My debut manuscript, White Shirt, was one of 10 titles selected for Dektet 2010,
a 10-pack of Canadian poetry published by Frontenac House in honour of their 10th anniversary.
The books were released five months ago with launch parties
in Edmonton and Calgary at the end of April.
Finally, the Toronto leg of the promo tour is upon us.
On Wednesday, Sept. 22, all 10 Dektet authors – from all over Canada, including myself, Jannie Edwards and William Nicholls
from Edmonton – will read from our books at Revival Bar,
783 College Street, beginning at 7 p.m.
There will be refreshments, cool people, and plenty of opportunity
to get autographed copies of the books.
TALKIN’ BOUT WHITE SHIRT:
“A bust-out-of-the-closet voice where occasional touchstone rhymes and furious lists score the page. The poems are stripped down, poignant, exact, and as heartily playful
as any serious blues. Here is Sappho crossed with the Supremes.” — Jury, Dektet 2010
“… at home in the canon of Canadian lyricism.” — The Globe & Mail
“In this debut collection, best friends scream downhill on their ten-speed bikes; a tree planter spells out her lover’s name in seedlings; and a mysterious entity steps out of the mist in Stanley Park. The author contemplates
how best to seduce Joan of Arc and goes on an abstract-expressionist date
with Jackson Pollock. Like the white shirt in the title, these poems are crisp, seductive and a little bit sweaty.”
White Shirt / Frontenac House, April 2010
ISBN: 978-1-897181-40-9
Price: $15.95
5 minutes avec chemise blanche
on the nightstand:
The Best Day The Worst Day; Life With Jane Kenyon by Donald Hall;
The Bruise by Magdalena Zurawski; The Measure of Paris by Stephen Scobie
on the iPod:
amy winehouse; eartha kitt; dusty springfield; chris knox; laura love;
j.d. souther; the kinks
what white shirt had for breakfast:
two pieces of whole grain toast with peanut butter and blueberry jam;
two coffees with homo milk; one glorious large and lovely purple plum
SAY WORD / SAY WHAT?:
‘A poem begins with a lump in the throat’
~ Robert Frost
cufflinks of the week:
frontenac house authors dinner (tuesday); lunch with old friends at terroni on queen street (wednesday); hangin’ with family (thursday); art gallery of ontario (friday).
the gospel according to white shirt:
… she wants rowboat lovejungle sex an end to the sunflower dreams
and a religion that lets people feel good about themselves