Our last event of 2022 was unforgettable: huge thanks to @LillianAllenDub & #Cordlyne for their powerful readings on Nov 23!
Thanks also to our very engaged audience & generous sponsors: @LdnArtsCouncil @ONArtsCouncil @CanadaCouncil @CanadianPoets @digibeenet@wlupress #ldnont pic.twitter.com/lMN84YtnHr
— Antler River Poetry (@poetrylondon_ca) November 25, 2022
Antler River Poetry Presents Lillian Allen w. local opener Cordlyne
Wednesday November 23rd 2022, 7:00 – 8:30pm at Landon Branch London Public Library, 167 Wortley Road
On Wednesday November 23rd, we are honoured to host an in-person event featuring the legendary spoken word & dub poet Lillian Allen!
- Purchase Lillian Allen’s book Make the World New here: wlupress.wlu.ca/Books/M/Make-the-World-New
The local opener, Cordlyne is a 19-year-old artist born and raised in Toronto. Cordlyne is currently in his third year at the Ivey Business School at Western and aspires to enter the world of management consulting post-graduation. Cordlyne’s writing explores the intersection of personal reflection and larger social issues like racism, sexism, microaggressions, and homelessness. On a more personal note, Cordlyne enjoys spending time listening to music, learning random facts, and spending time with his loved ones.
We look forward to seeing all of you again at our in-person readings! To protect vulnerable community members, please wear a mask. Please note: we are not offering pre-reading workshops this season.
On Friday October 28th at the TAP Centre for Creativity, Antler River Poetry was delighted to present Phil Hall and Mark Goldstein
Pictures from Friday’s excellent book launch with #PhilHall & #MarkGoldstein at @tapcreativityon!
Thanks to all who attended & to our generous sponsors: @LdnArtsCouncil @ONArtsCouncil @digibeenet @CanadaCouncil @CanadianPoets @tracelanguage
#ldnont pic.twitter.com/40wQAF4nNP— Antler River Poetry (@poetrylondon_ca) October 30, 2022
On Friday October 28th at the TAP Centre for Creativity, Phil Hall launched his new book, The Ash Bell. Mark Goldstein read from a soon to be published new work called Endlossong (2023), as well as Earish by Robert Kelly (just published by Beautiful Outlaw Press).
Phil Hall‘s work has been widely published and recognized by appreciative readers across the country. He has won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry in English, and Ontario’s Trillium Book Award. He has served as writer-in-residence at many Canadian institutions, including the University of New Brunswick and the Pierre Berton House in the Yukon. He is the founder of Flat Singles Press, and is also a valued editor. His previous book with Beautiful Outlaw Press is Toward a Blacker Ardour (2021). He lives near Perth, Ontario.
Mark Goldstein is the author of five books including the award-winning Form of Forms (BookThug, 2012) and Her Process (Beautiful Outlaw, 2021). Goldstein is a writer, translator, and editor whose poetry and criticism have appeared in periodicals and journals such as The Capilano Review, Periodicities, and Jacket2. He lives in Cabbagetown, Toronto.
Thanks to Jack Bradley, Chantal Gibson, and Kevin Heslop for their deeply engaging readings with Antler River Poetry on October 19th!
Thanks also to our loyal audience and our generous sponsors: the London Arts Council, the Ontario Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts, the League of Canadian Poets, digibee.net, Caitlin Press, Gordon Hill Press, and the London Public Library.
Antler River Poetry Presents Chantal Gibson & Kevin Andrew Heslop with local opener Jack Bradley
Wednesday October 19th 2022, 7:00 – 8:30pm at Landon Branch London Public Library, 167 Wortley Road
A new month means a new reading! 🎉 Antler River Poetry is delighted to present Chantal Gibson and Kevin Andrew Heslop with local opener Jack Bradley on October 19th at 7:00 p.m. at the Landon Library in Wortley Village 📖 A reminder that we ask all guests to wear a mask to the event; masks will be provided for those who do not have one 😷.
Check our Facebook page and Twitter for updates. We look forward to seeing all of you again at our in-person readings!
*Please note: due to logistical challenges, we are not offering pre-reading workshops this season.
Antler River Poetry Presents NShannacappo and January Marie Rogers with Local Opener Jessica Hay
Wednesday September 21st 7:00 – 8:30pm at Landon Branch Library 167 Wortley Road
We are delighted to return to in-person events this year! To protect vulnerable community members, Antler River Poetry is asking all attendees to wear masks. Masks will be available at the event for those who do not have one.
Check our Facebook page and Twitter for updates. We look forward to seeing all of you again at our in-person readings!
*Please note: due to logistical challenges, we will not be offering pre-reading workshops this season.
Antler River Poetry 2022-2023 Season
We are excited to announce the poet line-up for our upcoming poetry reading season!
This year we will be returning to in-person (masked) events. To protect vurnerable community members, Antler River Poetry is asking all attendees to wear masks. Masks will be available at the event for those who do not have one. Check out the list of poets and dates below and follow the links for photos and bios.
- September 21st, 2022: NShannacappo / January Marie Rogers
- October 19th, 2022: Kevin Andrew Heslop / Chantal Gibson
- November 23rd, 2022: Lillian Allen
- January 18th, 2023: Daniel Scott Tysdal / R. Kolewe
- February 15th, 2023: Natalie Wee / T. Liem
- March 22nd, 2023: Manahil Bandukwala / Conyer Clayton
- April 19th, 2023: Matt Robinson / Randell Adjei
2021-2022 Live Event Highlights
If you missed any of the 2021-22 live Zoom readings (or simply want to reminisce and listen to some of your favourite poets again), you’re in luck! Our first highlight video (with closed captions) is now LIVE on our YouTube page 🎉 Highlights of all of our season’s live events will be released weekly leading up to our 2022-23 season announcement 📣
March 2022 Zoom Event – shalan joudry, Charlie Petch, and Jen Mustapha (w/ captions)
Watch highlights from Antler River Poetry’s March 2022 Zoom event, featuring shalan joudry, Charlie Petch, & Jen Mustapha (w/captions). For time-stamps, book purchase links, & sponsors, check below the video on YouTube: youtu.be/GhH58KplAHA
January 2022 Zoom Event – Sadiqa de Meijer, Elana Wolff, and Shannon Arntfield
Watch highlights from Antler River Poetry’s January 2022 Zoom event, featuring Sadiqa de Meijer, Elana Wolff, and Shannon Arntfield (w/captions). For time-stamps, book purchase links, & sponsors, check below the video on YouTube: youtu.be/0_ZEdSP5v78
November 2021 Zoom Event – Marilyn Dumont and Lynn Coveney
Watch highlights from Antler River Poetry’s November 2021 Zoom event, featuring Marilyn Dumont and Lynn Coveney (w/captions). For time-stamps, book purchase links, & sponsors, check below the video on YouTube: youtu.be/zWRZibhEp3Y
October 2021 Zoom Event – James Lindsay, Rebecca Salazar, and Ashley Li
Watch highlights from Antler River Poetry’s October 2021 Zoom event, featuring James Lindsay, Rebecca Salazar, and Ashley Li (w/captions). For time-stamps, book purchase links, & sponsors, check below the video on YouTube: youtu.be/RxUdP8mBRJg
September 2021 Zoom Event – Dominik Parisien, Sonnet L’Abbé, & Amelia Does
Watch highlights from Antler River Poetry’s September 2021 Zoom event, featuring Dominik Parisien, Sonnet L’Abbé, and Amelia Does (w/captions). For time-stamps, book purchase links, and sponsors, check below the video on YouTube: youtu.be/RxUdP8mBRJg.
2022-2023 Lineup Coming Soon
We’ll announce our fantastic 2022-23 lineup of readers in late August, but in the meantime, we’ll be sharing highlight videos from last season’s Zoom events!
Stay tuned.
Antler River Poetry Open Mic
TAP Centre for Creativity, Wednesday June 29 2022 at 6:00pm
In partnership with the Words Festival, Antler River Poetry presents our Spring Event, Open Mic poetry, featuring our 2022 ARP Poetry Prize-winners Brian Baker, Sana Mufti, and Tom Prime. Our evening will also feature a reading by UWO’s new Student Writer-in-Residence, Matthew Dawkins, and a community open mic for all genres of writing. Share the invitation widely: bring a poem, bring a friend!
- 29 June, 6:00PM – 7:30PM
- TAP: Centre for Creativity
- Masks are required for this event
- Facebook: https://fb.me/e/3k3Qr56Lw
- Sign-up onsite that evening
A community book table will also be available for cash and debit purchases of titles from 845 Press, Baseline Press, Edna Press, and many of London’s writers.
To ensure the well-being of all of our community members, our event will be a mask-mandatory event.
This event is made possible by the support of the London Arts Council, the Ontario Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts, the London Public Library, and TAP: Centre for Creativity.
Antler River Poetry 2022 Poetry Contest Winning Poems Are Here
We are delighted to publish the winning poems of our 2022 poetry contest judged by Klara du Plessis. Along with the winning poems, we are including the poets’ photos and bios and the judge’s notes.
1st Prize “Mechlorethamine and his temporary absence” – Brian Baker
Mechlorethamine and his temporary absence Five molecules of carbon. This treatment room’s walls, antiseptic and shadow-streaked, watch him falter daily, elbows in another’s arms, bed-to-door, door- to-bed. Eleven molecules of hydrogen. Raises a palm up in both protest and supplication, will wrest himself from most protection. White linens embank, cold rails secure. Two molecules of chlorine. Above him, the squalid drip, offering up the mechlorethamine, its nitrogen mustard mix and tiny atoms, necrotizing. One molecule of nitrogen The sheer intricacy: all the bone and every nucleate lacuna weathering the chemical stain. He hears the windows flex, looks away to the vagrant clouds, becomes in almost every way both shifting and spectral, leaving this room, exiting this body and, from all things temporary and temporal, almost vanishing.
Brian Baker is a London, Ontario poet who began his writing journey back in the late eighties and is now on his first re-imagining. His work has appeared both in print and online in the States and Canada and he was also the 2020 winner of what is now the Antler River Poetry Contest.
Judge’s Notes
“Mechlorethamine and his temporary absence”: Formally precise and cross-disciplinary in scope, this poem offers a terse exploration of loneliness in a clinical medical institution and cancer ward. Isolation itself becomes a relational form of connection, however, as body, objects, and open space fuse into a site of peace and healing.
2nd Prize “Student Housing” – Tom Prime
Student Housing ~ For Amelia
what did you eat yesterday? a handful
of pistachios and nori. that’s fucked up
I am reading Milton: “sulphur
and strange fire
his own
invented torments
...perhaps”
and think to turn on
the a/c. you have left—the sucking rattle
irritates as does the sporadic
clicks from the water
heater—eyes spilling out of a can,
cachalot ultrasound—the glare of frosted
pots is compound
interest. we shower in shifts
when you get home, moonlight snake-
grasses the marrow-stuffed curtilage
Tom Prime is a PhD candidate in English Literature at Western University. His debut solo collection of poetry Mouthfuls of Space was released by Anvil Press last year and was shortlisted for the 2022 Gerald Lampert Memorial award. His latest collaborative collection, Bird Arsonist, written with Gary Barwin, was released by New Star books earlier this year.
Judge’s Notes
“Student Housing”: A misleadingly simple text that moves along a poetic axis of sound and assonance. Studenthood functions as an enclosure that delimits the speaker’s lived experience, while curiosity perforates constraints, daringly intertextual.
3rd Prize: “They have my voice” – Sana Mufti
They have my voice. ami, when the sunlight begins to disappear at three in the afternoon, slipping carelessly behind invisible horizons, drawing reckless, orange-yellow lines through thick, dying trees, fluttering leaves, landing like burning scars over the withering green grounds where my black shoe will crumble remaining life under its heavy, ignorant sole, in this moment, in the thoughtful inhalation of autumn breath, i am reminded of death. the sharp sting of it, at least, that swift folding of the heart as it is torn unequally into ragged twos, fours, sixes... and i find myself holding my lungs with both hands, pushing them back inside of me as i trip forward over lost words, thinking of the things i have spoken, wondering how loss can be so profound as to remove me from myself without my knowledge, knowledge is tragedy, when i fall over colonized thoughts, i bruise my knee and hip, my teeth do not recognize who i have become, so they reject me with a bite so hard against the inside of my cheek it bleeds. for years on end. crunch of a rotting leaf. i am reminded of loss. the sensation of it. loss of a life i will never live, life i will eternally lose, my birth a dwindling light, forever goodbye, orange and yellow was the colour of fight in my ancestor’s eyes, in your eyes—ami, where is my rage? i am ashamed, too much confusion, blue and white, pacifies me—sometimes it is easier to not think, to look at a dead brown leaf for what it is, i think knowledge has condemned me to a life of thinking— i think all the time, and too much, ami, now i understand the brutality of watching how quickly i adjust, stand upright and limp to alleviate the pain, and the limp becomes my habitual tread— the way one loses a tongue, a voice, a language, the sting becomes home inside of my mouth, poured out in arrogant academic opinions and poor poetry— sometimes, i forget what has been lost. the teetering sun reminds me in its cold chill, it pushes me back into the night where your leathery hands found the dial to the phone to call me out of habit because you forgot, sometimes, too, that i had left and you are displaced—we are reminded together when you ask me if i am okay, and i cannot remember the words.
Sana Mufti is a creative writer with a double degree in English and Psychology from the University of Toronto and is currently completing her Master’s in English at the University of Western Ontario. Sana strives to explore themes of identity and the philosophy of time and motion. She comments on the personal struggle of defining the self and finding stability in a constantly changing world.
Judge’s Notes
“They have my voice”: A moving, meta-narrative reflection on the act of self-expression through poetry, this poem dramatizes affect (so often the driving force of lyric poetry) to eventually question the ability to create at all.
Antler River Poetry Presents Khashayar Mohammadi, Klara du Plessis & Local Opener Miriam Cummings
Wednesday April 20th 2022
Antler River Poetry is pleased to present an evening of poetry featuring Khashayar Mohammadi and Klara du Plessis with local opener Miriam Cummings.
Also, hear the winners of our 2022 Open Theme Poetry Contest read their pieces! 1st Prize: “Mechlorethamine and his temporary absence” by Brian Baker; 2nd Prize: “Student Housing” by Tom Prime; 3rd Prize: “They have my voice” by Sana Mufti.
- LIVE on ZOOM 7:00pm EDT, FREE w/ registration: Zoom Link
- Pre-reading Workshop at 5:30pm *
* To join our pre-reading workshop at 5:30pm, free and open to the public, communicate your interest to poetrylondon.ca@gmail.com.
Thank you to our generous event sponsors: London Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, The League of Canadian Poets, The London Public Library, Gordon Hill Press, Palimpsest Press, and digibee.net.
Announcing Our 2022 Contest Winners Selected by Klara du Plessis!
Antler River Poetry is very pleased to announce the winners of our 2022 Open Theme Poetry Contest judged by Klara du Plessis. A big thank you to Klara for judging and to all poets for submitting their work.
1st Prize: “Mechlorethamine and his temporary absence” – Brian Baker
2nd Prize: “Student Housing” – Tom Prime
3rd Prize: “They have my voice” – Sana Mufti
Congrats Brian, Tom, & Sana!
REVIEW: Waking Ground by shalan joudry (Gaspereau Press, 2020)
by Erin Turnbull
Shalan joudry’s second book of poetry, Waking Ground, expertly weaves together Mi’kmaq with English, ecosystems with community, and the injustices of the past with the hope of the future. Using Two-Eyed Seeing to combine Indigenous and western epistemologies, this collection flows freely between the two perspectives, embarking on a continuous journey through them towards resurgence and reconciliation. Joudry is a poet, storyteller, singer, and artist who shares Mi’kmaw culture and oral tradition through her work as a creator and ecologist. Her choice to use lowercase orthography for her name in all circumstances except for the beginning of a sentence to “not over-emphasize the self in relation to the collective” is brilliantly displayed in Waking Ground—place names and personal pronouns remain in lowercase, equalizing the individual with the natural world.
Waking Ground exemplifies harmony with nature through poems such as “Sweet Grassing” while also addressing the impact of European settlement upon Indigenous land through poems such as “Institutions.” In “Sweet Grassing,” where the narrative voice is “pleasured by the long-awaited reunion” with the sweetgrass plant and is “losing myself in the green,” the reader is thrust into a sensual and calm atmosphere where mud smells like cinnamon and the plant is greeted as a relative and equal. Here, joudry demonstrates her ability to craft fresh and evocative images through vivid descriptions of the ground “drawing my feet into deep embrace.” This poem emphasizes the importance of a connection to nature and the cultural significance of sweetgrass as one of the herbs sacred to the Mi’kmaw community. Through “Sweet Grassing,” joudry educates the reader on this endangered and sacred plant and the respectful attitude it merits.
In “Institutions,” joudry turns to examine the restrictions and trials imposed upon Indigenous peoples who have been forced to “create an economy with you / like you / for you”—the “you” here speaking directly to settlers—by accommodating settler appropriation of the land while undergoing attacks on Indigenous cultures and beliefs. The voice of a disembodied settler asks “why do you want so much? / it had been so lovely, so quiet / without your crying,” exposing the settler’s ignorance to both their own and theirancestors’ injustices. The hypocrisy of this question is revealed by joudry: “generations later we still sit on our hectarage / sorting debts/ rebuilding institutions” while settlers demand they simply ‘move on.’ Joudry refers to the settlers’ attempts to silence Indigenous voices from speaking about oppression, but she rejects this by granting Indigenous people “asylum from saying yes” to settler demands.
The final poem in this collection is “Rebirth,” a reminder that amongst the “chaos” of a forest “broken” by colonization, Indigenous people “still burst from the soil / in full bloom / mightier than what we thought reconcilable.” This poem speaks to resurgence in the face of ongoing oppression and to revitalization through community, the sharing of knowledge and culture, and of “lines branched out” in learning from each other. Despite the efforts of colonizers, joudry shows that the story of Indigeneity is not one overwhelmed by tragedy, as Indigenous people “have learned how to walk / less a limb” and maintain resilience in the wake of “a whole generation / missing.” Waking Ground as a collection beautifully demonstrates the idea of Indigenous resurgence and challenges the unresolved and ongoing injustices enacted by Canadian settlers upon Indigenous land.
Shalan joudry graduated from Dalhousie University in 2016 with a Master of Environmental Studies and was nominated for a Governor General Gold Medal award for her thesis work on Mi’kmaw ways of knowing about fire on the land. Waking Ground was deservedly shortlisted for the 2021 J.M. Abraham Atlantic Poetry Award, the 2021 Maxine Tynes Nova Scotia Poetry Award, the 2021 Pat Lowther Memorial Award, and the 2021 Indigenous Voices Award for Poetry in English. She continues to work towards conservation by facilitating eco-cultural and ecological professional development workshops.
Antler River Poetry Presents Charlie Petch, shalan joudry, & Jennifer Mustapha
Wednesday March 23rd 2022
March event will feature Charlie Petch and shalan joudry with local opener Jennifer Mustapha.
- Join us on Zoom at 7pm EST
- Pre-reading Workshop 5:30pm
To join our pre-reading workshop at 5:30pm, free and open to the public, communicate your interest to poetrylondon.ca@gmail.com.
Thank you to our generous event sponsors: London Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, The League of Canadian Poets, The London Public Library, Gaspereau Press, Brick Books, and digibee.net.
Antler River Poetry 2022 Open Theme Contest
DEADLINE March 15th, 2022 Extended to March 20th, 2022
Antler River Poetry Contest 2022
Submit your best work to Antler River Poetry’s 2022 Open Theme Poetry Contest, judged by acclaimed poet Klara du Plessis! Contest entries must be one poem of no more than 40 lines, on any topic, in any style; only submit original work that has not been previously published in print or online.
Send poems in PDF format by email only to AntlerRiverPoetryContest@gmail.com. Please include your name, your complete contact information (including mailing address) and the title of your poem in the body of the email. Poems will be presented anonymously to our judge. Do not include your name in the PDF file of your poem. You must be a resident of (or attending school in) London, ON and surrounding area to enter. Winners will be announced in mid-April 2022 (only winners will be contacted).
- First Prize is $100
- Second Prize is $75
- Third Prize is $50
The winning poets will have their work published on Antler River Poetry’s website and will be invited to read their winning pieces at an upcoming live Zoom event.
Antler River Poetry Presents Sile Englert , Jason Heroux, & Kit Roffey!
Wednesday February 16th 2022
On Wednesday February 16th at 7pm, we are launching our video event featuring readings by Sile Englert, Jason Heroux and local opener Kit Roffey. Jason Heroux will read poetry from his collections, including Hard Work Cheering Up Sad Machines, as well as new work, published by Mansfield Press. Sile Englert will read from her book The Lost Time Accidents, published by Goose Lane.
- Digital Event: Poetry Readings at 7pm EST on our YouTube Channel
- Workshop: Zoom 5:30pm. To register, communicate your interest to poetrylondon.ca@gmail.com.
- Join us for great online poetry!
Thank you to our generous event sponsors: London Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, The League of Canadian Poets, The London Public Library, Mansfield Press, Goose Lane Press, and digibee.net.
Our first event of the new year will feature Elana Wolff and Sadiqa de Meijer with local opener Shannon Arntfield!
Wednesday January 19th 2022
- Wed Jan 19 at 7:00pm EDT
- LIVE ZOOM event
- FREE w/ registration here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register…
Join us for our pre-reading workshop at 5:30pm, free and open to the public, by communicating your interest through poetrylondon.ca@gmail.com.
Sadiqa de Meijer‘s most recent books are The Outer Wards (Vehicule Press) and alfabet / alphabet (Palimpsest Press). Her poetry, essays, and short fiction have appeared in journals internationally, and been awarded the CBC Poetry Prize, Arc‘s Poem of the Year award, and other honours. Her first book of poetry was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Literature.
Elana Wolff is the author of seven collections of poetry and a collection of essays on poems. She has also co-authored, with the late Malca Litovitz, a collection of rengas; co-authored, with Susie Petersiel Berg, a limited-edition chapbook of poems; and co-translated, with Menachem Wolff, poems from the Hebrew by Georg Mordechai Langer; part of a joint Franz Kafka-Georg Mordechai Langer flipside book. Elana’s poems and creative nonfiction pieces are widely published in Canada and internationally, and have garnered awards. She has taught English for Academic Purposes at York University in Toronto and at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She currently lives and works in Thornhill, Ontario. Elana’s sixth collection, Swoon (Guernica Editions, 2020), received the 2020 Canadian Jewish Literary Award for Poetry. Shape Taking, her seventh book of poems, is newly-released with Ekstasis Editions, and Faithfully Seeking Franz, a hybrid prose-and-poetry collection, is forthcoming with Guernica Editions in 2023.
Thank you to our generous event sponsors: London Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, The League of Canadian Poets, The London Public Library, Guernica Editions, Vehicule Press, Palimpsest Press, and digibee.net.