Some light housekeeping,
, in which one attempts to offer some updates,
All the kids love when I do updates such as these. Whenever I walk through our Alta Vista neighbourhood, all the local children run up and excitedly ask what it is I’m up to with my work. Who would I be to not oblige such requests?
Did you catch Han Vanderhart interviewing me as part of the On Poetry podcast? That was a pretty good conversation. There was even a poem and write-up posted as extension of that same conversation, via Moist Poetry Journal. The poem up at Moist Poetry Journal is part of “the book of sentences,” a poetry collection forthcoming with University of Calgary Press, second in a trilogy of titles I seem to have worked, furthering some of what occurred in the book of smaller (University of Calgary Press, 2022).
John Stiles posted a poem of mine over at his How Yah Doon? blog, a further poem from my poetry response-project on a particular title by American poet Laynie Browne (I wrote a bit about that here, remember). Another couple of pieces from the same project are forthcoming in FENCE magazine.
Oh, and I’m reading in Picton, Ontario soon; June 20th, as part of PEP Rally, although I’m not sure my particular reading is up yet (I’ve no idea who I’m reading with). Hosted and curated by Assembly Press and Books & Company (289 Main Street, Picton), PEP Rally is a poetry series at the bookstore that runs the third Thursday of every month from 6:30pm to 8pm.
The past few weeks have been a furious array of completing a handful of short stories after our UK trip (see my trio of reports here, here and here), and pushing the work-in-progress “the green notebook” (a handful of sections are forthcoming in the online journal Annulet), as well as further entries around “the genealogy book.” There’s a part of me thinking that the latter is nearing completion (I’ve been posting excerpts here for a year or so), which means I need to wrap my head around the entire manuscript soon, to be able to make sure it coheres into a full shape, and not simply an assemblage of scraps (however interesting such scraps might be). I did my taxes, also, but I don’t want to talk about that.
I think we’re going away in July, also? A genealogical drive through New England across a few days, seeking as many sites for myself and Christine as the children might tolerate, before we return to Canada via Niagara and Great Wolf Lodge (as we did last year), before returning through Picton to visit father-in-law. I’m also reading in Toronto again at the end of July as part of Shab-e She’r, July 30th, although I don’t think a listing anywhere yet. Oh, and the above/ground press 31st anniversary event is already scheduled for Saturday, August 10 at RedBird, in Old Ottawa South, so be sure to mark your calendars for that. Should be a great show. Readers should be announced sometime in July (I’m still working on it). And next week, naturally, is the ottawa small press book fair at Tom Brown Arena, June 22. But you probably already know that. There’s been such a difficulty with venues that I’ve been two months trying to find a pre-fair reading space without luck (venues either ghosting, refusing or no longer running events), which is enormously frustrating. The fall 2024 event will mark THIRTY YEARS of the ottawa small press book fair, an event I co-founded in 1994 with James Spyker. I’m working on some exciting titles through above/ground press, including chapbooks by David Phillips, M.A.C. Farrant, Helen Hajnoczky, Peter Jaeger, Chris Banks, Gil McElroy and Mckenzie Strath (among plenty of others, naturally), as well as the next issue of Touch the Donkey [a small poetry journal] (#42, scheduled for July 15). Keep in mind that backdating an annual subscription is always an option, yes?
I have a poetry chapbook out next week, a chapbook-length elegy for the late Prince George poet Barry McKinnon, to appear with above/ground press. Did you see the obituary I posted for McKinnon last fall? I’m also in the process of posting a rather hefty memorial folio celebrating McKinnon over at periodicities: a journal of poetry and poetics to appear next week as well, curated by Jeremy Stewart and Donna Kane, so keep your eye out. We’re aiming to post it for the morning of the 20th, just prior to the Prince George memorial for Barry on the 22nd. Should I also mention that I’ve a forthcoming chapbook with Toronto’s Gap Riot Press? I suspect fall publication, although I’ve heard nothing officially from them re: timeline.
I’m still very excited about this short story collection due to drop soon. Have you made a point to pre-order? Christine’s fall title, Toxemia (Bookhug Press, 2024), is also up for pre-order, as I’m sure you already know. Festivals should invite us to read, I think. Otherwise, we will do our best to get out there for readings, whether together or separately (childcare being a further factor, naturally). We’ll figure something out.
Next week my middle daughter ends her school year. The week after, the small one ends hers. The summer is about to begin.
I did catch the small one in the backyard a few nights ago, just prior to bedtime. She was at their picnic table for at least forty minutes, working away at something. When I eventually convinced her in, she said she didn’t know if it was a story or a song (but it filled a whole page). Perhaps I should request that she sing it.
