some author activity: Brown, Collis, Niespodziany, mclennan, Tate + Bell,

Simon Brown has a new poem in the "Tuesday poem" series; Stephen Collis reads in Vancouver (with others) on April 6 as part of the first annual Phyllis Webb Memorial Reading; Benjamin Niespodziany has a new poem up at Booth; rob mclennan continues his work-in-progress "Lecture for an Empty Room" via substack, and was interviewed recently by Sam Szanto in her "20 Questions" series; Jillian Hess writes on Bronwen Tate's notebooks; and Wade Bell now has an author website, and a new short story up at The Typescript.

some author activity: Deutch, Tate, fitzpatrick, Hyland + Hogg,

Amanda Deutch has new work up at house journal; Bronwen Tate has a new poem up at the Chaudiere Books blog, as part of National Poetry Month, as does ryan fitzpatrick ; MC Hyland has some new work up at Solstice: a magazine of diverse voices; and Robert Hogg has a new poem up in the "Tuesday poem" series over at dusie.

some author activity: Ross, Reid, Tate, Archer, Gunnars, Jirgens, Norris + Young,

Stuart Ross is a finalist for the 4th James Tate International Poetry Prize, for his full-length manuscript, "Cringe System"; Monty Reid is interviewed over at Train : a poetry journal; Bronwen Tate now has a newsletter you can sign up for; Sacha Archer has posted "an improvisation by Sacha Archer played on a broken stand-up piano that was found in a large dumpster in the downtown of Peterborough, Ontario c. 2007" via YouTube; and above/ground press authors Ken Norris, Karl Jirgens, Geoffrey Young and Kristjana Gunnars, among others, have new work in the latest issue of mouse eggs.

some author activity: Hamilton, mclennan, Tate, Rosenthal + Trivedi,

["describe your writing process as a single gif"] Eaton Hamilton has a new essay up at Guernica magazine; rob mclennan has a new poem up at The Babel Tower Notice Board; Bronwen Tate has a new essay in the "Talking Poetics" series over at the ottawa poetry newsletter; Sarah Rosenthal has a new essay up at Entropy mag; and Amish Trivedi has a new essay up at Post45.

some author activity: O'Reilly, Joseph, Mavreas, Tate, Betts + MacEachern,

Nathanael O'Reilly is interviewed over at Fevers of the Mind, and has a new poem up at Beir Bua Journal; Alexander Joseph has a poem up in the "Tuesday poem" series; a CBC article on Montreal's Billy Mavreas closing down his "curiosity shop and art gallery" after twenty years; and Bronwen Tate, Gregory Betts and Jessi MacEachern all have new work online at Carousel magazine.

some author activity: Rivera, O'Reilly, Sweeney, Hogg + Tate,

Eléna Rivera has some new work up at Junction Box; Nathanael O'Reilly has some new work up at Mascara Literary Review; Heather Sweeney is interviewed by Muzique Magazine; Robert Hogg has some new work up at The Typescript, an essay on Kent Johnson up at Caesura, and is interviewed in a podcast by Craig Carpenter on his history and associations around TISH: and Bronwen Tate has new work in Court Green.

some author activity: mclennan, Tate, Kaminski, Hunter, Reed, Mavreas + Desbarats,

above/ground authors rob mclennan, Bronwen Tate, Megan Kaminski and Carrie Hunter etc participate in the dusie kollektiv 9, as a tribute to the late Marthe Reed, with new chapbooks in tribute to Reed now online as free pdfs via DUSIE 22; Billy Mavreas has new visual work up at Train : a poetry journal; and Michelle Desbarats has new work in the Glebe Report.

some author activity: Unsworth, Kaminski, Tate + mclennan,

Lydia Unsworth has some new work in Riggwelter #22; Megan Kaminski is featured in rob mclennan's Spotlight series; Bronwen Tate is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey; and rob mclennan has a new poem up at Selcouth Station.

some author activity: Tate, Unsworth, Eleftherion + Schmaltz,

Bronwen Tate has some poems in The Tiny, and there is a recent article on her and her work online at Potash Hill: The Magazine of Marlboro College; forthcoming author Lydia Unsworth has a new poem up at Litter, and another up at Train : a poetry journal; Melissa Eleftherion has new work up at SWWIM; and the last of Eric Schmaltz' commentaries is now online at Jacket2.

New Orleans Poetry Festival 2019: Hyland, Kaminski, Robinson, Rosenthal, Smith, Sweeney + Tate,

above/ground press authors MC Hyland, Megan Kaminski, Elizabeth Robinson, Sarah Rosenthal, Jessica Smith, Heather Sweeney and Bronwen Tate (as well as a whole slew of other writers) participate in the 2019 New Orleans Poetry Festival and Small Press Fair, which will be held from April 18-21, 2019. I might not be able to attend, but you should totally go! Check out the full schedule here.

Ryan Pratt reviews Bronwen Tate's Vesper Vigil (2016)

Our pal Ryan Pratt was good enough to provide the first review for Bronwen Tate's Vesper Vigil (2016) over at the ottawa poetry newsletter. Thanks much! You can see Pratt's post here. As he writes:

Vesper Vigil by Bronwen Tate
Published by above/ground press, 2016.

"You sleep, I sigh, we mingle breath like lovers –
I reach a stealthy hand, adjust the sheet.
Somewhere between sentiment and complaint
are words to name the child sleeping here"

So begins Vesper Vigil, a collection of sonnets which chronicle the last weeks of Bronwen Tate’s pregnancy with this perfectly succinct ambiguity – how it feels to be pinned down by what we love most. True to her intent, Tate records both the daily parenting of her young son and the approaching birth of her daughter without getting precious or irate. Instead, she employs a tenderness that seesaws between love and pain, gentle yet sore to touch.

“Will this lumpy baby ever come out?”
Owen considers, replies “I don’t know”.
So we measure days in peaches, bruises,
bruised peaches, it’s the body that chooses."

Tate explores the fragile limits of our bodies – how we feed, grow and injure them – within the framework of domesticated routines that gauge her excruciating wait. Every seemingly casual digression probes one of two spectres, the impending pain or joy. They’re a package deal, of course, and her bittersweet tone acknowledges it. Like the development of a fetus, these sonnets mature in nerves that feel deeply rooted thanks to the sing-song rhyme scheme. Each page can encapsulate hours or weeks. Her choice of form allows that compression rate without sacrificing a fluid rhythm, though – as is common with the sonnet – rhymes occasionally raise an eyebrow. (Did she really play disco, or does it just rhyme with San Francisco, etc.?) In any case, by the time she’s admitted to her hospital room, the anxiety and loneliness of third-trimester pregnancy is palpable:

"I’ve taken Misoprostol, Cervidil,
now sitting, watch contraction numbers rise,
one hand to hold the heart monitor still,
slight lag between the pain and peaking highs.
We left with early fog but found no bed,
paced corridors and watched the shifting crane,
took Owen to a playground, sat and read,
called only to be postponed again.
At two at last they showed me to my room,
this prison of uncertain duration,
can’t leave these walls till baby quits the womb,
perch on window bench, await dilation.
Alone now, I breathe through pains, try to sleep.
The road to you be gentle, dark, and steep."

Reading the above selection, I realize how little I’ve contemplated the psychological effects of pregnancy and childbirth. (Just analyzing Tate's thought that, once admitted, she cannot leave the hospital without first enduring an unknown pain gives my pulse a race.) As someone who looks in on parenthood from the outside, that’s my biggest takeaway from this chapbook. Tate manages to imbue archetypal family dynamics with a memorable dose of personal details, creating an unguarded glance at motherhood in transition.

new from above/ground press: Vesper Vigil, by Bronwen Tate

Vesper Vigil
Bronwen Tate
$4

What can be closer than my own body?

Known in sensation: heat, pain, and desire —

new furrows, grey hairs, unnoticed freckles,

apprehended in mirrors’ strange angles.

Presence began with the counting of days,

with each ultrasound’s fear and relief,

grew with sickness I delayed meals to know,

then reassured by that nausea, ate toast.

Legible bodies prompt declaration —

I said “due at the end of July.”

Fingers now join silent conversation,

limbs pushing taut skin in reply.

Beloved, still abstraction, I confess,

how can I know you till I see your face?

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

Cover image: V. Caleb Anderson

Bronwen Tate is the author of the chapbooks Souvenirs (Dusie 2007), Like the Native Tongue the Vanquished (Cannibal Books 2008), Scaffolding (Dusie 2009), if a thermometer (dancing girl press 2011) and The Loss Letters (Dusie 2011). She has taught courses in literature, aesthetics, creative writing, and composition at Brown University, Borough of Manhattan Community College, and Stanford University, where she is currently a lecturer and fellow in the Thinking Matters Program.

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