reading relay

Along with Sandy Shreve, I read at SFU Harbour Centre last week as part of the SFU Lunch Poems reading series. It was my last reading for the spring, and a wonderful way to cap off my first year reading from and promoting TOSOO. Despite the sunny day outside, we had almost 50 people head indoors to take in Sandy and my "choreographed" reading of (mostly) form poems, in which we went back and forth reading poems that were inspired by the poem the other person had read previously. Our set list was:

Sandy – "Midnight Relay"
Rob – "Haiku 1-4"
Sandy – "Love Song of the Varied Thrush"
Rob – "You Can't Lead a Horse"
Sandy – "Kerchief"
Rob – "December Sonnet"
Sandy – "Luck"
Rob – "&"
Sandy – "Homing"
Sandy – "Landing"
Rob – "Wintering"
Sandy – "Unmended"
Rob - "Reconciliation During the Great Fires"
Rob – "Viaticum"
Sandy – "Colloquiz"
Rob – "The Time of Useful Truths"
Sandy – "Change"
Rob – "Squatter"
Sandy – "More of the Just" (inspired by Steven Heighton's "Some Other Just Ones", which was inspired by Jorge Luis Borges' "The Just")

Sandy's "More of the Just" got me writing my own "The Just" list poem. Hopefully once that's out in the world it can inspire one for someone else.

The reading seemed to be well received, and some thoughtful questions were asked in the Q+A afterward. I think I did a decent job of faking competence in a couple of my answers, too.

Thank you to the organizers for giving Sandy and myself the opportunity to read, and to Sandy for inviting me along.

If you missed our reading but are in Vancouver, please keep an eye on the lunchpoems@sfu Facebook page for info on future events - they are well worth taking in.

I hear that the next reading, in June, will feature Sonnet L'Abbé and Renée Saklikar. One can only assume that the conversation will centre around the use of acute accents. But you'll have to show up to find out!