Wax Poetic: Poetry From Canada

Visiting from London, Ontario, our guest is Blair Trewartha promoting his book, Easy Fix from Palimpsest Press, and talking about history, the 1911 Timmins fire, and other sources for his poetry, as well as his writing and publishing process.

Johnny Trinh joins us to share his poetry, and talks about family, and the legacy of racism and Asian erasure in Canada, as well as plays and playwriting.

Larry Nicholson (Cree) joins RC and Pam to share his poetry and chat about songs, writing and process, Spirit of the Children Society canoe trips, culture, healing, creativity, dreams, being men, and much more. Check out the "audience" participation piece near the end!

2017 Vancouver Poetry Slam team member Julia Pileggi joins RC and Pam to read from and talk about her new chapbook, Yours Is This; her website with Sasha Singer-Wilson, www.thesefiveminutes.com; first time touring; writing about family and in Italian; and the Carnival of Words fundraiser.

We move back to our Columbia Street location and we thought it would be fun to highlight some East Van poets: Al Mader, Lucia Misch with Chelsea Johnson, Hilary Peach, Zaccheus Jackson Nyce, and Tanya Evanson.

All three co-hosts, Kevin Spenst, RC Weslowski, and Pam Bentley, get together for the first time for a Tickle Trunk show with poems Kevin has chosen by Elena Johnson, Catherine Owen, Rob Taylor, Raoul Fernandes, Jonina Kirton; and one by Tony Brown + one by Don McIver chosen by RC, and one by Robert Mirabal chosen by Pam.

Christopher Levenson joins Pam and Kevin to read from and talk about his latest book "A Tattered Coat Upon a Stick."

Thursday's Writing Collective Poet, Gilles Cyrenne, is our guest, talking about his brand new chapbook, Emerge, and farm life growing up in Saskatchewan.

Our guest today is Tawahum Northern Star Justin Bige, Dene and Cree, activist, poet, Kwantlen student, winner of the Vancouver Story Slam's Bursary, Stand with Kwantlen organizer, with hosts Pam and RC.

Poet Kagan Goh joins, RC to talk about Kagan's new multi media show "Surviving Samsara."

RC opens up the CD Spoken Word Vault and plays some tracks from Charlie Petch aka Mel Malarkey as well as song poems by Sheri-D Wilson and Soul Coughing.

Heidi Greco joins RC to chat about Heidi's new book Flightpaths: The Lost Journals of Amelia Earhart (Caitlin Press). Was Amelia a spy? Why did the plane crash? So many questions and so many poems.

Jude Neale joins RC to talk about Jude's new book, Splendid in Its Silence, and doing a book launch in London, England, and her CD with musician Thomas Beckman, Places Beyond. As well, Jude sings a little opera.

Griffin Tedeschini, poet and spoken word artist, is today's guest with Kevin and Pam as hosts. They talk about many things including sex and love poetry, snorkeling in Hawaii, kayaking in Belcarra, School of Thought, love languages, childhood, etc.

Kevin and Pam take the reins and chat with Geoffrey Nilson about many things poetic including poems from his chapbook We Have to Watch.

Canadian Individual Poetry Slam three-time finalist, Erin Dingle, joins us to share poems about the periodic table, nerdiness, baths, mindfulness, changing lightbulbs,and women in CIPS, following the Verses Festival of Words 2017.

On tour in BC, Rabbit Richards drops by in between stints performing at Hullabaloo and the Verses Festival of Words.

Visiting from Montreal, Kaie Kellough drops by to chat with RC about sound poetry, race, and growing up in Calgary.

Kevin and Pam chat with Shazia Hafiz Ramji about poems and subjects from her book Prosopopoeia that later won the Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry.

Pam picks a bunch of audio tracks to preview some of the artists performing at the 2017 Verses Festival of Words: Sheri-D Wilson, Mighty Mike McGee, Saul Williams, Khari Wendell McClelland, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha.