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Contemporary Verse 2
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The Open Issue

Fall 2007. Vol. 30 No.2

Toronto poet Steve McOrmond talks about his newest collection, Primer on the Hereafter, and the impact of poetry on his life. Winnipeg’s versatile Charlene Diehl, performance Poet, jazz journalist, musician and Artistic Director of Thin Air: Winnipeg’s International Writers Festival opens up about her performance, music, her experiences of loss and the importance of poetry.

Online content from this issue

  • the poet

    by Steve McOrmond
    The poet, who I have it on authority enjoys tequila reposado and group sex,   ought to write more interesting...

  • subliming

    by Charlene Diehl
    to wake with perfect awareness of muscle, houses all in a row, questions sprinkled amongst the chairs. look back, little...

  • xxxx

    by Edward Gates
    I’m too old and empty   for kettles that run dry   hips sore legs stiff   I’ll build one...

  • circuit city

    by Tim Keane
    I’m part of a quick waiting line in Circuit City A doe-eye register-girl asks me for my Visa. Words are...

  • changing channels

    by Leanne Averbach
    This summer is a mild racket. Like legions of crickets rubbing statistics from their tiny wings   Twenty-four-hour news seeps...

  • fog

    by Emily Carr
    it’s something lovely, sucking   a web.   I’ve forgotten how to do this,   waiting.   asterisking the thick...

  • glamour

    by Emily Carr
    c.d. wright & mark cox   heraldic, subjective.   (grammar’s etymological daughter).   cock-kingdom-come-crow.   matter got up in a...

  • iris versicolour

    by Daniel Newman
    Alive but standing still, Iris stood against a patch of marigolds (her complements in yellow),   and I just happened...

  • internet youkali

    by Steven Mayoff
    Fingers hovering like humming birds over the keys.   lost@4ever.yk   A thrum of hesitation as each letter is pecked...

  • Formally Speaking

    by Maurice Mierau
    Last year I led a poetry workshop with a group of about 20 older and mostly retired people, nearly all...

  • An Interview with Steve McOrmond

    Interviewed by Sharon Caseburg
    Sharon Caseburg: Your first collection of poetry Lean Days (Wolsak and Wynn, 2004) was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial...

  • An Interview with Charlene Diehl

    Interviewed by Clarise Foster
    Clarise Foster: Does working in the medium of music change your expectations of what or how you write a poem?...