some author activity: Niespodziany, Jenks, Flowers, Ross + Kemp,

Benjamin Niespodziany offers "My Favorite Reads of 2025," and includes Tom Jenks' 2025 above/ground press title, Chimneys, which was nice; Neil Flowers has new work up at Public Reverie; Stuart Ross offers his New Year's Poem over at his blog; and Jennifer Wenn writes on a Penn Kemp title, forty years after it first appeared, at The Seaboard Review.

some author activity: Flowers, Mc Donnell, Strang, Rogal, Carr + Nichol,

Neil Flowers has a new poem up at The Typescript; Conor Mc Donnell has a poem and statement up at the Spotlight series; Catriona Strang has a new poem in the "Tuesday poem' series; Stan Rogal has two new poems up at The Pi Review; Julie Carr has new work up at Antiphony; and a 1984 episode of the TVO program Canadian Literature is on YouTube, featuring the late Toronto poet bpNichol.

some author activity: Naughton, Tierney, Brockwell, Johnson + Flowers,

Katie Naughton has some new work up at Tagvverk, as does Orchid Tierney; Stephen Brockwell has a new poem up at The Typescript; Chris Johnson has four new poems in the October issue of deathcap; and Neil Flowers is being interviewed over at poetry mini interviews.

The Café Review "Canadian issue" launch: Anstee, Clayton, Hall, Weaver, Hogg + Turnbull

above/ground press authors Cameron Anstee, Conyer Clayton, Phil Hall, Andy Weaver and Chris Turnbull read alongside poets Sandra Ridley and Bruce Whiteman in Ottawa as part of the launch of the "Canadian issue" of Maine's The Café Review.

Guest-edited by poet and above/ground press author Robert Hogg, the issue features new poetry by multiple above/ground press authors (highlighted) and non-authors alike, including Cameron Anstee, Nelson Ball, bill bissett, Conyer Clayton, Stephen Collis, Neil Flowers, Phil Hall, Daphne Marlatt, Don McKay, Barry McKinnon, Sandra Ridley, Armand Garnet Ruffo, Carolyn Smart, Sharon Thesen, Aaron Tucker, Chris Turnbull, Andy Weaver and Bruce Whiteman. This issue also features work by artists Jim Andrews and Judith Copithorne with a review by Dana Wilde.

Saturday, May 11, 2019
2-4:30pm
Bar Robo: 692 Somerset St W, Ottawa

Scott Bryson reviews Neil Flowers' TAXICAB VOICE (2016) in Broken Pencil

Scott Bryson was good enough to provide the first review of Neil Flowers' TAXICAB VOICE (2016) in Broken Pencil. Thanks so much! You can see the original review here.

Taxicab Voice Chapbook, Neil Flowers, 12 pgs, above/ground press, abovegroundpress.blogspot.com, $5 

 The 5.5 x 8.5 inch format favoured by above/ground press was waived for this collection; Taxicab Voice is a comparably enormous 8.5 by 11. It was presumably the author’s preference, and while it could be owing to the length of a couple of these poems, Neil Flowers may also have been looking to make this resemble a song book. Most of this writing involve music, in one form or another, and it’s all dedicated to Bill Hawkins, a recently-deceased Canadian folk musician and poet.

Much of Taxicab Voice speaks from the perspective of Hawkins, and it’s possible that it’s entirely about him — a narration of the about-town and on-the-road life of a Canadian bard. If the two men weren’t friends, they were at least acquaintances — both inhabited the Ottawa poetry scene of the early ’70s, and Flowers included Hawkins’ writing in an anthology in 1973.

There’s a particular term that appears repeatedly throughout this collection, loosely tying its poems together: “starfuckers” (in multiple forms). In one instance, it refers to groupies, as seen from Hawkins’ perspective: the “Women with rainbows for eyes.” Later, the label is assigned to someone who picks up Hawkins after his car breaks down: “Who comes to your rescue? / Creeley. / Star Fucker!” (referencing poet Robert Creeley). Flowers’ carefree use of such language paints an amusing image of that fulsome circle of artists.

new from above/ground press: Taxicab Voice, by Neil Flowers

Taxicab Voice
Neil Flowers
$5

2: CARELESS LOVE

A government man
A regular cheque
A three-piece suit
Boots that shine
like Buddy's cornet

Those skinny arms
yellow bruises
skag lines moan
like Billie or Chet

       (Trumpet solo, then
       the singer vamps
       scatting the intro, then

Love,
O careless love,
look what careless love
has done to me

Not to mention
everyone else

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
June 2016
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Neil Flowers, aka Neil Whiteman, aka Monk Besserer, and likely several other aliases that he’s long forgotten, was born in Montreal and has lived in Italy, Mexico, the U.S., and on Saltspring Island, BC. In the late 60s and early 70s, he studied literature at Carleton University, including being a member of Robert Hogg’s seminar in modern and contemporary poetry. As well as being a poet, Neil has worked as an actor, director, and writer for radio, theatre, and film. He currently lives in Los Angeles where he works as a screenwriter and script doctor, and teaches screenwriting. A distant ancestor, Robert Flowers, a British soldier stationed at Lake Champlain who fled America for Canada when the Yanks more or less won their revolution, helped found the town of New Carlisle in the Gaspé.

Neil transcribed and edited the public poetry reading that effectively became the anthology Northern Comfort (Ottawa, ON: Commoners’ Press, 1973). See a recent interview with him, conducted by rob mclennan on the project, here.

Taxicab Voice was written over a period of several years in several places but chiefly in Ottawa, Albuquerque, and Los Angeles.

To order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; outside Canada, add $2) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9 or paypal at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com

lunch poets: Hogg, Anstee, Whiteman + Flowers,

Yesterday afternoon, a variety of poets descended upon our house for a lunch that turned into nearly five hours of lunch, conversation, gossip and wine: Bruce Whiteman, Robert Hogg [see information on his most recent above/ground press title here], Cameron Anstee [see information on his most recent above/ground press title here] and Neil Flowers.

Neil (also known as Neil Whiteman, brother of Bruce) was coming through town to pick up copies of his new above/ground press chapbook (watch for an announcement for such later this month), and thought it might be an opportunity for old and new friends to enjoy some time together. For those unaware, Neil Flowers had been a student of Robert Hogg's at Carleton University, and transcribed and edited the public poetry reading that effectively became the anthology Northern Comfort (Ottawa, ON: Commoners’ Press, 1973) [see my recent interview with him on the project here] before leaving town for a lengthy career in film in Los Angeles.

We had many drinks and much conversation. Bruce, whom I haven't actually seen since 1995 (a year after meeting him), has since relocated to Los Angeles and Ohio before finally returning to Toronto. Hogg, on the other hand, I discovered, might be one of the very few that attended both the 1963 Vancouver Poetry Conference as well as the 1965 Berkeley Conference. We spoke of Robert Duncan and Charles Olson, of Ken Norris, Judith Fitzgerald, Raymond Souster and Stan Rogal, and other poetry odds and sundries, and even went through an old photo album that Hogg had thought to bring along (he regaled us with numerous stories throughout). We'd hoped to be able to include William Hawkins as part of the gathering as well, but he wasn't up for a visit this time around.

We, of course, thank Christine McNair's generous patience throughout the day, as she corralled our young ladies. Rose would float through occasionally, seeking strawberries, and Aoife sat with us now and then, barely saying a word.