Well friends,

Here I am at the edge of the Atlantic with a cool sea fog drifting over the city of Halifax. Dropped in on Porter Airlines - gotta love the service and the stewardesses uniforms - very retro!

I'm here thanks to the good folks of the Cobourg Poetry Workshop who rallied together and sent cash support to underwrite my trip and make sure Cobourg and its poet laureate are represented here at the poet laureate pow wow! If you're here in Halifax or its environs do stop by our performances and workshops starting tomorrow at 9 pm at The Company House, 2202 Gottingen Street : PLs Linda Rogers (Victoria), Hugh MacDonald )PEI), Pierre DesRuisseaux (Canada) and Ann Margetson (Spring Pulse Poetry Festival) and of course, the organiser of the whole kit and kaboodle - Shauntay Grant who is the PL of the fine city of Halifax.

More as it comes!

I'm still celebrating all the great reviews for Dark Star Requiem! Here's a shot of my collaborator, Andrew Staniland, and I at the Luminato party.

My friend, and previous poet laureate of Cobourg, Eric Winter gave me a large portion of his old Times Literary Supplements and London Review of Books, so that's what I'm doing this rainy Saturday morning! On the poetry front the Cobourg Poetry Workshop folks are canvassing funds for me to get to Halifax July 13 - 16th for the Poet Laureate Pow Wow - curated by Shauntay Grant (Halifax's PL) - hopefully I'll join 11 other PLs in that fair city!

Well friends, the fat lady has sung, so to speak.

Dark Star Requiem opened to pretty damn good reviews! Koerner Hall was filled with Beth Kates and Ben Chaisson's beautiful staging, Tom Diamond's great direction, Wayne Strongman's wonderful conducting and magnificent performances from the Elmer Iseler Singers, Peter McGillivray, Marcus Nance, Neema Bickersteth, Krisztina Szabo, the Gryphon Trio and percussionists Ryan Scott and Mark Dugan. Phew! it was great!!

There are some great articles on Tapestry's FB page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Toronto-ON/Tapestry-new-opera-works/88314033546

Getting Set for Dark Star!

Time is escalating towards the opening night of Dark Star Requiem at Luminato!!! Andrew came into town on Wednesday and rehearsals have been in full swing for a week! Beth and Ben, our fabulous designers, are planning some really beautiful visuals. The singers (all 24 of them!) sound fantastic and our director, Tom Diamond, is running around directing and looking pleased with everything. Exciting times!!!! I just have to find the right outfit!

We open on June 11th and if you haven't already, you can get your tix here: http://www.luminato.com/2010/events/124

More as it comes!

Yesterday I was in rehearsal for the Now and Then reading at Victoria Hall in Cobourg. On May 29th at 2pm you get three poets (including myself) reading poems from the period in which Victoria Hall opened (1850) as well as contemporary poets. On my list are Emily Bronte, Emily Dickenson, Pauline Johnson, Christina Rossetti - and those are just the oldies! If you're in Cobourg next Saturday come to Victoria Hall's court room and check us out!

Exciting times at Jill's PoetBureau! My enigmatic friend David Bateman is launching his collaborative poetry book Wait Until Late Afternoon at the Women's Bookstore on Friday May 14th at 7pm. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=107880549253515&index=1

On Saturday the 15th I am presenting at the Arts for Social and Environmental Justice Symposium in Koerner Hall at the Royal Conservatory. http://www.rcmusic.ca/ContentPage.aspx?name=Portal_The_Arts_for_Social_and_Environmental_Justice_Symposium

And, if you're not sick of hearing me read, I'm featured with some other kick-ass women : Maureen Hynes, Kate Marshall Flaherty (with the sultry voice) and Anna Swanson at this month's Plasticine Reading Series hosted by my official number one fan, Michael Fraser. Check out the deets here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=108238969217273&ref=ts

And remember...... Dark Star Requiem is less than a month away.....

We are in the final stages of getting the book Dark Star Requiem - which comes out with Folded&Gathered Press: http://www.foldedandgathered.com on June 1st - to bed. It's all very exciting!!! The book will be available as a limited edition of 50, with a beautiful, especially commissioned print inside by Micah Lexier: http://micahlexier.com/, and also as a trade edition which - knowing Aurelie and Neil (my hard-working F&G peeps) - is going to be a little artful (and art-full) gem all in itself. I highly recommend buying one of each!! Stay tuned for more news of that as it comes!