Three new poetry collection debuts bring creative communities together

The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) hosted poets Britta Badour, Aaron Boothby and Eva H.D. to read from their new anthologies

By: Harrison Clarke

McClelland & Stewart authors Britta Badour, Aaron Boothby and Eva H.D. (Courtesy: M&S, CBC)

Poetry lovers gathered with three talented writers for an evening of creative inspiration, laughter and genuine connection through a shared appreciation for poetic artistry.

In an event held by publisher McClelland & Stewart, a large crowd gathered in the Art Gallery of Ontario’s (AGO) Walker Court to hear readings from Britta Badour’s Wires That Sputter, Aaron Boothby’s Continent and Eva H.D.’s The Natural Hustle.

With introductions from award-winning Canadian poet and author Anne Michaels, the night started with readings from the Brooklyn based poet H.D.

H.D. read poems Belugas, Bonedog and Magic Hour, Manhattan, August from her new book The Natural Hustle. (Harrison Clarke/CanCulture)

Many of her poems explore the deeper complexities of day-to-day life and the beauty in familiar moments that people often overlook. H.D.'s poem, Bonedog, featured in the film I’m Thinking of Ending Things, describes the pain of living a repetitive lifestyle, particularly the ritual of coming home.

“When poetry happens, we encounter our intricate selves,” said guest speaker and award-winning poet Canisia Lubrin while touching on H.D.’s work. “[We take] nothing for granted, not even the terrible things from which poetry challenges, comforts and sustains us.”

Boothby is a Californian poet based out of Montreal who has been published in carte blanche and PRISM. His poetry makes the effort to confront the consequences of colonialism and the violence communities of colour still face.

His poem, Bleach Mythology, describes images of natural landscapes torn by industrial development and languages protected by elders.

Boothby traces his journey as a poet starting out in Riverside, California to Montreal, Canada. (Harrison Clarke/CanCulture)

With Continent, Boothby continues the experimental structure he demonstrated in his chapbooks Reperspirations, Exhalations, Wrapt Inflections (2016) and Wave Fields (2020). The poems often have wide spaces between words.

“The poems of Continent seek answers in the silence of history,” said Michaels. “The broken lines in the poems search and search again, the spaces within them ask us to save room in our hearts.”

Badour concluded the night by rallying the audience to snap their fingers for her fellow poets and themselves. Her poetry, which works with themes of empowerment and community for people of colour, earned her the Toronto Arts Foundation’s Emerging Artist of the Year award in 2021.

One of Badour’s poems, Bit, eloquently reflects these themes by describing the challenge of keeping passion alive through adversity and the self-love needed to fulfil our ambition.

The triumphant tone of Bit saw Badour describing the act of personal growth as giving her “voice the wingspan of a year” to grow stronger and "making language [her] blood," a metaphor for committing to her writing talents.

‘Yeahs’ and ‘that’s rights’ poured out of the crowd as Badour took the stage, demonstrating her popularity and influence in the Toronto poetry scene.

“I met [Badour] back in 2017. I was a fan of her work and approached her to say ‘you are that girl,’” said Keosha Love, poet and founder of community organizing not-for-profit Our Women’s Voices. “I was more of a youngin’ in the poetry and writing scene and she kind of took me under her wing; I support her work always.”

Another listener and poet, Blossom Paige, saw Badour at a poetry event hosted by Love at Toronto’s Soho House.

“Being a Black woman and hearing her experience, I really connected with that,” said Paige. “Hearing it put down in poetry and to have everyone hum and snap to what the poets are saying connects us in the room. It’s a special gift.”

Badour passionately reads her poems ‘This Tongue’ and ‘Bit’. (Harrison Clarke/CanCulture)

McClelland and Stewart’s future projects will see the reissue of Souvankham Thammavongsa’s first three books, a new poetic memoir from Lorna Crozier and an anthology from Joy Kogawa coming November 2023.

The infinite methods of the writing process

What is their writing routine? What do they do when they’re in a funk? These are the questions writers know best

By: Apurva Bhat

The writer’s process in a nutshell – if only it were that easy. (Suzy Hazelwood/Pexels)

Each writer has their own working pattern. Some write in chaos, while others prefer silence. Some have a disciplined routine and some can’t get themselves to produce content unless they have a deadline staring them in the face.

Starting is the hardest part for me. My journey began in 2018 with informal, personal pieces. I’d experience an emotion, type it out in my Notes app and put it up on Instagram.

In 2020, I decided to major in journalism for my undergraduate degree. As someone who is now in the program, I feel that I’ve somehow lost the practice of writing daily (how ironic). I’m not entirely sure what the reasons behind this are; perhaps it was the pandemic or that I don’t know what my niche is or that I still haven’t figured out what routine works best for me.

There are writers, such as Haley Sengsavanh, a third-year journalism student at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), who are methodical. She thrives in a decluttered environment with outlines she can refer to and all of her content available in one, single document. “I need to be alone when I write,” she said.

Similarly, TMU third-year journalism student Isabella Monaco also needs space away from people and noise in order to accelerate her writing process. While countless students find sitting in a coffee shop with a laptop, lo-fi music and a matcha latte will always do the trick, Monaco would rather stay away from the hustle and bustle.

I, however, am the exact opposite of Sengsavanh and Monaco. I work in what could be described as using unstructured and flexible methodologies. My work is usually not in one single document or even saved in the same folder. Similar to how you solve a jigsaw puzzle, I write bits and pieces sporadically, not knowing exactly how it’s going to look in the end, but eventually, they find their way together.

Based in the U.K., Sanika Shah is a travel blogger who founded Saunter with Sanika during the pandemic. She describes herself as a “chaotic writer.”

“I know the structure I’d like to follow: introduction, body, attractions to visit, things I liked or disliked,” said Shah. “At the same time, I don’t have everything in one spot. I’ll feel an emotion about something and write it down. I’ll get ideas of a topic and note it somewhere.” 

For Shah, creating a personal connection with her work is essential. She said there isn’t a formula to the process. “It’s not like math where one plus one equals two.”

And rightfully so. We can’t categorize writers into certain types — our styles change with time and our practices can be a combination of various routines, whether it’s finding a quiet spot to place your thoughts onto paper or immersing yourself in the busiest environment in order to get yourself in a productive mood. 

“Sometimes you’re procrastinating and going for a walk but sometimes that walk is a part of the writing process,” she said.

Damian Rogers, a poet who teaches creative writing at TMU, says that several writers put immense pressure on themselves to produce the perfect piece.

“Most people that are creative face some resistance to create,” said Rogers.

This subconscious urge to create phenomenal work can sometimes lead to writer’s block. Most writers have, at some point in their journey, faced the urge to simply not write. Sharing the stories you create is an extremely vulnerable process, one that can be extremely draining.

Somewhere and somehow, the reader can sense exactly who you are through your words, which is a vulnerable process. It becomes even harder when the work you so passionately put out there doesn’t receive the recognition or appreciation it deserves— or rather recognition that feels proportionate to the time and resources invested into it.

Rogers, who has published three books, including her poignant memoir An Alphabet for Joanna: A Portrait of My Mother in 26 Fragments, said that before attending grad school, she believed established writers wouldn't struggle with insecurities surrounding their process.

“When I met and spoke with [the writers], I realized it’s far from true,” she said. “A part of me was distressed but also, it's a very normal, human thing to feel unsure of yourself.”

She elaborated, saying it’s truly about embracing the fact that the process is slightly messy and that, sometimes, we need extra time for ourselves to create. 

“Sometimes you’re procrastinating and going for a walk but sometimes that walk is a part of the writing process,” she said.

Monaco finds that reading other people’s work and talking with friends helps her get out of a block. While Shah tries working from the middle instead of starting with the introduction to get the process started. Rogers recommends taking breaks and, as simple as it may sound, sometimes even tricking herself to not feel self-conscious.

“Try to create a practice where you go back to those incomplete works you’ve created – return to your pile or files of paper and work,” said Rogers. “You’d be surprised by how much a little time away from something gives you perspective on what to do next.”

Epitaphs Of The Heart: A Lover’s Anthology

This poetry collection is not only a celebration of love, but an embrace of what has once been and what will come again

SHAMROCK SUN

By: Miranda Kanter

@miranda.kanter

I think of you as the colour yellow.

Those specs and spatters of dust suspended in light; hushed yellow as it breaks through your window. Your window, which keeps its back to the sun, so sunrise for us only happens at noon. A midday sunrise – you are a morning delayed; seeping through the Irish flag that covers your window, washing that yellow light green.

I think of you as the colour red.

As your rouge-streaked cheeks toning mine, untempered. By September, you’ll be well back in Belfast; I turn my head to the side and stick out my tongue to scrape it clean of the words I and love and you. Without time to wonder whether I really yet mean the words stuck to the tips of my nails, I tuck them into the hair that I brush back behind your ear, for you to take back home.

Back home, I eat as you fall asleep; fall asleep just when you wake. When I wake, it’s with the sun at noon, your time.

I think of you still as a midday sunrise.

---

POCKET MEMORIES: HOLDING ON

By: Ella Morale

@pocket.elfie

it feels so special to hold your

book with your pencil marks

scratched through it

i want you to mark my skin

i want you to fold my corners in

at the parts that feel most

important to you

---

TANGIBLE LOVE

By: Eri Dixon

@eri.ecdc

Hold the fire until it burns your hands then keep holding.

---

UNTITLED MUSING ON DAY #103

By: Florence Syed

@sleepyy.pixie

I had to learn the hard way that love should not be unconditional. 

An honourable notion

But one that is dishonest

The way that I love is through devotion

I will spend day after day running my fingers through the knots of your hair and awakening early to place honey and bread at your feet and I will clutch your hand and kiss at your flesh in attempts to soothe when your eyes are wet

I will devote my flesh, time, blood, bones and anything you’d wish from me all that I pray is that you ask me to 

All that I pray is that you desire me to 

recognize my yearning to love you, to need you, to want you, to take you 

But love without conditions is one that neglects the self

It is one that leaves the giver with empty hands and tired knuckles

One that gives and gives and gives but the reciprocation can never be of equal footing

Not when I deify you into a god and lie on my knees before you

Worshipping and praying in a manner that many would argue is unbecoming 

But devotion has made me reckless and simultaneously weak 

Weak knees, weak ankles and weakened restraints 

and by placing you so high it leaves you in no other position but to look down at me 

And that is not the way that I desire to be looked at by any lover. 

---

EVERYONE

By: Annie Chantraine

@goo_g1rl

I want to be in love with everyone in the world.

My physical body is only capable of such a limited expression of love compared to the sheer scope of love I feel shoot through me like sun arrows.

I want to feel every heartbreak, every tender cheek graze, every tear hitting every casket, every kiss planted on the lips for the first time.

I want to feel it all and I want to make everyone feel it too. 

I want to follow the thread that weaves us together. 

I want to start at beginnings and cross boundaries of space and time and body and world

I want to return to you and start again, forever, differently each time.

---

Flame To A Wick

By: Harsh Patankar 

@vantablackcult

Candied words like wisps of smoke

Float between our lips

Filling the room with the sweet hum

Of gods flame to a wick

When I eat the sun

Casting all in my shade 

I’ll leave you the moon

The only jewel in my blade

Slick in my own depths

You refract hands of light

Many colours light a lamp

As I fall from great height

---

SWEAT IT OFF AND THE REST IS JUST A DAY WITH YOU

By: Emmanuelle Toohey-Carignan 

@ithinkthatuh

Moonlight on the open shore

The streetlights glowing door to door 

Your frame reclining on the floor

I don’t think I’ll speak anymore

What if I hurt you? 

Wipe the plasma off your sore

Outside we chase green shining from lighthouses in distant dark

We ran through eyesore streets and dog parks 

Let off our leash

What if I lose you to my longing?

---

(SUCKER PUNCH)

By: Anna-Giselle Funes-Eng

@annagiselle.fe

I think I might’ve loved you

In another life before

I wonder, is it selfish

To maybe ask you for one more?

Stand at the window waiting 

You frost the glass with bated breath 

Thinking as you breathe out the world

With lovely slow, uneven heft

Maybe I did love you once

I never can be sure

I think that if I loved you

I’d still want to. Just one more. 

Rupi Kaur: Authenticity through the lens of poetry

By Mariah Siddiqui

Rupi Kaur is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and illustrator. The Indian-born Canadian poet released two poetry collections: Milk and Honey and The Sun and Her Flowers that caught the eyes and hearts of people on a worldwide scale.

Two illustrated bees can be seen on the dark cover of Milk and Honey. (CanCulture/Mariah Siddiqui)

Milk and Honey is raw and unforgettable. It was released in 2014 and jumpstarted Kaur’s career as people resonated with the poetry and prose she poured her heart into. The book is separated into four parts: the hurting, the loving, the breaking, and the healing.

‘The hurting’ deals with the themes of sexual assault and trauma. The pages hit you in a way you don’t expect because they are so real and authentic. There is no filter when it comes to this section and the experiences are uncensored and heartbreaking.

‘The loving’ explores the feeling of being so wrapped up in love and the happiness that comes with being with someone. It not only explores romantic love but the kind of love you feel from a maternal perspective. People can relate to love as it is something so commonly felt and experienced. However, with love also comes heartbreak which people can heavily relate to as well.

‘The breaking’ is all about that heartbreak. Breakups suck but most people have gone through one and know how hard it is to get over sometimes. This section pours that all onto the paper through the dark illustrations and truthful emotions within the poems.

‘The healing’ is warm and inviting. It talks about dealing with that trauma and heartbreak and finding yourself again through all of that. It is a reclamation of loving who you are and where you come from. Reading the words is almost therapeutic as you witness Kaur overcoming battles in an inspirational way.

The stark white cover can be seen with illustrations of sunflowers. (CanCulture/Mariah Siddiqui)

The Sun and Her Flowers is full of metaphors and powerful messages. The poetry book was released in 2017 and is set up in a similar way to her first collection. This book is separated into five parts: wilting, falling, rooting, rising, and blooming.

‘Wilting’ is all about pain and the subject of heartbreak is revisited once again.

‘Falling’ is about being at your lowest. It visits the subject of depression and loneliness in an intense way.

‘Rooting’ talks about searching for your identity and beginning to manifest the idea of who you are again into your own mind.

‘Rising’ is putting those thoughts of who you are into the real world as you make changes that encourage your personal growth.

‘Blooming’ is succeeding in doing so and looking back at everything you have gone through, knowing you are stronger because of it. This section discusses femininity and empowerment through having important discussions and putting those thoughts into action.

When comparing the two poetry collections, there are many patterns and similarities between them. The first book cover is dark black and the second opposes that with its stark white cover. They both are organized in sections and each book tackles sensitive issues in a way a lot of people haven’t seen before. Both discuss the way love feels and the pain of a heartbreak, but they both do it in a way that can be easily related to.

While Milk and Honey is straightforward with the process of growth, The Sun and Her Flowers embodies the process in a beautiful way. The life of a flower is used as a metaphor to explain the way humans feel. First, we wilt due to pain and trauma, then we fall before we begin to root. Then we begin to grow and find ourselves and we rise and bloom. The image of a flower is a known image of beauty and strength. The comparison was done effectively and draws a powerful parallel.

Many share the opinion that Kaur writes mainstream poetry that isn’t that special, but it takes immense strength to write these poems down and share them with others. When people share their truth, it is never guaranteed that every single person is going to get it and relate to it. There are no rules to expression through art. It takes courage to tackle such significant and broadly misrepresented issues in the bold ways Kaur has.

If you want to check out one of these books, I suggest you start with Milk and Honey first for an insight on how Kaur progressed as a poet. Personally, that one resonated with me on a deeper level and I felt connected to many of the pieces in it. I hope it does the same for you.