FRIDAY, january 25, 1:30PM: PLANET EARTH POETRY IN JAMES BAY
Join us for featured reader Colin Morton as part of the afternoon reading series at New Horizons in James Bay.
Hosted by Sheila Martindale.
The Planet Earth Poetry reading series is a launching pad for the energies of writers and poets established and not. It is a place where words are most important. A venue in which all manner of poets and writers are welcome; a place for excellence, innovation, collaboration, diverse projects and experiments. The evening begins at 7:30 with an open mic, followed by a featured reader(s). Planet Earth Poetry is located at Hillside Coffee and Tea, 1633 Hillside Ave (across from Bolen Books). Between 7 and 7:15, put your name in the hat to read at open mic. Planet Earth Poetry acknowledges with respect that we read and write on the traditional territories of the WSÁNEĆ (Saanich), Lkwungen (Songhees), Wyomilth (Esquimalt) peoples of the Coast Salish Nation.
january 2019
Sponsor a poet for planet earth poetry
You are invited to join with Planet Earth Poetry to bring the best possible poets to Victoria for a reading. You can choose to sponsor one or more poets or simply contribute to our Poet Sponsors Fund to keep fine poetry happening on a weekly basis.
All the details and perks(!) here. We also have a gofundme campaign, which you can contribute to here.
Thank you for the SPONSORships coming in. see Our sponsor a poet HONOUR ROLL.
Will Webster’s latest collection.
FRIDAY, january 11, 2019
will webster & Hilary Peach
A Planet Earth Poetry regular known for his lively reading style, story telling and ofttimes humorous performance style, Will Webster has written poetry since he was a child. For nearly five decades he has roamed the length and breadth of Canada reciting his work in dark dank
pubs, dimly lit coffee houses, on beaches and amid the streamers and noise of music festivals. Over the years Will has helped to found several poetry readings, and was the co-founder of the Calling All Poets series in St. Catharines Ontario, the Calling All Writers series in Nelson BC, and the Word Congress in Victoria BC. Will is launching a brand new collection of poems, Sleeping in Gardens,
inspired by several years of long distance cycling and outdoor living, at Planet Earth Poetry in January 2019. This is his third collection. Other collections include: Writing on Rock, Laguna Press, 2002, USA
(only), and The Great Test, 2016.
Bolt, the debut collection from West Coast performance poet Hilary Peach, ranges over familiar and unknown landscapes. From a series of surreal vignettes derived from twenty years as a welder with the Boilermakers’ Union, to a suite of poems based on the truths and superstitions of snakelore, to alluring, imagistic, songs of loss and longing, Bolt investigates rough terrain and long horizons.
For three decades, West Coast performance poet Hilary Peach has been writing, performing, producing, recording, and facilitating interdisciplinary collaborations and her own solo works. She was the founder of the Poetry Gabriola Society, inventor of the Poetry Gabriola Festival, and artistic director of the festival for 10 years. Hilary works as a welder for the Boilermakers’ Union and maintains an interdisciplinary art practice on Gabriola Island, BC.
FRIDAY, january 18, 2019
FEATURED: tina biello
A Pair of PEPers:
Marlene Grand Maitre &
Stephen T Berg
Tina Biello comes from a small logging town in BC, and is born of immigrant parents.Playing into Silence is her third collection. She is currently Poet Laureate of Nanaimo.
Growing up during the 50s and 60s in small town Alberta, Pam was keenly aware, by the age of nine, that she was a lesbian. And she also knew well to hide this about herself. Pam would search for books on the “The Island of Lesbos,” only to return from the library with a copy of Little Women. In between the vast spaces of dust and dugouts, she grows up and grows old, playing her saxophone in deep, blaring notes.
A Pair of PEPers: regular readers at our open mic given a 10 minute set so we can hear several of their poems in a row.
Kelly Shepherd’s latest book.
FRIDAY, january 25, 2019
KELLY SHEPHERD & COLIN MORTON
Insomnia Bird: Edmonton Poems is Kelly Shepherd's second full-length book. Kelly has written six poetry chapbooks; a seventh is forthcoming from the Alfred Gustav Press. He has a Creative Writing MFA from UBCO and a Religious Studies MA from the University of Alberta. Originally from Smithers, Kelly resides in Edmonton.
Insomnia Bird: Edmonton Poems (Thistledown Press, 2018) explores the geography and the “shadow geography” of the northern city of Edmonton, with poems about public transit, homelessness, urban wildlife, and construction work. Found texts from city and industry websites, as well as history, ecology, literature, and popular culture, are woven and tangled together to make poems like magpie nests. And the Magpie, the protagonist and the muse and the city’s unofficial mascot, is the thread that connects everything to everything else.
Visit Colin Morton’s website here.
Ottawa poet Colin Morton has published more than ten books, ranging from visual and sound poetry (Printed Matter) to historical narratives (The Merzbook; The Hundred Cuts). His other work includes a novel, many reviews and essays, and the award-winning animated poetry film Primiti Too Taa (with Ed Ackerman).
“Where do we come from? Where are we? Where are we going?” These are questions posed in Colin Morton’s most recent publication The Undead (Aeolus House, 2018). The book is a personal exploration of family ties, of how the past continues to live in us, shaping the way we live now and the way we look to the future.