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Author: ALU Editor

  • Poetry Muse: Carlie Blume + Gigglepuss

    Poetry Muse: Carlie Blume + Gigglepuss

    Carlie Blume lists her poetry muse(s) behind her collection Gigglepuss (Guernica Editions) as “a collective of all the empathetic, hard working women in my life”: most notably her grandmother, who made the incredibly difficult, incredibly brave decision to pursue MAID. Carlie shares a poem from the collection inspired by her grandmother: “Waiting for Palliative Care.”

  • Poetry Muse: Gillian Sze + Quiet Night Think

    Poetry Muse: Gillian Sze + Quiet Night Think

    In today’s Poetry Muse, Gillian Sze discusses how motherhood, or, “becoming a point of origin for someone else”, was the start of an interrogation of her own beginnings, and in turn, the start of her collection Quiet Night Think (ECW Press). Learn more about Gillian’s muse(s) for the book and hear “Instructions,” a poem from the collection.

  • Poetry Muse: Keith Garebian + In the Bowl of My Eye

    Poetry Muse: Keith Garebian + In the Bowl of My Eye

    In today’s instalment of Poetry Muse, multi-award-winning poet Keith Garebian shares the natural and human-made world outside his condominium window in his latest collection In the Bowl of My Eye (Mawenzi House), as well as the poems “Study of Lake 1 & 2” from the book.

  • Poetry Muse: Meredith Quartermain + Lullabies in the Real World

    Poetry Muse: Meredith Quartermain + Lullabies in the Real World

    Meredith Quartermain and her collection Lullabies in the Real World (NeWest Press) make up today’s Poetry Muse feature. Read how the collection is in part a conversation with other poets like bp Nichol and hear Meredith read “Styx” from the book.

  • Poetry Muse: Lori Cayer + Searching for Signal

    Poetry Muse: Lori Cayer + Searching for Signal

    Today’s Poetry Muse featured poet is Lori Cayer, discussing her latest collection, Searching for Signal (Signature Editions). She shares a gripping poem from the collection inspired by her late father, and tells us why poetry wasn’t so much a choice of form as it “never occurred to me to write anything other than poetry.”

  • Poetry Muse: Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch + The Good Arabs

    Poetry Muse: Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch + The Good Arabs

    Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch shares their second collection The Good Arabs (Metonymy Press) in this latest instalment of Poetry Muse. They discuss working amidst other artists and creators, exploring the tensions and linkages between the micro and macro, and share their poem “The Cycle.”

  • Poetry Muse: Andrew Faulkner + Heady Bloom

    Poetry Muse: Andrew Faulkner + Heady Bloom

    Our next Poetry Muse featured poet is Andrew Faulkner and his collection Heady Bloom (Coach House Books). He tells us how the book’s muse is the big-size bottle of Advil Liqui-gels, inspired by a persistent headache, shares the “nostalgic millennial” music found amongst his poems, and advises aspiring poets to “spend as much time as you can in…

  • Poetry Muse: Salimah Valiani + 29 leads to Love

    Poetry Muse: Salimah Valiani + 29 leads to Love

    Today’s Poetry Muse’s featured poet is Salimah Valiani: activist, researcher, and author of29 leads to Love (Inanna Publications). In our Q&A, Salimah shares how in her new collection she traces love in 29 different ways, and how her muse for this collection is al-jinn, which can take either a human, animal, or other natural forms. 

  • Poetry Muse: Michelle Lietz + Occasionally Petty

    Poetry Muse: Michelle Lietz + Occasionally Petty

    Today’s featured poet is debut author Michelle Lietz, who releases her first poetry collectionOccasionally Petty (At Bay Press). This poetry collection is perfect for all music lovers, as each of Michelle’s poems begin with song lyrics. In our Q&A, she shares how her muse is Tom Petty and how she was inspired by his music when writing…

  • Poetry Muse: Kelsey Andrews + Big Sky Falling

    Poetry Muse: Kelsey Andrews + Big Sky Falling

    Today’s Poetry Muse featured poet is Kelsey Andrews, author of Big Sky Falling (Ronsdale Press). She discusses why “chanty” (note – not “chantey”) music inspires her to write, some of her favourite collections, and how setting expectations for your muse can make them – in her case, a woman with dark hair – come to you.

  • Poetry Muse: Andrea Thompson, Evelyn C. White and A. Gregory Frankson + AfriCANthology

    Poetry Muse: Andrea Thompson, Evelyn C. White and A. Gregory Frankson + AfriCANthology

    Today’s Poetry Muse feature is a triple-header of poets from Renaissance Press’ AfriCANthology: Perspectives of Black Canadian Poets. We’re joined by Andrea Thompson, reading “After the Storm;” Evelyn C. White, reading “One Rock;” and the anthology’s editor and poet himself, A. Gregory Frankson, reading “The Blackened Room.” Read on to learn about their muses, like those…

  • Poetry Muse: Nanci Lee + Hsin

    Poetry Muse: Nanci Lee + Hsin

    Today on Poetry Muse, we are joined by Nanci Lee — author of Hsin (Brick Books). Born to a Syrian father and a Chinese mother, who gave her up for adoption, Nanci explores her origins in a compendium of poem fragments where form embraces the process of its unfolding. In our Q&A with Nanci, she shares when…

  • Poetry Muse: Yassin Alsalman + Text Messages: Or How I Found Myself Time Travelling

    Poetry Muse: Yassin Alsalman + Text Messages: Or How I Found Myself Time Travelling

    This weekend on Poetry Muse, we are joined by Montreal-based Iraqi hip-hop artist, activist, and professor Yassin “Narcy” Alsalman — author of a Text Messages: Or How I Found Myself Time Travelling. In our Q&A, Yassin shares how he started writing his collection, and how he meant it to be a confusing, sensory overload of a book.Yassin’s first collection…

  • Poetry Muse: Lynne Sargent + A Refuge of Tales

    Poetry Muse: Lynne Sargent + A Refuge of Tales

    Today Lynne Sargent, author of A Refuge of Tales (Renaissance Press) joins us on Poetry Muse. They shares why they like the liminality that poetry offers, why they describes their poetry collection as a terrible beauty, and which songs from the Lord of the Rings Musical and from a Florence and the Machine album inspired two poems from…

  • Poetry Muse: Caroline Wong + Primal Sketches

    Poetry Muse: Caroline Wong + Primal Sketches

    Today on Poetry Muse we are joined by Caroline Wong, author ofPrimal Sketches (Signature Editions). Caroline’s poetry collection is a book that considers how our actions profoundly effect the lives of fellow humans as well as the natural world around us. In our Q&A with Caroline, she shares how nature is her muse and how she…