Poetry

We met at a birthday party.

We met at a birthday party.

We met at a birthday party. You were the only rum drinker in the room. On the couch, Al Purdy was going on about the stunted trees in the Arctic. We met at a birthday party. You were the only rum drinker in the room. On the couch, Al Purdy was going on about the...

Verso 40.6

Verso 40.6

M sent me a photograph by Daguerre. It is of the first human being to be photographed. M sent me a photograph by Daguerre. It is of the first human being to be photographed. Someone is cleaning the shoes of someone. All descriptions of the photograph claim that the...

Troll

Troll

He's a mean one, Mr. Troll I wonder what soured his soul enough to tell me I was not attractive enough to worry about being raped? He’s had a hard day at work gets off the elevator at his floor, rattles the key to his apartment door. Once inside, his briefcase slams...

Ripples of Darkness

Ripples of Darkness

A mother's hands stack clean needles, latex gloves. For our children, she says, for the lost ones. For the ones we've saved many times before, For the ones we hope to save just one time more. Why, neighbours ask while politicians gloat. Why chain the monster only to...

Who am I

Who am I

“And if you are not a bird, then beware of coming to rest above an abyss.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche Not an addict but a deflowered thorn, a queen of spades with a punch-hole. A birthday present unwrapped too quickly. Not a junkie but someone who’s put hope in the washer...

10 years to yes

10 years to yes

this is my third war* may 2009 if you can’t see me does it mean I don’t exist yes if you see me but you don’t see what makes me me does it mean you don’t see me yes if you cannot see that the thing that makes me me hurts burns ashes all over if you cannot see me shall...

for my sister

for my sister

it’s a drunkintheafternoon kind of day wrung out acronyms come up on my keyboard instead of my sister’s name it’s a drunkintheafternoon kind of day wrung out acronyms come up on my keyboard instead of my sister’s name this is the place of the abbreviated    form...

Dust

Dust

he traces the tattoo of Africa on my back tells me how he wants to go back to Sierra Leone he traces the tattoo of Africa on my back tells me how he wants to go back to Sierra Leone I want to ask him how he can love a mother land that chewed and spit him out like...

Thrust Into My Wilderness

Thrust Into My Wilderness

I wring the sweat and earth from my dewy fingers and flick open my app. A dick pic. Finally. It is a birdsong in the boughs. I gasp. Smile. Spotted. At last. My soft white legs brush against each other like kindling begging for a spark. It is July, hot late afternoon....

Still Fighting

Still Fighting

The same folks who believe racism only exists in the past will tell you patriarchal misogyny is obsolete and men now suffer because women hold all of the cards. The same folks who believe racism only exists in the past will tell you patriarchal misogyny is obsolete...

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ROOM 47.4 FULL CIRCLE
Step back with Room into the past, to parents, to childhood homes, and to people once known and loved; dig into themes of grief and healing; and ultimately explore what it means to come full circle in literature.

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