i like soup and share recipes with friends. need a soup recipe? hmu!

rob remembered I had a new poem published recently! (note: rob was the one who published the poem)

WOO-HOO for @manahil.bsky.social!! 🥳

the last title of Nightwood Editions' Fall 2025 season! it's still very cool to have a small role in the release of novels and poetry collections after working for a magazine for years. I'm looking forward to the Spring 2026 books now... which feels far away and right around the corner!

I've got a new poem on DUSIE thanks to the tireless @robmclennan.bsky.social! in this poem, "Someone has bastardized the best lines, / and I have taken all the credit" as per usual. (the "someone" is me 🤫) please give it a read!

Today's the day! We are looking forward to hosting our three Lampman Award finalists this evening at Perfect Books on Elgin Street. Come on out to hear Emily Austin, Manahil Bandukwala, and AJ Dolman read from their recent books of poetry. Readings start at 7pm, so don't miss it!

TOMORROW! Join me at Perfect Books at 7pm to hear from Arc's three Lampman Award finalists. If you're looking for some great poetry in Ottawa on a Tuesday, this is the place to be!

Don’t miss an incredible panel at Word Vancouver this Saturday, Sept. 20! Join Isabella Wang (November, November), Joseph Dandurand (I Would Like to Thank You), Arleen Paré, and Junie Désil for a powerful conversation hosted by Renée Sarojini Saklikar. 🗓 Saturday, Sept. 20 🕧 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM

Yesterday I got the notification that my first ever Canada Council grant was rejected. I was hoping for at least something to help with my upcoming residency at the Al Purdy A-frame. Alternating between anger and sadness, my only solace is learning that others have felt this same feeling.

We are thrilled to announce the finalists for the 2025 Lampman Award, recognizing outstanding poetry from brilliant Ottawa-based poets: Emily Austin's “Gay Girl Prayers,” Manahil Bandukwala's “Heliotropia,” and AJ Dolman's “Crazy/Mad.” Stay tuned for details about the winner announcement this fall!

come on out to T's Pub in Ottawa tonight, if you're free, and please be kind to me as I read some poems for the first time in a long time!

the ottawa small press book fair, autumn 2025 edition: November 22, 2025 / @ottawasmallpress.bsky.social ; smallpressbookfair.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-...

i was just listening to “Not Strong Enough” and got a sudden urge to be in a car with a bunch of friends so i could ask everyone who their favourite boygenius is. for a laugh i think i’d say Jimmy Neutron.

oh yeah i’m gonna try to dig up my best bisexual poems for this reading next week! come out and tell me how to make my poems gayer!

going through my poetry manuscript and identifying common themes. here’s what i have so far: - raccoons - body (i.e. boogers, butts) - the world sucks - poems about poems - love

The heat of summer is here, and Arc 107 is full of hot new poems, including winner of our 2025 Poem of the Year contest! Poems in this issue will haunt you, unsettle your ideas of home and family, and ask questions about memory, history and our place in the cosmos. Order one today: buff.ly/PxduI1T

Queer Indie Authors at T's Pub in Ottawa Featuring fab host Eden Moore & @ajdolman.bsky.social @battleaxepress.bsky.social @ceeeejohnson.bsky.social Stevie Mikayne @jamestheballadeer.bsky.social T's Pub or tspub.ca Thurs., Aug. 21. Doors "open", 5:30. 6:00pm start. Free event. 1/2

very cool call for submissions from Coach House here!

writer friends who are good at marketing, is it wise to rebrand myself to "The Decentest White Male Poet in Canada"?

Very much looking forward to the return of dear friend Matthew Jones - writer who is hosting another melange of food and writing at his favourite eatery, Bamm's Snack Shack on Saturday, August 9 at 6pm.

A fair warning from Dessa Bayrock before reading Rob Taylor's poem “Harrison River Valley, November”: "It is scientifically proven to make anyone who hails from British Columbia homesick, especially if they are as far from home as the salmon are." Check out Rob's visceral poem here: buff.ly/z84Gv1q

Call for Submissions to Arc Poetry's Diana Brebner Prize / @arcpoetry.bsky.social ; smallpressalmanac.blogspot.com/2025/07/call...

Today we are promoting the Summer Lovin' Contests run by our friends at canadianpoets.bsky.social. Among these opportunities is the Lesley Strutt Poetry Contest, named after a late member of our Ottawa poetry community who is still missed by many at Arc. More details are here: buff.ly/oc1mXqV

the state of literary magazines in Canada is precarious, and this report from @litmagscan.bsky.social shows it. many publishers will expect and looks for an author's track record of published work, but the lit mags where writers can publish are being run by volunteers or an extremely small staff.

attn: Ottawa poets! this prize is open for submissions from writers who have not yet published a full-length book of poetry, and it's literally the cheapest way to get a 1-year subscription to Arc Poetry Magazine. so, give it a try, right?!

It's time to reveal the Honourable Mention in our 2025 Poem of the Year Contest. Cassandra Eliodor is taking home the $500 prize for her poem "Hermeneutics," which you can revisit on our website today along with an Editor's Choice blurb by nina jane drystek: buff.ly/pQwJxme

new literary small press idea that I'll never follow through with: Chris Press. we only publish Chrises. (Christines and Christians also welcome. absolutely no Krises.)

Take a moment to revisit Andrea Scott's "Saucer Magnolia" from our 2025 Poem of the Year Contest shortlist. "Life’s most intense passages hint at depth of meaning that invites but usually thwarts articulation" writes Arc's past president Kevin Matthews about this heartbreaking poem. buff.ly/iqU2ltZ

Take a moment to revisit Catherine St. Denis' glosa “The Essential Involvement of the Harpist” from our Poem of the Year Contest shortlist, which Arc's Associate Poetry Editor Lise Rochefort describes as a flawless mix of "subtle rhyme with artful philosophy." Read more here: buff.ly/8hjq3pN

it’s really neat to have a tiny roll in the publication of these beautiful small press books! they are all incredible in my bias opinion, so please pick up one or two or all five of these!

Over the next few weeks, we will be reposting the poems from our 2025 Poem of the Year Contest shortlist. To start, we're pleased to announce this year's Honourable Mention, Saemah Mushtaq's "eh·luh·jee for the ded," a poem that is "haunting, direct, with a sonic, rhythmic pulse": buff.ly/FeLqJdG

HEY SFF WRITERS 👋✨ We want your books. So we can acquire them. And print them. For our ✨🪶 SOON TO BE LAUNCHED PRESS 🪶✨ Submissions are open until August 30. 12.5k-40k words. Guidelines are live on our site, found down-thread. Pass it on 👀

Don’t forget to join us for a free book launch event with Bosnian-Canadian author Sanita Fejzić. The launch will take place at Perfect Books (258A Elgin St, Ottawa, ON) on Wednesday, July 9 at 7pm. See you there! www.perfectbooks.ca/events

look at this! i also recently wrote a review of PS Guelph’s two 2024 poetry titles, which you can read about now at @periodicities.bsky.social! thanks to @robmclennan.bsky.social for setting this up!

Mains. #KFB10 #PPTTM www.patreon.com/posts/mains-...

I wrote a review of @josephkidney.bsky.social's Devotional Forensics for @cv2magazine.bsky.social and had a darn good time doing it. read the review here: contemporaryverse2.ca/reviews/devo...

The argument that Mark Carney is engaged in a complex 4D chess game with Trump and so we need to relax and trust the plan would have more credibility had he not wrapped himself in the flag and filmed “Elbows Up” ads with Mike Myers Making concessions to Trump is what Carney said Poilievre would do

pls visit me a the small press fair tmrw... and if you come at 1:15 you may catch some pop-up sound poetry

The guy who muttered fuckface as I walked by who said to the security guard fuck you go back to your fucking country is lying on a stretcher outside Pizza Pizza I need to call my dad I need to order him something from Amazon - from Puzzle Box by Bardia Sinaee

entering my cantankerous old literary magazine editor era

Congratulations, @josephkidney.bsky.social! We're so thrilled to see our 2024 Poem of the Year Contest winner get recognition in the 48th National Magazine Awards!

woo-hoo! so pleased to see @josephkidney.bsky.social take home the Gold award for Poetry with his poem from @arcpoetry.bsky.social!

come work with me at Arc! all you have to do is read poems and pick what Arc publishes and maybe host some events and help with some grant applications and basically get lots of emails from me asking for things. I promise it's fun!

which feels worse: working at a press and having to reject your friend’s manuscript, or getting your manuscript rejected by a press where a friend works?

Observed in the wilds of our literary landscape! An LMCC badge on the @arcpoetry.bsky.social website! Find more LMCC members in our directory: litmags.ca/directory/

when i was a kid, i would lay in my twin sized bed wondering where my brother was

"Fear of being shut in, a continent of shut-ins, shut up." In The King of Terrors, Jim Johnstone confronts his mortality with honesty and tenderness. Reviewer Carl Watts calls it scientifically informed poetry we expect from the author, but sharpened by the urgency of illness. buff.ly/OmmZGsi

Don't forget to read our Poem of the Year shortlist and vote on your favourite to be the Readers' Choice Award winner by May 15! arcpoetry.ca/editorials/2...

PLEASE SHARE! I am raising funds for a dear friend and member of the literary as well as arts communities. $5 and $10 goes a long way! Reshares even further! We are just $800 from our goal and my hope is bluesky can take us the rest of the way. 💛💛💛 chuffed.org/project/1299...