Poetry
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DVD Fundraising Update: A Week 4 Enticement!
On January 22nd, I launched a fundraising campaign to support the production of a DVD of my solo show, Piecework: When We Were French. Yesterday marked the beginning of the campaign’s fourth week, and I’m excited to report that, with 22 days down, we’ve been able to raise 60% of our overall goal. This is…
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Kerouac: Franco-America’s Favorite Son
Once I learned that Jack Kerouac was Franco-American, I wondered how I had never figured it out on my own: his boxy, square head and dark eyes; his clean part; his humor and his melancholy, intertwined; the alcoholism that killed him; his visionary uprootedness. Suddenly, knowing his origins in a Massachusetts mill town, Ti-Jean Kerouac,…
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“Other Brief Discourses” Out Now!
It’s a big day here at Abby Paige HQ. First, the Piecework: When We Were French DVD fundraising campaign rolls on, and just a couple of days into our second week, I am very happy to report that we have reached 50% of our overall goal. This is immensely encouraging! With 39 days remaining, we…
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Ottawater – Issue 9
Normally I would not urge to you download a PDF. Usually, when I download a PDF, it’s because I’m dealing with some kind of bureaucratic bullshit. Most likely there’s a form that needs to be filled out. I will probably end up cursing Jason Kenney under my breath and uttering the phrase, “How does anyone…
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David Budbill’s “Park Songs”
David Budbill’s Judevine had a singular effect on me. Budbill is a Vermont writer, and growing up in Vermont, a writer seemed like a foreign species. When I attended a performance of the play Judevine (adapted from a book of poems by the same name) at Burlington’s Flynn Theater in my teens, it was (or…
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Honourable Mention: John Newlove Poetry Prize
I was feeling some warm fuzzies for my new hometown of Ottawa last night at the Ottawa Writers Festival. This year’s John Newlove Poetry Prize winner was announced (not me), along with honourable mentions (including me). And, better than that, I got to sit back and listen to some poems, a too-rare pleasure for parents…
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New reviews at mRb
There’s been much discussion of late about the book review — its pitfalls, its merits, its relevance. Does it hurt to be too negative? Too positive? (Here’s a bit of a round-up.) I have enjoyed reading others’ thoughts on the topic, because this is also a discussion ongoing between my ears. My personal considerations are…
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Hoems
Clearly, it’s been some time since I’ve posted an update here. I do have a good excuse, and he’s napping in his crib in the next room. This has been something of a transformative year. Of all the changes parenthood has brought to my life, perhaps the most surprising is (wait for it) a Twitter…
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National Poetry Month
I don’t usually pay much attention to these officially declared months, even if I do love poetry. (And women’s history and black history and baked beans — you didn’t know? July is National Baked Bean Month. July! Despite the fact that baked beans are clearly a winter food. Clearly. I mean, duh.) But this post…
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Recent Adventures in Freelance Reading
I recently had the pleasure of reading a delicious crop of new poetry books for the Montreal Review of Books. You can read my reviews in their Spring issue on their flashy new website and blog!
ABBY PAIGE 