Issue 37 includes short fiction and poetry from Sachiko Murakami, Jessica Grant, Ryan Bird, and others, as well as an intriguing interview with Sheila Heti by Melanie Little in which we learn about Ticknor, “faux naive” (a term I suspect was coined by what I call the “faux sincere”)The highlights of Issue 38 are the...

toy catalogue flogger: lammy luscious each tongueliquorice all warmthshakes tail or twelvequirt ends slap clottedcream into muscle light flogger: mactavish bagpipe leather hailshectic bellow and wheezespit soak astringenttartan braided handleuneven falls cravegut shovelled lung powerholler diaphragm deep flogger: mortal spiney acrosticetch binarysplit goatskin baitedbitch ivoryskinny ballisticbit savourylacerate gleefulstitch blithely squid whip: therapy corset stitched doctorfat...

There’s still a lot of action over at Kate Greenstreet’s place. Gabe! I miss you!

Many books slid across my desk this week, though I’m sure only a small percentage of those due to be published this fall, specifically in Canada, and some I have been carrying around for a while. As usual, I will likely give those that don’t engage me a pass without noting, but I can tell...

The New York Times takes on China… I have to read Kiran Desai…what a breathe of fresh air.

I’ve been reading and thinking about Anne Sexton these days–this is part of an ongoing project I’m loath to discuss, but suffice to say, she is the vein of gold in this genre of poetry. And now of course, you can see and hear her thanks to youtube. And Plath! And Bishop! Well, take a...

This show is a must. Really, this is an impressive collection of conceptual art. Jennifer Stead’s A Long Story evokes a piece I saw recently by Louise Bourgeois at the Fabric Museum in Philadelphia involving a scroll of text that wrapped around the entire gallery. Stead’s is a scroll of landscape. Brilliant. In particular Martine...

Well, well. The Quebec Police admitted today that they sent undercover police officers into the recent demonstration of the Summit at Montebello, Quebec. This after Canadian citizens had to endure both George Bush and our own Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, mocking their desire to know what was on the table of that summit, and to...

How did I miss this?

Grace Paley, 84.Margaret Avison, 89.

Grace Paley dies at 84. Margaret Avison.

I first glimpsed Peter Butala in the small grocery in East End. It was as if a mountain had walked into the store. He was wholly unlike any other person I have met in my life–and I have met many fabulous, startling individuals. I had no idea who he was, but I knew that if...