Almost time to burn the effigy of Guy Fawkes! and the evenings are closing in - just right for a snuggly poetry reading! I'll be doing a couple of them in Toronto:

Thursday November 4th, 7:30 pm
LiveWords
Black Swan Tavern
154 Danforth Ave

Sunday November 14th, 12.30 pm
Ontario Poetry Society – Warm Hands, Deep Pockets Poetry Party
The Rivoli
332 Queen Street West

So come and feel cozy! And don’t forget December 1st – Worlds AIDS day – CBC Radio 2 will broadcast Dark Star Requiem on the Signal at 10pm.

Decompressing after the fabulous Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark, NJ. Actually quite a lovely little city, and really wonderful weather!! The venues for the Dodge included the New Jersey Performing Arts Centre and churches and hotels around the core, including the lovely old First Baptist Peddie Memorial Church which is full of beautiful wood and a domed ceiling with stained glass 'skylights'.

Highlights included a poets laureate conflab between Rita Dove, Billy Collins, Kay Ryan and Mark Strand - and guess what?! same problems for all of us Laureates! Also Amiri Baraka playing with his brilliant band Blue Arc, Rita Dove reading from her new book Sonata Mulattica, Kwame Dawes being Kwame Dawes and Martin Espada talking about craft.

Then a couple of days in Manhattan where I went to see one of my favourite dance troupes, Sankai Juku perform their latest creation 'Tobari' at the Joyce theatre. Check out the review here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/arts/dance/07juku.html.

It's always good to get away for a few days, especially when poetry is involved!

The Dodge Poetry Festival is looming in the horizon and I'll be tooting down to Newark on Thursday to catch all the fun. It's been a busy time (working for money) but when I return from NY and a good dose of poetry I expect to kickstart my projects - the Malletkat, Dion McGregor, the memoir and finding a husband to put together my IKEA purchases! More as it comes!

I start a new collaborative project next week for marimba and counter tenor. I'll keep you posted on how it goes! But in the next few weeks I am reading around the province.

For you Ottawa peeps I'll be at Vox Femina - a special cabaret with Luna Allison, Adeena Karasick, Sandra Alland and myself - a kind of pre-Kingston Writers Festival event. You can check out the event on the FB page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=161012153913244&ref=mf

And then at the Kingston Writers Festival there is loads of poetry to check out:

Start your poetry week with Bookmark: Bronwen Wallace, a poetic tribute to one of Kingston's most beloved poets, featuring Joanne Page, Lara Bozabalian and Alison Pick, moderated byCarolyn Smart.

Bookmark: Bronwen Wallace, Thursday, September 23, 11:00 am. Tickets $12.50

Festival Friday. Mind-bending poetry

Join poet Jill Battson and break out of the print ghetto in this Festival Writers Studio class. Battson gives pointers on how to expand your craft and audience and perhaps even use poetry for social change.

Poetry Beyond the Page, Friday, September 24, 10:30 am. Tickets $ 25.00

Make the most of Festival Friday with a mind-bending cabaret of spoken word poetry featuring the best performers working in the genre today, including Vancouver's CR Avery, Canada's Sandra Alland and Luna Allison, and from New York/Washington, Adeena Karasick, Regie Cabico, and Todd Colby. Worth staying up late! Hosted by the inimitable Jill Battson. Cash Bar.

Vox Performa, Friday, September 24, 10:30 pm. Tickets $12.50

SaturDay/NightLive. Page poets, performance poets - and you!

Come hear the great debate between spoken word and printed text with Todd Colby, Steven Heighton, Jill Battson, and Regie Cabico. Moderated by poet Genni Gunn.

Poets: Stage vs. Page, Saturday September 25, 3:00 pm. Tickets $12.50

Poet Laureate John Steffler joins Jill Battson, Genni Gunn, and CR Avery and six renowned prose writers including Michael Winter, Miguel Syjuco, and Lisa Moore in a free-flowing night of unforgettable words and music hosted by CBC's Bill Richardson with jazz stylings by Jonathan Stewart's Trio Without Words. Cash bar.

Saturday Night SpeakEasy, Saturday September 25, 8:00 pm. Tickets $12.50

Just a quickie, my friends, to let you know that I'm reading at several locations at the Junction Arts Festival in Toronto this weekend, September 10 - 12th. I'm on the mainstage at 8.15 on Friday and then Poets House on Sunday at 2 pm and then at Pandemonium at 4 pm. More deets on the festival can be found at: http://www.junctionartsfest.com/index.html

And just a word about an event that's a worthy cause: The Champions' Cabaret at the Music Gallery next Tuesday September 14th. Deets can be found here: http://coalitionformusiced.ca/ and all money goes to the Coalition for Music Education in Canada.

Update on the hair - pink!

Well, friends, time to let you know about some upcoming readings!

Wednesday August 18th, 7pm

Poetry & Co.

RCHA Club (2nd Floor)

193 Ontario Street

Kingston

Thursday August 19th, 7.30 pm

Meet me at 66 King

66 King Street

Cobourg

Saturday September 11th

Junction Arts Festival

(more info to come)

Friday September 24th, 10.30 am

Poetry Beyond the Page

Kingston Writers' Festival

Kingston

Friday September 24th, 10.30 pm

Vox Performa

Kingston Writers' Festival

Kingston

Saturday September 25th, 8.00 pm

Saturday Night Speakeasy

Kingston Writers' Festival

Kingston

I encourage everyone to check out the Kingston Writers' Festival website at http://www.kingstonwritersfest.ca/ They just announced that Joyce Carol Oates will be reading at the festival. On the poetry side, I've programmed a kick ass group of poets for Vox Performa - Adeena Karasick, Regie Cabico, Luna Allison, Todd Colby, CR Avery and Sandra Alland - now that will be one great performance to stay up past your bedtime for!

Hello, my friends, on this rainy Sunday afternoon!

A perfect day to stay in and get some writing done towards my next production. And maybe a poem or two before I totally forget what being a poet is all about.

Last week I had a really interesting discussion with the South Carolinian poet Kwame Dawes for an article I'm writing about him for the New Mexican's Pasatiempo. Where to start? and what to focus on for the 1200 words I'm allowed! I'm most interested in his Hope's Hospice project. Find it here: http://www.livehopelove.com/#/home/ and check it out - it's a great use of poems for crisis reporting and highlights the good work the Pulitzer Center is doing.

And more about on Dodge Poetry Festival, this year in Newark: http://www.dodgepoetry.org/festival-2010/ I'm taking a bunch of people on the so-called Poetry Express. Leave your worries - and your car - at home and embrace four poetry-packed days! contact me for deets. It's very cost-efficient!

My PL duties are coming along. The local paper, Northumberland Today, may finally be getting the hang of running a regular poetry column. So far we've had 4 poems published and more to come. Check it out every Thursday (the paper's free on that day!)

And finally, catch me reading at the Pivot on Wednesday 11th August, 8pm. at the Press Club, 850 Dundas Street West.