A Writer’s Hike

A new friend of mine is currently walking the Bruce Trail and writing about her adventure. 

Elisha and I met in May on a virtual forum; a national summit on social activism and advocacy. Biographies were shared among the registrants and we connected over a shared love of writing.

She recently received a Canada Council of the Arts grant to walk the Bruce Trail end to end together with her mother, Donna. Her goal is to publish a collection of poetry, prose and photography exploring their relationship and documenting their journey hiking the Trail.

Read more

Old Long Since

Old Long Since is the English translation of the Scottish Auld Lang Syne. 

It never occurred to me to wonder about the literal translation. I understood the sentiment as remembering the good times and looking forward to more. The utilitarian words Old Long Since sound less romantic and sentimental and are a suitable farewell to this past year in particular. 

The collective euphoria at seeing the end of 2021 is understandable given the chaotic spiraling of much that was familiar and reliable in our lives.

Read more

A Grateful Activist

In spite of these uncertain times, I am beyond grateful for so much; to live in rural Ontario, to have enough hand sanitizer to share and for virtual goodnight visits with my grandson. I am grateful too for this moment in history as we witness the world on the cusp of, what I have to believe will be, radical social change.

Hardship has not been part of my own experience of the pandemic. Inconvenience, yes. There have been brief bouts of panic, fear, emotional ups and downs and worry about family certainly. But being able to connect through technology with a small but mighty circle of dear ones has kept me afloat. I have been able to work while quarantining and have a two-person isolation bubble and a full cupboard. These are but a few examples of how my privilege enables me to weather this storm unscathed thus far.

Hardship and heartache are indeed the experiences of so many people world wide and we recognize the roles that inequality, oppression and poverty play in countries’ varying abilities to fight this common enemy. 

Read more

Food for the Writer’s Soul

Tanya Neumeyer performs at Words Aloud

I have a confession to make, I haven’t been writing much at all. I was, once again, making progress on my novel re-write after my last writing lull. I even had a moment of epiphany on how to make a nice transition between scenes. This is why it’s important to always make note of your scene ideas, or any ideas: You never know when life will happen and you can’t get back to it as soon as you’d like. Which is me, I’m in the gap and I hope I can pick-up where I left off.

I’ve had a few life events to deal with, like we all do, but my two major distractions have been politics and Words Aloud. Politics has just kept growing in intensity as every moment feels like history is being made.  It’s like a big story unfolding in front of us. The only good thing I have to say is, at least it’s all being laid to bare. And it’s pretty darn ugly. And I can’t look away. Somehow I feel I have to bear witness to what is happening. And a part of me always longs to understand–so I read more. Read more

Local Literary Adventures & the Words Aloud Festival

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” — Robert Frost

Are you a genre writer? Or a poet? Or a novelist? Or do you just like to read in these areas? No matter what you love, it’s always good to try something new, something different. We all have something to learn from each other. Check out what literary events are happening in your area. Go to them, support them, enjoy them. At the very least, you might make some new friends. Go see authors you haven’t read before, join a book club and read something different.

Hwy 4 Writers Group Reunite at Words Aloud I’m holding Suzanne Sloan’s book, Mining the Memories

I’ll give you some examples from my own experience. Earlier this summer, a friend had an extra ticket to a romance writer’s event in Collingwood an hour away. We carpooled and met with others for dinner first before listening to four romance writers read and talk about their writing. Now, I don’t write romance novels, but I can’t imagine myself writing a novel without romance in it. There’s always something to learn and I had a great time and made new friends. Read more

Under the Influence

Under the Influence of Nick Petrie ~ Photo by Lori Twining

As writers, our job is to create stories. Unique stories. It doesn’t matter whether they take shape inside poems, short stories or novels, because either way, we are still developing distinctive characters and a plotline. We are telling a story from beginning to end. The question is, how do you come up with the uniqueness of the story, when there are already billions of stories in existence. How will your story stand out from the rest? It may not be that unique after all. Or is it? Read more

Poetry, Prose Poem, Prose, and Gord Downie

Gord Downie, lead singer of Canada’s The Tragically Hip, has been referred to as a poet. Yes, he’s published a book of poetry, but I wanted to read the lyrics to his songs to confirm this kind of writing. I admit that although I loved the sound of the band in my high school years, the words he sang were not entirely clear (I did not pay attention to lyrics back then) so I never really knew what he was singing about.

Fast forward to his last concert a few weeks ago. Gord dazzled me. And now I had the internet to look up all his lyrics! I did not recognize his words as “poetry” as I understood poetry to be. Here’s more that I discovered.

Poetry is a language that isolates feelings. Poetry came first, before prose, as in children’s verses and music. It is decorative, more expressive than prose. Poetry uses rhyme and rhythm, and when read aloud a poem carries an emotional sound and feel. Poetry is primarily used to provoke thought. Lines in poetry can be very long or as short as one word in keeping with an intended rhythm or to emphasize an idea. Lines may be arranged in stanzas.

Come in, come in, come in, come in


From thin and wicked prairie winds come in


It’s warm and it’s safe here and almost heartening


Here in a time and place not lost on our imagination

(from The Tragically Hip’s “The Darkest One”, 2002)

Prose is a straightforward delivery of an accumulation of ideas arranged in sentences and paragraphs. The first word of every sentence is capitalized. Prose is what we read in everyday writing. Large blocks of words communicate thought and information. Novels, essays, short stories are all prose. Some prose can read lyrically which leads to a third form, the Prose Poem.

Prose Poem is writing that appears like prose but reads like poetry. Writers who are part of literary circles have been innovative in developing their own styles. Prose poem can be a few lines or a few pages and utilizes techniques typically associated to the form of poetry. Techniques such as fragmentation of lines, repetition, and rhyme are vehicles that enable greater expression in writing.

 An example of this is from Campbell McGrath’s “The Prose Poem”:

On the map it is precise and rectilinear as a chessboard, though driving past you would hardly notice it, this boundary line or ragged margin, a shallow swale that cups a simple trickle of water, less rill than rivulet, more gully than dell, a tangled ditch grown up throughout with a fearsome assortment of wildflowers and bracken. There is no fence, though here and there a weathered post asserts a former claim, strands of fallen wire taken by the dust. To the left a cornfield carries into the distance, dips and rises to the blue sky, a rolling plain of green and healthy plants aligned in close order, row upon row upon row.

I’m wondering what form Gord Downie’s work resembles more closely. Poetry? Or Prose Poem? Maybe a bit of both? His thought-provoking lyrics tell true stories, offer unwavering opinion and truths, and tug at the emotions. I am reluctant to pin his style down to one thing or another.

If there’s a goal that everyone remembers


It was back in old ’72

We all squeezed the stick and we all pulled the trigger


And all I remember is sitting beside you

You said you didn’t give a f*ck about hockey


And I never saw someone say that before


You held my hand and we walked home the long way


You were loosening my grip on Bobby Orr

(from Tragically Hip’s “Fireworks”, 1998)

  

Late breaking story on the CBC


A Nation whispers, “We always knew that he’d go free”


They add, “You can’t be fond of living in the past


‘Cause if you are then there’s no way that you’re going to last

(from Tragically Hip’s “Wheat Kings”, 1992)

Whatever style it is, it’s Gord’s. He is a poet. And a story teller, and a lyricist, and a musician. An artist. And so much more. Thank you, Gord Downie, for being Ahead by a Century.