click here to register if you wish to attend virtually
Join us Wed, Sept 21 at 7:30 for Hybrid (woo hoo!!!)
both online AND at Fairleigh Dickinson University
for Gillian Gerome and Dallas Hunt!
Gillian Jerome is a mother, writer, teacher who lives on the unceded land of the xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqu eam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nation. She is the author of two books of poems. Her first book, Red Nest (Nightwood Editions, 2009), was nominated for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize and won the 2010 ReLit Award for Poetry. Nevertheless: Walking Poems was published by Nightwood Editions in Spring 2022. She co-edited an oral history project, Hope in Shadows: Stories and Photographs from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2008), which won the 2008 City of Vancouver Book Award.
Her work has been supported by the BC Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts. She has taught Creative Writing and Literatures the University of Arizona, Douglas College, and the University of British Columbia.
She now teaches English Language Arts, Creative Writing and Social Studies to Vancouver teenagers. Born in Ottawa, and raised in Orléans, Ontario, she lives in East Vancouver with her partner, Tom Green, and her daughters, Rory and Micah Sophia, and their sweet cat, P ippa.
Dallas Hunt is Cree and a member of Wapsewsipi (Swan River First Nation) in Treaty Eight territory in northern Alberta. He has had creative works published in Contemporary Verse 2, Prairie Fire, PRISM international and Arc Poetry. His first children’s book, Awâsis and the World-famous Bannock, was published through Highwater Press in 2018. His new book, CREELAND, is out through Nightwood Editions. Hunt is an assistant professor of Indigenous literatures at the University of British Columbia.
If the link above does not work, copy and paste this link into your browser: https://tinyurl.com/3uw73fpu
Our June Reading
Our June Reading was a wonderful final reading before our summer break. We began with a wonderful open mic featuring Dee Allen reading a haunting poem about the murder of young black men on a bridge in Mississippi. First-timer Gerald Blackwell read a poem chock full of nature imagery, and Helen Gowans read from her chapbook a short but powerful poem called Tungsten Love. 
After our open-mic portion, Herb Bryce opened a tribute to long-time poets corner reader Kieran Egan, by reading Kieran's poem "Bewitched in Dublin", a wonderful exploration of a romantic encounter with a mysterious actress at an Irish pub. Angus Pratt read Kieren's poetic exploration of death and the increasingly underfunded medical system. Following Angus, we had Fiona Lam, Evelyn Schofield, James Gifford, and SheLa Nefertiti Morrison read from Kieren's extensive collection. The readings and personal stories about Kieran from these wonderful accomplished poets shone a light on what a wonderfully humble, wise and caring man Kieran was. He will not be forgotten.
The evening continued with Marguerite Pigeon who delved into the perils of the fashion industry by  reading from her epic poem about a shopping trip. Who knew that urine was used in the dying of fabric? The speaker explores the dark side of the clothing manufacturing industry: "Cloth as conduct, cloth as covenant, cloth as currency, cloth as bastion, cloth as battlecry, cloth as lore, cloth as mirror, cloth as matrimony, cloth as trance, cloth as transmission, cloth as mutation, cloth as name. The heft of that." She continues in her journey, meeting Coco Chanel, and presents a lengthy description of an Alexander McQueen fashion show. The reading captured perfectly the moral quandary women find themselves in when it comes to dressing their bodies in our modern capitalist world.
One Minute Poem Series will be back in September!
Follow us on Instagram: @poets_corner_reading_series
Along with our Twitter feed, we’ll be posting here up-to-the-minute reminders of upcoming readings, and features of our guest poets.
On our website, you'll find information about what we do, who we are and where to find us. We've created pages for our upcoming readings (Events and 1 Minute Poems), an archive of posts, posters, and newsletters, and information about the team members.
Keep on Donating!
Thank you to our generous donors! Your donations are what allow us to pay our poets and bring you top shelf poetry readings every week. You can donate on our website at https://poetscorner.ca/. If you have donated regularly, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. If you haven't donated yet, but you have a little cash burning a hole in your bank account because you haven't been able to go out anywhere to spend it, we will put it to good use!
More Thanks
Thank you to the Canada Council for the Arts, the League of Canadian Poets and the Writers' Union of Canada for their funding. We at Poets Corner, and especially our feature readers and one-minute poets, appreciate the support.
 
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