already happened! The squirrel still hangs out.

A 4th form poem, French again, from the first ed of the In Fine Form anthology. And Vuillard Interior from Elise Partridge (RIP), whom I met a few times in Vancouver at varied poetry events and she was always as warm and poised as this triolet.

Form the third from In Fine Form, ed 1. More French stuff but keeping it on the easier side, repetition-wise. Still, tragic. Enjoy your java!

Form the second from the In Fine Form anthology, ed 1, the convoluted yet simple French pantoum. Explaining forms isn't easy! This poem is strangely haunting.

The new series on the two Canadian In Fine Form anthologies begins (edited by Kate Braid and Sandy Shreve) with one of my fave forms (also addressed in the Poet on the Road podcasts relating to Shall and Frenzy) the ancient Persian ghazal and its contemporary North American version. I call Canadian poet John Thompson the "gateway drug" to the ghazal and recite his ghazal 9 after talking through this fascinating form. Happy Monday!

The last poem from A. Alvarez and his 1962 The New Poetry Anthology. A lesser known poet now. Who who who is he?? But seriously Happy Friday.

Second to last piece from the A Alvarez anthology in which I talk against accessibility and ramble forthwith into Hill's form and imagery before reciting the 3 part poem. And it is snowing. Again.

Ok 3 more poems "this week" from the A Alvarez anthology I say as if it were Monday but it's Wednesday! Also for these last 3 pieces, and perhaps into the future, I am discussing the poem first then just reciting it once. And today I'm dealing with a lesser known poet (because hey MOST of us are) Jon Silkin with his paean/curse to my fave flower. Go Dandelion go!!

A further A Alvarez offering, the wonderful poet Thom Gunn and his poem that could literally touch on the difficult beauties of being a gay man in the 50s. Find some of his books. You won't be disappointed.

Another A Alvarez pick, this time of a now lesser known poet, and his piece about dealing with your depressions. After the first 2 minutes my phone buzzes. I vanish only to return. Phone calls in the middle of podcasts are sort of bad things, but we deal. Happy Monday!

Poem the third from the A Alvarez anthology for your dour Friday ;) Philip Larkin, famed curmudgeon librarian, and his piece "Wants" which tells it like it really is. Drink up that java!

Poem 2 from the A Alvarez anthology is the complex angst of Sexton and her poem about being an age she never arrived at. I think we're all feeling nostalgic these days for the berry time in Damariscotta.

In which I introduce the 1962 anthology from which I will recite over the next 8 episodes and read and discuss John Berryman's The Song of the Tortured Girl. A jolly way to start your day!!

The second homage in my series in which I talk about a poet, now deceased, whom I actually encountered, however briefly. And mention the fickleness of fame. The torture of only being able to say NO. And recite what remains.

Who recites her poem "Standing in Heaven with Marilyn Monroe," and answers my three unique questions and two standard ones: talking feelings, craft, BC's Poetry in Transit program, film, and making poetry happen everywhere. She's an old friend. We laugh a lot and someone tries to give me their number in the middle of the interview. It unfolds at St Augustine's on Commercial Drive. So there are trains. Enjoy!

The final date of our Poet on the Road tour in which I discuss grief and nature in my book of elegies and aubades that came out in the ill-fated year of 2020 from ECW. And recite Beseech, a poem about the Fraser River. That's it. I'm done with me and what I've done.