On Sunday Lake Erie was almost impossibly still, with some ice on the horizon. I had to keep checking the spot where the water shrugged against the beach to make sure the entire lake wasn’t frozen solid. We parked at a shoreside fish & chips shop in Lowbanks, closed for the season, and I made a note to return in the summer. Birds chattered above us and in the distance, and a greying dog named Trixie barked
I am proud to be participating in The Kissing Booth at Sundog Lit, two weeks of stories, poems, and essays inspired by my friend Leesa Cross-Smith’s forthcoming book, Every Kiss a War. My piece went up yesterday, and I’m thrilled about having my work amongst such great stories and poems and words. I’ve already discovered some fantastic writers, and it’s not even over! Everyone should go have a look – and consider pre-ordering Leesa’s book!
Short piece up at Sundog Lit Read More »
A few days ago, I had to go to Toronto for a Finnish class. It was the first time I’d been to Toronto since I moved away in mid-January, and I was expecting it to feel disorienting. I felt a slight surge of alarm as I got to my old subway station and didn’t disembark, but aside from that, there was nothing major. Afterwards, I was happy to cocoon in my parka on the bus
Rules of transformation Read More »
The summer after Grade 10, my family and I went to visit my great-uncle and great-aunt in northern California. We ended up all getting colds, and spent a few days recuperating in their home. For some reason, I only brought one tape with me – Elastica’s first album. I listened to it over and over until I grew to hate it. After that, I listened to talk radio at night. It was so quiet
Another year, another IFOA. (You can read last year’s highlights here.) This year was similar to last year in a lot of ways. I went with Teri to some things, we had sushi to eat, it was even raining like last year. Here are the highlights: – Saw Margaret Drabble being interviewed by Eleanor Wachtel. As with last year’s Paul Auster interview, I went to this one alone and was beside myself with excitement the whole
Among the very large collection of phonograph records which the Library maintained were perhaps a hundred which Mr Kelso called his Horrible Examples. These were pieces of music which he despised, sung or played by people whose manner of interpretation he despised … It had taken Pearl a long time to recognize and admit to herself that just as there were times when she had to buy and eat a dozen doughnuts in one great
The light goes so fast. It’s dark again before I realize it’s happening. A darkening room, a quieting world, the rushing of distant cars the only reliable sound. A bird now and then, to make me feel like it’s spring. I’ve been writing again. Not much, but it’s there, and this time I feel like it’s not going to slip away. I can’t believe it’s been nearly a year since my Humber mentorship ended. A
– The lake in the distance, shining too brightly in the sun. – An old white serving/casserole dish of my parents’ that I remember admiring even in childhood. – Three red apples inside said serving dish. – My dog, laying sideways in a patch of sunlight. – A Christmas photo of me at age two sitting on my dad’s lap, who is dressed as Santa. I am crying my little eyes out. – The only
Some small sound will wake me – my dog taking a stroll around the apartment, the curtains snapping in the breeze. I used to get frustrated, but now I find a strange ease in it. It’s my time to research things I’ve been thinking about, work out story ideas, make minor plans. At 2am, the world is so strange. It feels sometimes that it’s noisier than the middle of the day: summer drunks, beeping trucks,
Through the night. Read More »
To me, the most beautiful sound of all the sounds is the Finnish language. It sounds like a steady rain on a pile of firewood. It sounds like birch trees and the bluest lakes and wood fires in the snow and I want to be part of it so desperately. I want to create those beautiful sounds but when I open my mouth a dying hyena comes out instead and I swear it will never
