The Peter F. Yacht Club Christmas party/reading/regatta : a report,

Last night we held our annual PFYC Christmas party/reading/regatta [see the report from last year's event here] at the Carleton Tavern, our "office Christmas party," if you will, for those of us in our informal writer's group [see a history of PFYC here].

Stephen Brockwell provided some fine co-hosting duties, as well as an array of photos (all of these pictures were taken by him). There were short readings by Amanda Earl, Stephen Brockwell, Frances Boyle, Pearl Pirie, Marilyn Irwin, Janice Tokar, myself, Gwendolyn Guth and Roland Prevost, with an array of audience that included Monty Reid, Brian Pirie, jwcurry, Rachel Zavitz, Steve Zytveld, Jason Wiens (Christmassing here from Calgary) and Robert Stacey [pictured at the end, with me]. Most read short selections of new pieces and/or works-in-progress, but for myself, who could only manage a poem or two from the new book (all my works-in-progress aren't yet ready for public consumption).

It was good to hear some new work from Gwendolyn Guth, including a poem since that has been accepted for a forthcoming anthology on motherhood via Demeter Press. Congratulations, Gwen!

Really, much of the enjoyment of the PFYC Christmas event is in hearing new work from poet-friends that perhaps don't read as often as they should, whether Gwendolyn Guth, author of the 2010 chapbook Good People, or Janice Tokar, author of the 2014 chapbook ARRHYTHMIA.

Some of us, including Marilyn, Pearl and myself, even provided some baked goods, with an array of chocolate goodness brought in by Roland and Jan. There was also much merriment! I also brought along copies of a variety of above/ground press items not set to release until January, including the new issue of Touch the Donkey, and above/ground press' 800th item! (What could it be? Stay tuned!)

Unfortunately, weather and circumstance kept a few readers away, including Jason Christie, Claire Farley, Chris Turnbull, Chris Johnston, Christine McNair and Vivian Vavassis. But hey, there's always next year, right?

above/ground press (today!) at word on the street: toronto,

During our recent move I unearthed an absolute ton of above/ground press "poem" broadsheets, and decided they should be distributed! If you make your way to The League of Canadian Poets booth at this year's WOTS today in Toronto, be sure to pick one up! I've sent along copies of numerous broadsheets from over the past decade or so, including poems by Steven Heighton, Stuart Ross, Max Middle, Shawna McCabe, Fred Wah, Gregory Betts, Sarah Mangold, Nathaniel G. Moore, A.J. Levin, Kristina Drake, William Hawkins, Nathanael, Karen Clavelle, Peter Norman, Gwendolyn Guth and Gary Barwin, among others. Go pick up copies! And don't forget, 2014 subscriptions are now available!

some author activity: mclennan, Landman + Martin,

[photo from Stephen Brockwell + Gwendolyn Guth's wedding last Saturday, taken by Christine McNair] ; rob mclennan has a new poem up on the Ottawa literary website Jam Jar Words, and an Author Spotlight interview by Jessica Kluthe, over at her blog; Seth Landman has some new poems over at Springgun #8; Camille Martin has a new poem up as part of the dusie Tuesday poem, as well as an "author's notes" piece on poetry, composition and Anselm Hollo posted on The Town Crier, the blog of The Puritan.

above/ground press author Gwendolyn Guth is featured at The in/words Reading Series, August 29 2012

In/Words: The Reading Series: Gwendolyn Guth (August Edition)
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
9:00pm
       
Clocktower Brew Pub 575 Bank Street - Ottawa, Ontario

This month In/Words has the privilege of featuring Gwen Guth. She is a super cool lady and I am tremendously excited to launch this years Reading Series with her. Gwen's work has previously been showcased by ottawater, bywords, yawp, above/ground press, Friday Circle ( The Flash of Longing chapbook), Tree and the University of Ottawa Press.

This is not a reading to miss - I mean it - it is going to be really, really great.

There will be a reasonable open mic set with new and exciting prizes.

Gwendolyn Guth, mother of three active boys, notes that super mom and super model have far less in common than their assonance would suggest. She has the enviable privilege of talking about literature for a living, at Heritage College in Gatineau. She is a long-time supporter of and participant in Ottawa literary ventures, including Bywords, above/ground, Ottawater, yawp, Friday Circle, Rideau Review, etc. Her second poetry chapbook, Good People (above/ground press, 2010), anticipates her first trade book, due any year now and fiercely successful in her dreams. She craves inner peace but settles for outer calm.

new from above/ground press: The Peter F Yacht Club #16: VERSeFest special!

The Peter F Yacht Club #16: VERSeFest special!
edited by rob mclennan
[see the link here for information on the previous issue]
[see the link here for a history of the publication]
$6

With new writing by a host of Peter F Yacht Club regulars and irregulars, as well as a number of VERSeFest participants, including Paige Ackerson-Kiely, Cameron Anstee, Rae Armantrout, Stephen Brockwell, Anita Dolman, Amanda Earl, Laurie Fuhr, Lea Graham, Gwendolyn Guth, Marilyn Irwin, Ben Ladouceur, Tim Lilburn, Barry McKinnon, rob mclennan, Christine McNair, James K. Moran, Sean Moreland, Pearl Pirie, Monty Reid, Shane Rhodes, Janice Tokar and Fred Wah.

Produced as part of Ottawa’s second annual VERSeFest poetry festival, which runs from February 28 to March 4, 2012.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
February 2012
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

To order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; outside Canada, add $2) to: rob mclennan, 402 McLeod St #3, Ottawa ON K2P 1A6 or paypal at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com

above/ground press author Pearl Pirie

on two of the most recent above/ground press offerings;

new from above/ground press: Good People, poems by Gwendolyn Guth

How Armando Became a Ladies Man

He says, “I tell you story.”

Shrugs off grammar-clotted papers to make space

for memory and his hands’ motion. When he saw her

for the first time, he was wrist-high in blood, gore.

The animal death of the shop

enticed her: meat for sale. He knew

how to move his knife. Her eyes flashed jet-dark,

defiant. In a few days, the shining counter dissolved

like an apprentice dream. He wiped

his hands, turned from carcasses to caress

warm perfumed hocks, pink moons.

His young self fascinates him. Two years

living off the avails of a breathtaking hooker.

Imagine him then, pale ovo, thin asperagus,

dressing his body in expensive suits, his hair

in a pouffe. Afternoons sipping port,

his whore-lover having slept off

the night’s work. What kind of man, what kind

of life, pleaded his mother. Two years

of lacrimosa, invocations to the Madonna.

Two heavy years. Hands move swiftly

over his face to check an expression.

He says, “I had to think future.”  

Good People, poems by Gwendolyn Guth
$4

published in an edition of 200 copies, and launched as part of the above/ground press 17th anniversary reading/party, September 3, at the Carleton Tavern;

To order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; outside Canada, $2 US) to rob mclennan, c/o 858 Somerset Street West, main floor, Ottawa Ontario Canada K1R 6R7.

Gwendolyn Guth, mother of three active boys, notes that super mom and super model have far less in common than their assonance would suggest. She has the enviable privilege of talking about literature for a living, at Heritage College in Gatineau. She is a long-time supporter of and participant in Ottawa literary ventures, including Bywords, above/ground, Ottawater, yawp, Friday Circle, Rideau Review, etc. Her chapbook, Good People, anticipates her first trade book, due any year now and fiercely successful in her dreams. She craves inner peace but settles for outer calm.