Susan Gillis : part one

Recent work by Susan Gillis includes Yellow Crane (Brick Books, 2018), Obelisk (Gaspereau, 2017) and The Rapids (Brick Books, 2012). She is a member of the collaborative poetry group Yoko’s Dogs and publishes a poetry blog, Concrete & River. Susan divides her time between Montreal and rural Ontario.

Photo credit: John Steffler

What are you working on?

Right now I’m in that strange yet familiar space of betweenness: waiting for a book that’s finished to come out (Yellow Crane, due Fall 2018 from Brick) and a thin folder of scratchings, false starts, chopped up nothing salad, and a few outtakes that may or may not lead somewhere. It’s uncomfortable space, and whatever I say about it -- “I want to write the distant haze!” or “I’m writing about childhood friendships” or “I’m trying to turn words into acrobats” – is a lie. So basically I’m working on being attentively receptive.