Selected essays, anthology publications & chapbooks

arc poetry magazine: Counting to Infinity: the Summer 2023 Issue

I contributed the essay “Don’t be a coward about love: the poetics of grief.”

“In the words of our outgoing Poetry Editor Sarah Tsiang, “this is an issue that will break you open.” From sad love songs to the world to insights on how poetry carries us through grief and loss, these poems travel to different places to settle next to each other on the page.”

softbody

This Model Press chapbook contains poetic DNA of what would become No Town Called We.

gear down Elbow Drive –

enjoy the trees,
enjoy the silence

hot migraine-sheared the siderunner clean off

(come crashing in,
into my little world)

hey, there it is.

Model Press is edited by ryan fitzpatrick.

Maisonneuve Magazine

I contributed the article “Object Lessons.”

After our loved ones die, we’re left to deal with their belongings. As Nikki Reimer explains, sorting through grief is no small task.

My grandmother, Baba, was only supposed to be stopping in when she visited my parents in Calgary on her way home to Kelowna. But she had a fall while she was there, which led to a doctor’s visit, a series of tests and eventually a diagnosis of ALS. Because she couldn’t travel anymore, she never made it back to her home of eighteen years. That left it up to my mom and my uncle to fly out west to clear out her belongings.

Locations of Grief: An Emotional Geography

I contributed the essay “Evil in my pocket.”

Exploring the landscapes of death and grief, this collection takes the reader through a series of essays, drawn together from twenty-four Canadian writers that reach across different ages, ethnicities and gender identities as they share their thoughts, struggles and journeys relating to death. Be it the meditation on the loss of a beloved dog who once solaced a departed parent, the tragic suicide of a stranger or the deep pain of losing a brother, Locations of Grief is defined by its range of essays exploring all the facets of mourning, and how the places in our lives can be irreversibly changed by the lingering presence of death.

Edited by Catherine Owen.

Contributors: Katherine Bitney, Alice Burdick, Jenna Butler, Marilyn Dumont, Ben Gallagher, Jane Eaton Hamilton, Catherine Graham, Catherine Greenwood, Richard Harrison, David Haskins, Steven Heighton, Theresa Kishkan, Christine Lowther, Canisia Lubrin, Alice Major, Catherine Owen, James Picard, Nikki Reimer, Waubgeshig Rice, Lisa Richter, Lynn Tait, Sharon Thesen, Onjana Yawnghwe and Daniel Zomparelli.

Against Death: 35 Essays On Living

I contribute the essay “Gently fondling the nylon-tipped sticks of death.”

Against Death: 35 Essays On Living articulates the personal experiences of each author’s “near-deathness,” utilizing fresh and inventive language to represent what “magical thinking” proposes. These pieces are incisive and articulate, avoiding the usual platitudes, feel-good bromides, and pep talks associated with near-death encounters. The writing moves past the sob story and confronts the tough circumstance of facing death with truth and compassion, no matter how ugly or (in)convenient.

Edited by Elee Kraljii Gardiner.

Contributors: Adrian M. Zytkoskee * Aislinn Hunter * Amanda Earl * Angela Rawlings * Becky Blake * Ben Gallagher * Bruce Meyer * C. M. Faulkner * Elee Kraljii Gardiner * Emma Smith-Stevens * Fiona Tinwei Lam * Harry Langen * Jane Mellor * Jennie Duguay * Jennifer Van Evra * Jessica Michalofsky * Jill Yonit Goldberg * Joe Average * John Asfour * Kateri Lanthier * Kerri Power * Kiera Miller * Laurie Lewis * Lisa Neighbour * Maureen Medved * Moira MacDougall * Nikki Reimer * Rabi Qureshi * Rachel Rose * Rebecca Fredrickson * Sarah Lyn Eaton * Susan Briscoe * Susan Cormier * Tanis MacDonald * Vera Constantineau.

GUSH: Menstrual Manifestos for our Times

I contributed the poem-essay “Hysteria.”

In GUSH, more than 100 women and nonbinary writers from Canada and around the world take apart the bloody instruction of menstruation: its cultures, its lessons, its equipment, and its lexicon. Co-edited by Rosanna Deerchild, Ariel Gordon, and Tanis MacDonald, GUSH offers menstrual manifestos for our time that question the cultural value and social language of monthly blood loss, with rage, humour, ferocity, and grief, and propose that the ‘menstrual moment’ is as individualized, subjective, personal, political, and vital as the ‘feminist click’. With work from emerging and established writers in poetry, cartoons, flash fiction, personal essays, lyric confessions, and experimental forms, this anthology features the voices of Indigenous writers, writers of colour, writers with disabilities, rural writers and urban writers, representing four generations of menstruators: writers who call down their bloodiest muses.

Edited by Rosanna Deerchild, Ariel Gordon and Tanis MacDonald

MODERN LOSS: Candid Conversation About Grief. Beginners Welcome

I contributed the essay “Deathday Birthday.”

Let’s face it: most of us can’t handle talking about death. We’re awkward and uncertain; we blurt out platitudes or say nothing at all; we send sympathy bouquets whittled out of fruit. Enter Rebecca Soffer and Gabrielle Birkner, who can help us do better.

MODERN LOSS grew out of Rebecca and Gabi’s experiences with sudden loss as young adults — when Rebecca’s mother was killed in a car accident and her dad died of a heart attack. Gabi’s father and step-mother were brutally murdered in a home invasion. Both women bonded over their pain and search for resources that spoke to them — ones that were not too clinical, patronizing or, well, cheesy. They didn’t want to be assured their loved ones were “in a better place” and had no interest in chicken soup metaphors in book form, thank you very much. 

In this wise and often funny book, Soffer and Birkner, along with more than forty contributors, share their provocative stories on themes including sex and intimacy after loss, technology, and the secrets we harbor and uncover. Accompanied by beautiful hand-drawn illustrations and witty “how to” cartoons by artist Peter Arkle, each contribution provides a unique perspective on loss as well as a remarkable life-affirming message: You’re not broken, life will go on, and it can actually be pretty rewarding. There’s also a glossary of terms that therapists probably don’t use but most of us should. (Looking at you, “sadbooking.”)

Edited by Rebecca Soffer and Gabrielle Birkner.