Christina Shah

catch Misha Solomon @mishasolomon.bsky.social launching his full-length poetry debut this month at VERSeFest!

Today!

happy international women's day

Congratulations Joanna and @yvonneblomerwrites.bsky.social! Love the cover. Is there a launch happening on this side of the pond?

Mark your calendars! Arc Poetry is returning to VERSeFest on Wednesday, March 25, for an event that includes Isabella Wang, our 2024 – 2025 Poet-in-Residence T. Liem, and Lucia Farinon. This will be an evening of poetry you won't want to miss!

Condemn Carney’s musings about dispatching troops to Iran Prime Minister Carney is boosting the warmongers in the US and Israel. On Wednesday Carney suggested Canada might consider dispatching troops to assist Trump and Netanyahu’s war of aggression on Iran ...

I just wrote a @theactionnetwork.bsky.social letter: Condemn Carney’s musings about dispatching troops to Iran. Write one here: actionnetwork.org/letters/cond...

catch Canadian poet Karen Solie reading this month in Ottawa at VERSeFest! on March 29th as part of festival, and the following day, a free event at Carleton University: further information and tickets at: verseottawa.ca/en/versefest

Call for submissions! New or previously published poems of 25 words or less for inclusion in a FREE Poetry DISPENSER! Turn the knob and receive a poem! Your name and book/website will be at the bottom of your poem. Details at kyerenregehr.ca/poetlaureate

im doing a crazy thing and starting a tiny press that wants your poetry, maybe a follow, maybe a repost, definitely your submission

THE SECRET OF THE YELLOW ROOM Sloth's best. Lolling on a sofa In a Chinese dressing gown With the windows open in the heat, The breeze rousing the leaves. The flies dozing on the ceiling. The silky hush of a summer afternoon, Like floating on one's back With eyes closed in some pond Clogged with water lilies, Inhaling their scent as they nuzzle close. The light and shade dillydallying, The leaves sighing again. Afterward, not even that. Majestic stupor. Stirring only at midnight To click on the yellow table lamp.

Charles Simic, for your late-winter blues

Thanks to @robmclennan.bsky.social and his @periodicities.bsky.social for posting this poem from My Great-Grandfather Danced Ballet. It's in some ways a preview of the whole book-length project, a kinda thesis-statement poem, although the book has both many and no theses.

“Dick Pics” by Sarah Yi-Mei Tsiang. I will post another version tomorrow:) #poetryinvoice YouTube video by Isabelle Larose

Josephine is being banned by the Calgary Catholic School Board from reciting this great poem by Sarah Tsiang that deals with the online sexual harassment of young women for the Poetry In Voice contest. Let's all listen to her brilliant reading for Freedom to Read Week
www.youtube.com/shorts/LNY3Y...

I’ll read from it this spring and summer:
• March 27 — Vancouver (SFU Library)
• April 10 — Victoria (with Planet Earth Poetry & The Malahat Review)
• April 14 — Kelowna (launch)
• April 30 — Victoria (launch)
• August 16/17 — Cumberland (with Cascadia Poetry Festival)

More details soon.

Who Else in the Dark Headed There - Biblioasis In his first collection since the Governor General’s–nominated Prologue for the Age of Consequence, Martens adds an autobiographical lens to his concerns about class and labour. A mother disappears. A...

You'll find it in bookstores on April 14.

You can also preorder it, right now, either through your local indie bookstore of choice or directly from my publisher @biblioasis.bsky.social:

www.biblioasis.com/shop/forthcoming/who-else-in-the-dark-headed-there/

An image of a book's front cover. The book is called "Who Else in the Dark Headed There", a new book of poems by Canadian author Garth Martens. Poet Jan Zwicky says of the book: "Poems of intense emotion, the torque on the language extreme - as it must be, reaching this far into the dark, this honestly." The publisher is Biblioasis Publishing. The poems are set in northern Alberta. Garth Martens lives in Victoria, British Columbia. Keywords: Canadian Poetry, Canadian Literature, Small Press, Small Press Publishing, Indie Bookstores, Poetry Collection, New poetry 2026, Indie Press, Indie Publisher, Grief Writing.

Some news.

I have a new book of poetry out this April with @biblioasis.bsky.social. It's called Who Else in the Dark Headed There.

Next Sunday, March 8th! A fantastic line-up of poets:
Rhea Tregebov reading Anne Szumigalski (1922-1999)
George McWhirter reading José Emilio Pacheco (1939-2014)
Robin Susanto reading Sapardi Djoko Damano (1940–2020)
Mezi reading from "Classical Poems by Arab Women" anthology. Hope to see u there!

Poetry book launch poster- blue-ecru ombre. Russell Thornton and Christina Shah. North Vancouver launch Feb. 26 7 pm.

TOMORROW NIGHT!! 📕🌠 North Shore launch for the legendary Russell Thornton's new collection, Two Songs! I'll be his guest reader. Come on down- Thurs. Feb 26th at 32 Books in North Van, 7 pm. @nightwoodeditions.bsky.social @harbourpublishing.bsky.social

Freedom to read can never be taken for granted. Even in Canada, a free country by world standards, books and magazines are banned.

From February 22–28, Freedom to Read Week asks all Canadians to think about and reaffirm our commitment to intellectual freedom.

Learn more at www.freedomtoread.ca

RIP Sandy Shreve (1950 – 2026) - BC Booklook Sandy Shreve, the poet, editor, community activist and visual artist who introduced poetry on Vancouver public transit on an ongoing... FULL STORY

It's with heavy hearts that we share that Sandy Shreve, the woman who started Poetry in Transit, has passed.

Read all about her amazing life as an artist and activist here: bcbooklook.com/rip-sandy-sh...

Lauren Peat has a light skin tone, blue eyes, and a dark blonde pixie cut. She wears a brown turtle neck sweater and small hoop earrings. She is looking to the side while sunlight shining through leaves creates spots of sunlight and shadows across her face.

“Words can make a minute stretch long, or collapse it into a pinprick. It’s a special kind of alchemy… I remember feeling as if the rest of the bus had melted away, and I almost missed my stop.”

The 1:52 train sustains a D major chord. I rehearse having no purpose inside night’s cargo of shadow. —Lauren Peat, “Freight Train”

Poetry in Transit spotlight: Lauren Peat☀️

We spoke with Lauren Peat and the other Poetry in Transit 2025-26 poets on place, transit, and community. Read here: www.readlocalbc.ca/2025/09/17/p...
#PoetryInTransit #ReadLocalBC #BCPoet
#BCPoetry

How wonderful for my chapbook (and scholarly book!) to be on the receiving end of this attentive eye! Thanks @kevinspenst.bsky.social for bringing so much goodness to poets and poetry!

Kevin Spenst reviews Dale Tracy's Gnomics (2024) via subterrain #102 our pal Kevin Spenst was good enough to review Dale Tracy's Gnomics (2024), as part of his regular column of chapbook reviews, in a round-...

Kevin Spenst reviews Dale Tracy's Gnomics (above/ground press, 2024) via subterrain #102 / @daletracy.bsky.social @kevinspenst.bsky.social ;
abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2026/02/kevi...

Vancouver friends! Catch Isabella Wang (November, November) and Wendy Donawa (The Time of Falling Apart: Poems) at the Twisted Poets Literary Salon on March 11.

Thank you Pinholepoetry.

"one lover’s hands upon
another’s ribs, in flagrant dereliction of
the horror known as truth"

Excerpt from @mishasolomon.bsky.social's poem "Ernest Dances Siegfried in 𝑆𝑤𝑎𝑛 𝐿𝑎𝑘𝑒" + early decor design for Tchaikovsky's 𝑆𝑤𝑎𝑛 𝐿𝑎𝑘𝑒

Read Misha's two poems in ISSUE 2.3: longconmag.com/issue-2-3/mi...

Snippit from an interview. The events, people, influences in East Van that molded & formed me. Thanks to Irwin Rapoport, Westmountmag. My birthday party / book launch / ‘60s & ‘’70s dance party @ the Casa, Sun Feb 15, 5pm. Free!
www.facebook.com/events/86913...
www.westmountmag.ca/norman-nawro...

Keep the yarny wackiness coming Vicki! I love it!💕🧶💯

“An Uncommon Eye”: Reflections on the Life and Work of Sandy Shreve - EVENT One of the first friends I made in the poetry world was Sandy Shreve. Despite our gap in age and experience, Sandy took in this wide-eyed budding poet as a peer. I remember one day walking with Sandy ...

My dear friend, the poet Sandy Shreve, has died.

A number of us wrote tributes to Sandy for @eventmags.bsky.social in December. I welcome you to read them today, and learn a bit more about an incredible poet, painter, arts organizer and human being:

What does it mean to imagine a different world? "Imagination is a vital tool of resistance... you have to imagine yourself to be free," @chineloonwualu.bsky.social tells @jeyantvo.bsky.social. At 8pm with @teresempierre.bsky.social, editor of "As the Earth Dreams" | Producer: Constantina Varlokostas

100% of all sales (online and in person) will be donated tomorrow to the fundraiser for families impacted by the Tumbler Ridge shooting ❤️