writing the land

the folks over at blueskiespoetry.ca have a neat project going called "Writing the Land", in which they profile poems about Alberta's landscapes. you can read the most recently posted poem here, then scroll through past poems using the "Next Poem" link.

the poems are hit and miss - though there are quite a few hits - and i think it's a fantastic idea. while i was in Ghana i was missing Vancouver and poems about the city, and i had the idea of setting up a site for writing on the city - not just sweeping generalizations about "VanCity" ("Asialopolis"?) but about particular places, artifacts, and histories - then mapping them all using GoogleMaps or something so people could actually go around and see the things and places the writing was referencing - sort of a literary tour of the city.

but then i started noticing a number of magazines that were interested specifically in writing on Vancouver (most notably one cool word and Vancouver Review) and i lost a bit of my gusto. at the same time, i began to appreciate the complete lack of venues for writing on Ghana, so i put my energies into One Ghana, One Voice.

OGOV is ticking along quite smoothly right now, and my guess that i might be able to find 10-15 Ghanaian poets out there has proven very short-sighted, which is damn exciting. it looks like we might even get a book...?

so, OGOV is keeping me busy. in addition, my interests in setting up a vancouver-focused crap-chapbook publisher and in helping to revive the slumbering giant that is High Altitude Poetry, have helped ensure that the "literary tour of Vancouver" idea stays shelved in the cluttered and dusty stockroom of my mind.

but reading things like "Writing the Land" gets me wanting to pull out the stepladder and explore what i've got stored back there. i'm still probably not going to do it - but if anyone else is up for it, i'd be sure to lend a hand.


photos by Marta Iniewska and genericstockroomphotos.com