musty, wet pelts glistening in the blue

Obama poetry. Obama inaugural poets. Sparkly!

working for the dictionary

Charles Simic: Poets are, basically, employees of the dictionary. They work for the dictionary.

Jeffrey Brown: You work for the dictionary?

Simic: Yes, we work for the dictionary.

Brown: What do you mean?

Simic: We keep the language, I think, honest and interesting. We look up words all the time, we open them up. We put some words to use that haven't been used in a long time.

-from an interview as part of NewsHour's Poetry Series

nerd slam

This week's Poetry Slam (Monday, 8:30 PM) at Cafe Deux Soleils is a "Nerd Slam". There will be costumes. I don't know if I should be terrified or excited... but let's go with excited.

High Altitude Poetry is turning it into a social outing for the group, and I think I'll wander down the street and join them - you should too!

More info on it here.

the republic of canada

If I read one more Vancouver Sun editorial I'm going to sign a separatist agreement between myself and my lunch. At least Rick Mercer is making sense (a couple days outdated, I know):

[Harper] is required to allow for a vote on his economic update. To win he needs fifty percent plus one, and he doesn't have it. If he loses he must ask the Governor General to dissolve the House. And if she feels a coalition can govern with a majority of support in the House of Commons then she is required to ask them to do it.

Them's the rules and Harper knows it. And so his only strategy is to launch a full-fledged attack on the very institution he is sworn to protect.

Harper has taken to the airwaves saying that if he loses a confidence vote in the House of Commons it is a coup d'etat, comparing it to the hostile takeover of a legitimate majority rule government by a military dictator.

And so our Prime Minister is suggesting that the Governor General must not listen to constitutional advisors but to him and him alone. The Prime Minister's office, those same people who unbeknownst to him ensure there are people waving to the PM wherever he goes, is organizing a protest which will occur at the residence of the Governor General of Canada. In Stephen Harper's world it should not be 700 years of parliamentary tradition that determines the future but him and him alone. Incredible hubris for a man who received less than 38 percent of the popular vote in the last election. One imagines the Queen will not be amused. In a perfect world she would just knock their two heads together and call it a day.

This could be the beginning of the Republic of Canada. A nation where Stephen Harper and not the monarch is the head of state. A Harper republic will differ from others in the world, however, as he ostensibly will have majority powers without having that old fashioned 50 percent support in either the country or the House of Commons.

This is off his blog, which can be read here.

mutating the signature

Qarrtsiluni, one of the few online poetry journal I enjoy reading regularly (as I mentioned in a previous post) has a call out for collaboratively-written poetry, due in January.

Renga, anyone?

final draught

Friend and fellow ex-HAPer, Colin Stewart, is going to have his screenplay read as part of the Final Draught Reading Series this Monday (two days!). Here are the details:

Monday, December 1st
The Other Space (a bar at Georgia & Cambie, above The Media Club)
Casting starts at 7pm, readings start at 8pm
Admission by donation ($5 suggested)

It sounds like a lot of fun, so go! And good luck, Colin!!!

Child of Saturday review

A review of Child of Saturday by Arts Editor Deanne Beattie has been published in this week's edition of The Peak. It's quite complimentary of the chapbook, and even better, gets a couple paragraphs in on One Ghana, One Voice - which is really fantastic.

You can read the review online here.

The Peak was one of few places I could think of to get a chapbook reviewed - does anyone have other suggestions?

rock: salt

I'm reading tonight, along with:

David Zieroth, Alan Hill, Trevor Carolan, Daniela Elza, Christopher Levenson, Heather Haley, Kate Braid, Zachariah Wells, Russell Thornton, Joanne Arnott, Peter Trower


As part of the:

Rocksalt North Vancouver Launch


At:

32 Books, 3185 Edgemont Boulevard, North Vancouver, 7:30 pm


So you should:

Come.

Where is Rob Taylor when you need him?

Ok, I'm pretty sure he's meaning Australian actor Rod Taylor, but I'm still going to pretend that I save the day:

Bodega Bay Pantoum by Shane Allison

change i keep believing in again and again

Obama doesn't have to do much to excite me... Bush set the bar pretty low. Here's another example:

Obama spotted carrying poetry book

He doesn't even have to read it. It's that easy...