a
series of video recordings of contemporary poets reading from their work,
prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent cancellations, shut-downs and
isolations; a reading series you can enjoy in the safety of your own protected
space,
Isabel
Sobral Campos :
“The advantage of rain to think in sequence”
Isabel Sobral Campos
is the author of the poetry collection Your Person Doesn’t Belong to You
(Vegetarian Alcoholic Press, 2018), and the chapbooks Material (No, Dear
and Small Anchor Press, 2015), You Will Be Made of Stone (dancing girl
press, 2018), and Autobiographical Ecology (above/ground press, 2019).
Her poetry has appeared in the Boston Review, Brooklyn Rail, BAX
2018: Best American Experimental Writing and elsewhere. Chapbooks are
forthcoming with Sutra Press and The Magnificent Field. She is the co-founder
of the Sputnik & Fizzle publishing series.
Sommer
Browning :
“Great Things from the Department of Transportation”
Sommer Browning
is the author of two books of poetry, Backup Singers and Either Way
I'm Celebrating (both with Birds, LLC), The Circle Book, an artist
book out with Cuneiform, a joke book, You're on My Period (Counterpath
Press), and various other chapbooks and editions. She draws comics, tells
jokes, and runs a non-commercial art space, GEORGIA, in her garage when its
warm. She's a librarian in Denver.
Sonia
Di Placido :
“Viral Awakening,” “Viral Weed,” “Fleshing”
Sonia
Di Placido
is a poet, writer, editor and a sessional instructor of English for Academic
Purposes (EAP), ESL and LINC at College Boréal. She has facilitated both
independent Creative Writing and Translation Workshops and with ESL students at
George Brown College in Toronto. Her poems have been published in The White
Wall Review, Jacket2, Canthius Magazine, The Puritan, Carousel,
The California Journal of Women Writers, Minola Review, Juniper
Poetry Magazine and The Temz Review. Sonia has published 3
chapbooks. She is currently completing her MFA in Creative Writing at the
University of British Columbia. In September 2016, Sonia attended The China
Writers' Association International Residency for the cities of Tianjin, Binhai,
and Beijing as guest Poet. Poetry books Exaltation in Cadmium Red
published by Guernica Editions in 2012 and Flesh, in Autumn 2018 by
Guernica Editions. Reviews of Flesh can be found in The Temz Review
and the Quill and Quire. Blog: diplacido.wordpress.com
Viral
Awakening
every
morning there is an unheard listening
an
imperceptible limp in the chest—heaving
a
heart beats its echolocation as if underneath earplugs
wrangled
limbs retort from a serene blood flow
alarming
consciousness
Isolate,
is that how we are meant to hear ourselves rising?
The
hot breath will say, “I should have
listened
more to the inner echoes at dawn” now yawn,
like
an undead essence stand apart
with
the living.
Viral
Weed
I
am the most finite of particles
undetected
by human eyes.
Having
released my speedy exhaust
into
novel form flowering forward
onto
Earth’s global Spring, this species
blows
out its breath, inhales vacuous for
an
entrance or invitation? What’s left
of
me is dead undead, a microbe floating
for
the welcome and warm insides of a host.
Vestibules
or veins, my pathogen portends
itself,
proteins cling weightless—now
a
living germ vanquishing at spores.
I
have my own way of cheating
every
body’s plague does.
Tunchai
Redvers :
“intergenerational trauma,” “two halves of one whole,” “untitled”
Tunchai Redvers
is a Dene/Metis two-spirit social justice warrior, writer, and wanderer
belonging to Deninu K’ue First Nation. Born and raised in Treaty 8 territory,
Northwest Territories, she is now living in Toronto. With a Master of
Indigenous Social work, she is the co-founder of We Matter, a national
organization dedicated to Indigenous youth hope and life promotion. Recognized
nationally and internationally for her work, her advocacy and writing centers
the reclamation and indigenization of identity, mental health and healing. She
published her debut book, Fireweed, in 2019 with Kegedonce Press at the
young age of 25. Fireweed can purchased online at chapters.indigo.ca.
Erin
Emily Ann Vance :
“We Used Bleach,” “The Mouth of Lynnhaven,” “The Purported Last Words of Ruth
Blay”
Erin Emily Ann Vance is
the author of Advice for Taxidermists and Amateur Beekeepers (Stonehouse
Publishing 2019) and five chapbooks of poetry. She holds a master's degree in
English and creative writing from the University of Calgary and studies folklore
at University College Dublin.