Ms. Lyric's Poetry Outlaws

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.