natalie hanna : joe blades' tinted glasses, small press fair, c. 1995

 

 

 

forgive me, the first time we met
the unsteady glass of me
filled with mistrust
thought the coolest name in small press
might be invention, might cut up
weak verse for breakfast

thought i was getting used to surprise
announcements the scourge
was claiming acquaintances
while we cloistered in our 2020 homes

i wonder if, five days hence
the friendly air
of barely controlled panic
in my therapist's face
will overcome my own and
which of us will be more relieved
to cancel 

sous le dôme blanc épais
of the plaster glebe centre heaven
surveying our ephemeral efforts
you sat at a table in faded denim jacket
long hair about your leaning elbows
behind those overly large
tea tinted glasses
through which you drank the room
lightly 

the blanket backdrop my therapist hangs
in her basement for virtual sessions
slips and i see my own scatter, ill-fitting
underneath the neutral colours

is it more merciful
if out of sight, meant wiped from mind forever

i was in the middle of asking after cake
when i heard, two days late
that you were mysteriously gone
made ash at lighning speed —
are those cherries maraschino or glace
i continued, as if they were life itself
and i had to know how much
bright, red stain to contend with

 

 

 

 

natalie hanna is a queer, Ottawa- born lawyer of Middle-Eastern descent, living with disabilities and working with low income populations. Her writing focuses on intersectional feminism, political, ecological, and personal themes, including racism, violence, identity, and disability. She runs battleaxe press, a small poetry press, encouraging work from a feminist perspective. From April of 2016 to September of 2018, she served as the Administrative Director of the Sawdust Reading Series, and on the board of Arc Poetry Magazine.  She is the author of eleven chapbooks of poetry, including three titles with above/ground press. Her most recent chapbook, infinite redress with Baseline Press was published in the Fall of 2020. A twelfth, collaborative chapbook is forthcoming in the Spring of 2021 with Collusion Books. Her poetry, interviews, and commentary have appeared in print and online in Canada and the United States. Her poem, “light conversation” received Honourable Mention in ARC Magazine’s 2019 Diana Brebner Prize. More information about her literary work can be found online at: https://nhannawriting.wordpress.com.

natalie hanna, Chris Banks, Kayla Czaga, David Koehn + Melissa Eleftherion : the virtual reading series #12

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,

natalie hanna : “deep light (i),” “the year that nothing turned”

natalie hanna is an Ottawa lawyer working with low income populations. her writing focusses on feminist, political, and personal themes. She is the past Administrative Director of the Sawdust Reading Series and served on the board of Arc Poetry Magazine. She is the author of ten chapbooks, three with above/ground press, and an eleventh is forthcoming with Baseline Press in the Fall of 2020. Her poetry and interviews have been published in Canada and the U.S. Her poem “light conversation” received Honourable Mention in ARC Magazine’s 2019 Diana Brebner Prize. hanna runs battleaxe press, a small poetry press in Ottawa. Find her online at: https://nhannawriting.wordpress.com/

Chris Banks : “Resemblances”

Chris Banks is a Canadian poet and author of five collections of poems, most recently Midlife Action Figure by ECW Press 2019. His first full-length collection, Bonfires, was awarded the Jack Chalmers Award for poetry by the Canadian Authors' Association in 2004. He is an associate editor for The New Quarterly and poetry editor of The Miramichi Reader.

Kayla Czaga : “Finnish Schooling” and “Goodbye Kyla”

Kayla Czaga is the author of two collections of poetry—For Your Safety Please Hold On (Nightwood Editions, 2014) and Dunk Tank (House of Anansi, 2019). You can find out more about her at kaylaczaga.com or @kaylaczaga on twitter.

David Koehn : “Delta 1: What We Called Pickleweed Was Everywhere,” “Delta 11: We’ve Heard Rumors the Water Hyacinth Was So Thick,” “Scatterplot: In a Family Room Of a House Where a Three-Year-Old Is Raising His Parents”

David Koehn’s Scatterplot was published by Omnidawn in Spring 2020. His chapbook Coil (University of Alaska, 1998), won the Midnight Sun Chapbook Contest. His first full-length manuscript, Twine (Bauhan Publishing, 2013), won the May Sarton Poetry Prize. David co-edited Compendium (Omnidawn Publishing, 2017), a text offering Donald Justice’s original syllabus on prosody. David holds an MFA from the University of Florida, a Bachelors in Creative Writing from Carnegie Mellon, an M.Ed (TFA) from the University of Alaska. David’s writing appears in a range of magazines including Prairie Schooner, Gargoyle, Hotel Amerika, Kenyon Review, New England Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Volt, Carolina Quarterly, Diagram, McSweeney’s, The Greensboro Review, North American Review, and many others.

Melissa Eleftherion : “in the skinned phylum,” “kletic”and “her story is my story is your story”

Melissa Eleftherion is a writer, a librarian, and a visual artist. She is the author of field guide to autobiography (The Operating System, 2018), & nine chapbooks, including little ditch (above/ground press, 2018) & trauma suture (above/ground press, 2020). Born & raised in Brooklyn, Melissa created, developed, and currently co-curates The Poetry Center Chapbook Exchange with Elise Ficarra. She now lives in Northern California where she manages the Ukiah Library, teaches creative writing, & curates the LOBA Reading Series. Recent work is available at www.apoetlibrarian.wordpress.com.