Author Archives: Pearl

I’ll be out of province until the end of the month or so, but posts will continue here in my absence on a reduced schedule, every second day or so. I’m probably offline, so I won’t be responding to comments. P.S. Robert Peake says poetry’s negative capability teaches transferable life lessons of how to relieve […]

I think Gustafson had me At the Cliff’s Edge. p. 33 when he said “the rake/and noonhour leaned against the wall.” Scalp tingles. That pays attention to the world keenly. p. 9 of Ralph Gustafson‘s Tracks in the Snow, (Lantzville, B.C.: Oolichan, 1994) I love how he presents. There are slow turns that balance each […]

Opening page of Natalie Simpson’s Echo Localial (Edits All Over, 2008) The poems don’t come unpacked. More Ikea model than Leon’s. Clint Burnham said of the book from 2 years before this chapbook, “Simpson is interested in whether words still communicate when shorn of their grammar. Her book is evidence that they do, and the […]

Ottawa’s literary interview radio show on CKCU has a rotation of 4 hosts: Christine McNair, David O’Meara, Kate Hunt and Neil Wilson. McNair has made a Literary Landscapes Archives of interview shows she did starting in November 09. So far there’s audio of Kate Hall, Johanna Skibsru, Spencer Gorden, myself, Sandra Ridley, Jennifer Londry and […]

The July 16th reading will be a treat. It will be a night above/ground at the Carleton Tavern (upstairs). Three from among my favorite people and poets will be reading: Marilyn Irwin, Cameron Anstee (a Hot Ottawa Voice for 2010) and Marcus McCann (of Soft Where). If you can make it, it’d be worthwhile. Tune […]