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I had the great pleasure of reading at St. Jerome’s University in Waterloo yesterday as part of their “can lit kicks ass” reading series. It was my first chance to read from The Polymers with the book in my hand (the box arrived just a day earlier). My hosts were generous and the audience was attentive, posing some thoughtful questions about poetry and science following my reading. I’ve since been thinking about some of those questions and also about the subsequent discussion I had with students from Claire Tacon’s creative writing class. There has been, in my experience, a persistent anxiety about poetry’s so-called marginalized cultural position.

Let me say immediately that I am thrilled to be this month’s Open Book: Toronto Writer-in-Residence. My third book of poetry (The Polymers) has just been published and I plan to share with you some of the adventures associated with launching it. If you are in Waterloo this Thursday April 5th come and see me at the “Can Lit Kicks Ass” readings series http://canlitkicksass.blogspot...

The headline may have you asking "What the heck is ekphrastic"? It's the unwieldy technical term for writing (usually poetry) created in response to visual art.
Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn" may be the most famous example, but many poets have found inspiration in painting, sculpture, and photography. Symbols, layering, suggestions and nuances are common to poetry and visual media. There's, not incidentally, a considerable list of poets who also create visual art -- in Canada, Joe Rosenblatt, Bill Bissett and the late PK Page come to mind.

A WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF INTERNET CURIOSITIES FROM THE BOOK WORLD

Worm
"50 Reasons You Should Be A Bookworm" from qwiklit.com. Clever, though I have to admit, I don't really get number one, and Slaughterhouse Five is one of my favourite books. If nothing else, this is an excellent collection of book covers to browse.

Type
Ever wonder what the hell typographers are talking about? Yeah, me neither. Anyway, this nicely designed glossary lays it all out.

Like

Simple ambitions, complicated tea.

This is the story of a ballerina who stopped dancing so she could learn to write songs. Or perhaps she learned how to write songs because she stopped dancing. Either way, the artistic life of Jill Zmud has not been plotted or charted, and it seems to be working out just right.

The Saskatoon native agrees to meet in a coffee shop on a recent sunny spring afternoon in downtown Ottawa. She orders an improbably named Osmanthus Scented Silvery Green Tea – (earning an ‘A’ when she is asked by the hardcore coffee-drinking interviewer to spell the name of the tea) – and she settles in to discuss words, music, grief and beauty.

QUESTION #1:
What's the best thing about your city, Toronto?

That there's not a lot of pollution. (Sara, age 6)

Toronto has more hardware stores than some other cities. (Matthew, age 4)

The multiculturalism and how it's a city where people from all over can come together. (Hanna, age 14)

Having a big park right near my house. (Violet, age 5)

One of my favorite things about living in Toronto is...Canada's Wonderland! Because there is lots of rides and games and it is really, really fun and I get to bring a friend. I always go on the last day of school. (Isa, age 8)

The parks and the island system. Nature. Harry's Run in High Park. The communities and farmers' markets and activities. (Isak, age 12)

Holding one’s printed and bound book for the first time is an unforgettable moment. There’s nothing like it: the smooth feel of a pristine cover. The tangible weight of all those words in your hand, every one of them hard won. The smell of fresh ink from the printing press. The satisfaction of finally seeing years of work materialize into a form that can be shared with others.

Today I came home with my five-year-old daughter and found a box from my publisher on the porch. I’d been impatiently waiting for the box since last week when my publicist let me know the book was back from the printer. I’d been hoping my ten author copies would arrive and my daughter knew that. We looked at the box and then at each other and then we squealed, “the book!”

A WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF INTERNET CURIOSITIES FROM THE BOOK WORLD

Loaners
There is something sad (or maybe just crappy?) about a book that sits in a library never having been borrowed. Sad or crappy, there's something brilliant about making a gallery exhibit out of such books.

Small
A Japanese book of flowers called "Shiki no Kusabana", with pages measuring only 0.75 millimetres, is hoping for the title of the world's smallest printed book.

Don't

For fun, I decided to approach four very different writers with diverse literary preoccupations and writing styles. I asked them each to answer a short series of questions. Their answers reveal something of their individual personalities and perhaps lend insight into why they write what they do.

The writers are:
Sally Cooper (http://one-hot-poppy.tumblr.com/ www.sallycooper.ca)
Susan Goldberg (http://mamanongrata.com/)
John Miller (http://johnmiller.ca/)
Jackie Goutor (njaron.com)

Question #1 Which writer, dead or alive, would you most want to sleep with?

Sally Cooper: Keats for his simmering, shimmering passion or a young, unleashed. Kerouac, circa 1953. (Sally Cooper)

Susan Goldberg: Given that she's still alive, I will demur.

John Miller: John Irving

When I was growing up our family didn’t have much money. The public library was our cheapest and best form of entertainment. My mother and I visited our local branch often, and my mother took me around the city to other branches for special events. As a child, having a library card in my own name was a badge of honour and a sign of respect, and probably the reason I took my own daughter to the library when she was only one and insisted she have her own card too. The first authors I met in person when I was child, Jean Little and Beverly Cleary, left me star-stuck as I had never been before – nor have I been since. Listening to writers whose work I enjoyed read aloud was magical. Being able to speak with them and realize they were real people did a lot to demystify the role of The Writer.