Welcome to the second installation of Fresh Voices, a project from and for the League’s associate members. The League’s associate members are talented poets who are writing and publishing poetry on their way to becoming established professional poets in the Canadian literary community. We are excited to be taking this opportunity to showcase the work of our associate members in this new series!

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You walk a fine line

Settling in the soft light of the living room,
your brow wrinkles, as you discuss Pluto and Goethe.
Other times, you ask me — “How do you spell your last name?”
I am totally speechless and confused.
I sit still,
the room is cold and silent.
The silence bites.
Mother dear, what has come over you?
Your musical laughter and your warm hugs—
All gone.
What has come over you?
I thought you’d be different,
Now YOU are different.
You sit alone in your narrowed dark world,
wrapped in yourself.
You hear voices calling.
You say it is Winter, when it is Spring.
Winter’s long gone and buds are sprouting—
Yet for you—Spring is a mere hallucination.

— Kamal Parmar

Kamal Parmar has been writing since the last 15 years or so. She has numerous publications of her poems and creative non-fiction in many anthologies and journals in Canada and U.S. Currently she has published a poetry book titled ‘Fleeting Shadows’ which is a journey of self-dsicovery as hse reflects about her childhood years spent in India . Her poetry is simple, yet poised and evocative enough to make the reader ponder awhile.

for e. e. cummings

 

what we all long

for is so here as

if for no thingness

is the drift of so

ft ness gone again

today here my dear

is ness you me now

yes there is no space

and yes there is space

so (ft we feel it)

— Marilyn Boyle-Taylor

Marilyn Boyle lives in the Caledon Hills. Her work appeared in the poetry anthology, Celebrating Canadian Women (Fitzhenry and Whiteside), as well as in Poet’s Market. With a chapbook, lyingstill, and membership in SOCAN, she performed readings and interdisciplinary works at many venues, such as Music Gallery, Western Front, Literary Storefront, and The Rivoli, including a one woman show at the ARC gallery. Her work explores breath, design, and fragment.

write one for me

say the grass is lush
.             green   rain-damp
.                        where crickets dwell
.                        highhighhigh pitched
.                        notes bent    shrill
.                              krrrikrrrikrrrik

risk new words
.                         the scent of petrichor

say dry leaves flutter
.                        crackle  wind-blown
.                        shufflerushswish
.                       psithpsithpsithpsish
.                        crumple
.      on stony ground
.                     brown
confront cliché
.              say a soft grey tone
.                        thrills the air
.                               caught breath
.                        skipped heartbeat
.                                     swoops
.                                           below
.                                                 flows
.                                                 in plaintive
.                                                 velvet ripples
.                       rushing over
.                       wrapping chords

risk          silence
.                                 leap

transgress
.                      rasp
.                      clash
.                            whine
.                      cry
.                            sigh

bend notes for me
.        that would be    something
.                                  but
.                                      not
.                                         enough

— Nan Williamson

Nan Williamson works as an artist and writer in Peterborough, Ontario. She was mentored by Karen Connelly during her time at the Humber School for Writing, and has been published in several journals. She is the author of the chapbook Leave the Door Open for the Moon.

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Curated by Lesley Strutt and Susan McMaster, these poems represent just a small portion of the great work being produced by our members, and we are excited to have this opportunity to share their poetry with you. If you are interested in contributing to Fresh Voices, please send 3-5 poems to [email protected]. You may submit only once per month, but you may submit every month until your poetry is selected. This opportunity is open only to associate members of the League–if you are interested in joining the League, please visit our membership page!