Poem of the Week ( View Archives )
December 8, 2019

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by Jordan Abel

Words often travel a long way to be on the page before you, assembled as they are. Let's contemplate again how the poems of Jordan Abel's 2017 Griffin Poetry Prize winning collection Injun came to be, and appreciate again the power accrued in their journey to the page.

Poem of the Week ( View Archives )
December 1, 2019

from CHAPTER E, for René Crevel

by Christian Bök

Let's marvel again at what Christian Bök achieves by applying rigorous restrictions to his work as he creates poetry.

Poem of the Week ( View Archives )
November 24, 2019

from Verso 1.1.01

by Dionne Brand

In the 2019 Griffin Poetry Prize shortlisted work The Blue Clerk, Dionne Brand examines in detail the act of writing through an extended and fascinating conversation between a poet (the author) and a clerk. As they share and dissect myriad observations, what do we as readers glean?

Poem of the Week ( View Archives )
November 17, 2019

The poets reflect on their craft

by Di Brandt

With surprising poetic sleight of hand, Di Brandt builds several layers of sardonic wit and irony using outmoded expressions and clichés in "The poets reflect on their craft", a poem from her 2004 Griffin Poetry Prize shortlisted collection Now You Care. Let's explore to what end she applies them.

Poem of the Week ( View Archives )
November 10, 2019

The Scarecrow Wears a Wire

by Paul Farley

"His work engages with the commonplace and the overlooked ..." is just part of why the 2007 Griffin Poetry Prize judges were drawn to Paul Farley's poetry collection Tramp in Flames. What they go on to observe about Farley's work is what made the poem "The Scarecrow Wears a Wire" singular then ... and perhaps even more so now, several years later.