3/27/2013

Smoothing the Holy Surfaces + AG Series Ten


It has arrived! Ok, it arrived months ago, but I finally arrived to receive it!

Smoothing the Holy Surfaces is my newest chapbook, and features five poems about love and family and violence (well, more accurately, about "loving family violence"). Copies went out as a bonus supplement to anyone who subscribed to Series Nine of the Alfred Gustav Press' chapbook series, which featured chapbooks by Sandy Shreve, Gerald Hill and Douglas Burnet Smith.

Series Nine. The skinny nameless one is mine!

The chapbook was beautifully designed and assembled, as is always the case with Alfred Gustav chapbooks. I have about ten copies of my own, and if you sweet-talk and/or bribe me I might be willing to part ways with one or two of them.

If you missed out on subscribing to Series Nine, make sure you don't miss Series Ten, too. The lineup for Series Ten was recently announced, and is:

John Donlan, Call Me the Breeze
Maureen McCarthy, Nine Steps to the Door
Tara Wohlberg, ‘Cold Surely Takes the Wood’

Subscriptions are available for $10 in total for the three issues described below ($15 outside Canada). The subscription deadline is April 1st, 2013 (so act quick!). To order, send cash or cheque payable to David Zieroth at:

The Alfred Gustav Press
429B Alder Street
North Vancouver, BC
V7L 1A9

Please remember your mailing address (and include your email address if you wish updated information).

For more information: email dzieroth(at)telus(dot)net and for more background check out the Alfred Gustav Press webpage.

3/26/2013

Long event name + Long list of readers = Long on good times

Ok, I know that's not usually the case. But as one of the co-hosts of this event, I'm confident we'll buck the trend.

Along with Daniela Elza, I'm hosting a reading this Thursday to mark the Vancouver launch of the poetry anthology Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here. In addition to readings from the book, a number of guest poets will read as well. The details:

A Night of Socially Engaged Writing of Peace, Provocation and Witness
March 28th, 2013, 7-9:30 PM
The Cottage Bistro
4468 Main Street, Vancouver
Guest feature: Cristine Leclerc
Reading from the anthology: John Fisher, Sita Carboni, Bonnie Nish, Fran Bourassa, and more
Special guests: Susan McCaslin, Stephen Collis, Renee Saklikar, Elena E. Johnson, and Juliane Okot Bitek
Suggested Donation: $5

I'm worried what my prolonged exposure to this volume of author bios might do to me. If I snap, you'll wish you had a front row seat. So I'll see you there, right?

Come for the poetry, stay for the host's nervous breakdown!

3/22/2013

#GPOYWMO

I'm tired of coming late to all the coolest memes. I think I'm getting in on this one early. Thanks, Mike Hingston!



3/20/2013

"Glimpses of Africa" Reading Tomorrow

While still in Zambia I was invited to participate in an ekphrasistic writing project in response to Claudine Pommier's Glimpses of Africa photo exhibit, which is currently on display at the Jewish Community Centre's Zack Gallery. I'd participated in similar projects (which are organized through a partnership between the Gallery and Pandora's Collective) twice previously, and a poem from one of those sessions, "Computer Monitor Ekphrasis", made it into The Other Side of Ourselves. So I was already keen on trying it again, and with a subject like "Glimpses of Africa", how could I refuse?

I've written a couple short poems on the exhibit, which I will share at the reading along with (if time permits) a piece or two that I wrote while traveling. We'll see.

The details:

Music, Poetry & Word Whips inspired by Glimpses of Africa
Thursday, March 21st
7:00-9:00 PM
Zack Gallery
Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver
950 West 41st Ave. Vancouver
Featuring: Music by Nancy Newman and poetry by Jamie Reid, Chelsea Comeau, Daniela Elza, myself and more!
Free!

The fancy poster:


I hope to see you there!