Summer? Summer.

In which I provide updates and links and excuses as usual

It’s been a strange spring and early summer here in Newfoundland. See, the thing is, it’s actually been spring and early summer. Normally, we get the mainland’s early April weather from about late April until July. But this year, it only went until mid-May and it’s been, frankly, gorgeous since. Blue skies? Low fog? Crispy brown grass? Scandalous! Are we going to be the main beneficiaries of climate change? I mean, those of us living up the hill from the waterline? The pandemic, and now geo-politics, made me realize this place is a magical zone for the survival of end-times, and this just proves it a bit more. I mean, should things really hit the fan, I’ll be eating fish and potatoes for the rest of my life, but good enough.

Anyway, you should be made aware/reminded that NewPoetry.ca has restarted for the first time since before the pandemic. I figured there’s been enough turn over in poets and poetry since then to make the idea relevant again. The idea has always been to remove the “business” from publication: no bios, no headshots, no links to websites, no fancy graphics, no accolade listings, not even info about the site or the usual journal fodder like awards and ads, etc. Just the poet’s name and the poem. But this also has a levelling effect, where someone like Lorna Crozier or AF Moritz can appear next to someone getting their first publication ever. Even further, the poets are all invited by hand and I ask them to self-select their work. Whatever they send me once asked, I will post. This is meant to create a snapshot of what the poets think is their most interesting work now. (I mean, that said, if something came in that I considered terrible, I might ask the poet if they really want this up there, but generally it’s to remove the editorial bias from it, beyond the idea of who I am able to reach to ask.) Anyway, you should subscribe to the site, if you don’t.

Reading:

I’m reading a range of things these days, including poetry by Karen Solie (Wellwater), which is always a treat. Back in 2002, I wrote a review in the Globe in which I said she’d become the great hope of Canadian poetry. When I read poems as good as these, I sometimes think I should pitch a follow-up piece about how she might now become the great hope for it internationally. A-plus work.

Also read Intermezzo, by Sally Rooney, which I think might have done more to rejuvenate my interest in writing poetically than any other book. She writes a gorgeous line and her work is a collage of subjects and objects dripping with interior metaphysical noodling and lyrical imagery.

Reread The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula LeGuin, much of which I think went over my head in my 20s. What a book. What a writer. Aphorism after aphorism in there. And to think what year it was written and what it covered. A true revolutionary.

Going to be starting reread of A Canticle for Leibowitz soon, too. The last few years, I’ve been rereading classic SFFs I read in my teens and 20s (like Lem’s Solaris, Gibson’s Sprawl Trilogy, or the Pullman books, etc.) in an effort to see what my less-wise brain might have missed. Like my reread of the first three Dune books last year, this will be part of that. Well, in honesty, the Dune reread had a secondary goal as well… see below.

Playing:

I am deep into the new MMO, Dune: Awakening. Don’t at me, nerds. It’s like stylish Minecraft and has some incredible blend of survival and narrative. Though I do wonder where things will go for me once I’m finished the story elements. Like, will I become one of those people who logs on to simple shoot things with friends? I still prefer single player, story-heavy games (like Cyberpunk, which is for my money the greatest game ever made), but who knows. Right now, though, the do-this, do-that nature of it is giving me free dopamine, so… If only I could run my actual life as efficiently as I mine spice.

Watching:

We watched some good movies lately, including a local production called Skeet. I imagine it’ll be hard to find elsewhere until it hits streaming, but it’s a good watch and gets a lot right about the grittier side of St. John’s. That said, I have notes. Very good for a Canadian, and especially, local film, but not without its wild misses. Including bizarrely making the villain a skeet-bar poet. Wha?

Congratulating:

Local author and pal Michael Crummey won the Dublin IMPAC award for his novel The Adversary. I think most of his books have been long or shortlisted, so it’s nice to see him take it home. Also, couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. I call him the Michael J. Fox of Canlit. No one has a bad word to say about him. And he never seems to age. I found the book harrowing and relentless, in many ways. People just survive the worst shit. But it’s a great read, because he’s a poet who writes fiction, but respects both genres.

Anyway, mostly this was to remind you about NewPoetry. Go see the poets. Scroll back and check out the legacy posts too.