The Poetry Circle: An Anthology of New Poetry

Publication > Toronto >  Artist in the Library Residency > 2016

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The Poetry Circle: An Anthology of New Writing gathers fifteen emerging writers, Emma Brijlall Nakahara, Andrea Hemwatie Brijlall, Clessie Marie, Sarah Gustave, Emma Gustave, Beatriz Funes, Danny Jacoby, Elizabeth Kelly, Eryn Hiscock, Ilana Rosenfeld, Michael Moon, Patricia Tomlison, Paul Eng, Per Westerlund, and Levi Lacson, who over the course of my Artist in Library residency explored writing and reading poetry as a collective.

 

From the Preface:

 

The image of the poet is conventionally portrayed as a solitary creature, creating lines of verse by candlelight. My artist residency at the Don Mills Library aimed to challenge this myth and to create an experience of poetry that was lively, social, fun, and communal. Over the course of four months, people nearby and from across the city came together to engage with the complexity of the poem, to gain patience through the unfolding of a metaphor, to exercise the creative muscles of the mind, and to laugh as a way of learning.

            This anthology is a collection of poems by an intergenerational community of new writers formed during this period of poetic immersion. The fifteen poets presented here unfold as a spectrum of diverse voice, each offering new ways of seeing, feeling, and thinking about the world. Some of the poems share similar themes (like the city), others are intimate moments of internal thoughts. As an anthology, the poems speak in unity as the voice of a dynamic poetry community, inviting the reader to join the conversation.

 

The Poetry Circle: An Anthology of New Poetry is available to read at the Don Mills Library.

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My residency and The Poetry Circle: An Anthology of New Poetry was made possible with the support of the City of Toronto through the Toronto Art Council.

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