Poetry City finishes up in St. John’s

Despite what’s probably happening outside your window right now, it is actually May tomorrow, which means National Poetry Month is coming to an end. Poetry City reaches its conclusion pretty much as far east as we can get, in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Breakwater has published a whole collection of Newfoundland poetry in the anthology, The Breakwater Book of Contemporary Newfoundland Poetry(edited by Mark Callanan and James Langer), but today we’ve selected just one to share with you from St. John’s poet, Carmelita McGrath.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this year’s National Poetry Month, both online and at our poetry readings, as much as we have. To look back on where we’ve been, check out our NPM hub page.

And speaking of May, tomorrow is the beginning of Short Story Month and we’ve got something special planned. All will be revealed on our blog tomorrow!

Notes on “Unsaid” by Carmelita McGrath
 
Carmelita McGrath’s “Unsaid” stands as an elegant illustration of her ability to gracefully weave both the public world and the private world into one unified fabric. While the poem begins as a conversation with an anonymous telemarketer, it ultimately and seamlessly veers into a revelation of heartbreaking intimacy. Along with some of her other poems reproduced in the anthology, McGrath’s “Unsaid” also appears in her remarkable collection Escape Velocity (Goose Lane, 2013).

About The Breakwater Book of Contemporary Newfoundland Poetry

Gathering the strongest poetry published by Newfoundlanders since the death of E.J. Pratt in 1964, The Breakwater Book of Contemporary Newfoundland Poetry features selections from twelve of the province’s most impressive poets, including Al Pittman, Tom Dawe, Mary Dalton, John Steffler, Patrick Warner, and Ken Babstock. This groundbreaking anthology, with over forty years of poetry on display, celebrates the rousing and the rebirth of contemporary Newfoundland verse.

About Carmelita McGrath

Carmelita McGrath is a poet, editor, anthologist, short story writer, and novelist. She is the author of more than a dozen books, including three published collections of poetry. In addition to the Atlantic Poetry Prize, she has won the Newfoundland Book Award for her novel Stranger Things Have Happened, which was also shortlisted for the Thomas Head Raddall Fiction Award. She lives in St. John’s.

Want more poetry about Atlantic Canada? Check out our Poetry City Pinterest board! Get caught up on all things Poetry City here!

_______Edited from the original post, published on the LPG blog