PTWAE: June 4-8, 2012

Jamie Bradley is  showing his close readings of 20th century & contemporary poems on his blog.  So far he's done three, starting with John Berryman's Dream Song 29 last September & moving on to  Ghazal I from John Thompson's Stilt Jack & Frank O'Hara's "Poem" or "untitled" from "Meditations in an Emergency."  Here's an observation Jamie made surrounding the ghazal form of which he, himself, is particularly adept: "There are moments in our lives where the past and future are both rendered obscure or obsolete. We carry on tentative engagements with the world. We hedge our bets and choose a word or two, then the listening: the shape of the thing you're looking to find." Read the rest of the entry here. &  read the others on poems by FrankO'Hara  & John Berryman too. 

Did you know Apt. 9 publisher & local poet Cameron Anstee has a blog now?  it's rich with content about current & former small presses & poets. take a gander here.

Local poet Ryan Pratt has been writing over at the Ottawa Poetry Newsletter blog. & Colin Morton had an entry recently about the Montreal Poetry Prize  reading at Arts Court. Good to see that blog being used as more than a promo tool for events.

The final poet in the SPAO Call & Response series is rob mclennan who responds to Greg Zenha's photos. The vernissage is on June 8  at 6pm & the show continues til August 15. On June 22 there will be a group reading by all participants: Pearl Pirie, me, Sandra Ridley, Monty Reid, Christine McNair, Claudia Coutu Radmore & rob mclennan plus slide show from the participating photographers.

The brilliant local poet Stephen Brockwell is offering a free poetry workshop at the Ottawa Public Library, Carlingwood Branch on Saturday, July 7. I'll be there, how about you? Details are here.

Poetry is getting its sexy back. Witness the new $5k prize put out by the Walrus for a single poem. This just after the first year of the $50k Montreal International Poetry Prize. Judges for the new Walrus prize first year  will be Michael Lista & Karen Solie.   Deadline is July 31 via the web. I've entered a few poetry contests when the mood has struck me, when I've been inspired/challenged by the rules & it's always good to see a poet getting a bit more bread in the cake hole. Nice going, Walrus.

Speaking of prizes, for the first time ever, the GriffinPoetry Prize short listed readings were livestreamed on line. I have to say I really enjoyed hearing all the poets read. I had never heard of the international poets before. & Congratulations to the Griffin Poetry Prize recipients: David Harsent(International) & Ken Babstock (Canadian). well deserved

Now for some bad news: the Literary Press Group'sdistribution arm has lost its funding from the Department of Heritage, which means that the distributor for Canadian small press publications is up shit's creek with no paddle. & of course this means that small presses will have trouble getting their books into bookstores & into your hands. So start ordering books at your independent bookstores, start ordering from the presses  themselves  & promote them to the skies. Let's make sure everyone knows about the great small press books available. As to LPG, there will be serious layoffs alas. Big surprise that the Cons don't see a need for small press distribution either. How much damage can they do before 2015? yikes. The LPG response is here.

Speaking of small presses, the Wilfred Laurier University press has released its fall/winter catalogue. Its fabulous Laurier Poetry Series  includes  derek beaulieu's "Please No More Poetry: the poetry of derek beaulieu" with an intro by Kit Dobson & an interview with Lori Emerson. I'm very fond of this series; it offers a good overview of the poems of a writer you've been meaning to follow & insightful intros by the editors plus meaty backmatter. I have both the Dennis Cooley & Nicole Brossard books.  Take a look at the whole catalogue; there are some intriguing & eclectic titles.

See the gory insides of the alphabet & the making of it . You might like this if you've ever had surgery or if not.

The American online postmodern journal E-ratio edited by Gregory Vincent Tomasino is reading, and accepting, for issue 16, the fall 2012 issue. Please see the Contact page for guidelines and where to send.