Shannon Mastromonico : part one

Shannon Mastromonico was born and raised in Montreal. She has been writing poetry/creating art for over twenty years and is an alumni of the Dawson college photography program. Her work has been published in the journals Montréal Writes, Persephone's Daughters, Snapdragon Journal and Harness Magazine as well as in her  recently self published chapbook. She lives with her husband and kitty, Calliope in the Laurentian Mountains.

What are you working on?

I'm working on my first full length poetry book, which is actually a poetic graphic novel.

Lennart Lundh : part four

How does a poem begin?

My senses, all or singly, elicit a response from the word-wrangling part of my brain, which sets about herding letters into some semblance of order. I never know when, and I've learned not to force it. There's no quota I'm trying to meet.

Valerie Wallace : part five

What other poetry books have you been reading lately?

I’ve been listening to poetry podcasts lately. I'm a big fan of PoemTalk from Penn Sound. My go-to right now is The Poetry Exchange, which approaches the conversation as thinking about particular poems as friends. I think that’s perfect.

Kara Petrovic : coda

Anything can be poetry. But not everything is a poem.

Jessica Mehta : part two

How does your work first enter the world? 

Do you have a social group or writers group that you work ideas and poems with? I’ve never been part of a writers group. I simply wrote, mostly poetry, for years. When I was in my 30s, I took a chance and sent an unsolicited manuscript to a publisher. It was accepted the same month.

Bobbi Lurie : part five

What other poetry books have you been reading lately?

I’ve been reading Ideograms In China by Henri Michaux, The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa, Poet by Clark Coolidge, sleep preceded by saying poetry by Jacques Roubaud, Extracting The Stone Of Madness by Alejandra Pizarnik, and Crow With No Mouth by Stephen Berg.

Ariel Dawn : part five

Why is poetry important?

I see poetry as an offering to Spirit, a response to life, an eternal conversation that divines the pattern and essence in what may seem to be overwhelming chaos.