Editor’s Notes

Greetings dear readers,

In this month's issue Dan Sharp provides a poem in memory of Michael Dennis, a great poet and long-time Ottawa resident who died in 2020 and is greatly missed. Kimberly Peterson gives us hope; R.B. Fairchild pleads for one Spring day and Cara Goodwin writes about the Gatineau Trails and regret. I hope you enjoy the issue.

April is National Poetry Month. The month is a reminder to celebrate poetry in all its forms. You can join the celebration by buying the books and chapbooks of local poets, and subscribing to poetry magazines, such as Arc and Canthius. You can attend upcoming readings online via the Tree and Riverbed reading series, and online book launches, such as Seymour Mayne's "Perfume: Poems and Word Sonnets." All these events and more are listed on the Bywords.ca calendar.

Current and former Ottawa residents, students and workers can celebrate National Poetry Month by sending poems to Bywords.ca. Please read the guidelines on the site and send your unpublished poetry, cover letter and mailing address to submissions@bywords.ca by the fifteenth of the month for consideration for the next three month's issues. Poems published on the site between September, 2020 and August, 2021 will also be considered for the 2021 John Newlove Poetry Award. This year's award is being judged by Vancouver poet Elee Kraljii Gardiner. Recipients of the award have the opportunity to read at the autumn edition of the Ottawa International Writers Festival. They will also have a chapbook edited and published by Bywords.ca, and receive an honorarium. All those who win and are shortlisted for the award also receive a copy of "A Long Continual Argument" Selected Poems of John Newlove," published by Chaudiere Books and available from Invisible Publishing. So it's a big deal. Submit your work today!

Thanks to our selection committee this month:

Jesse Aubin
Ellen Chang-Richardson
Dan Boland
Margo Lapierre
Stephanie Mason
Jade Riordan
Helen Robertson
Marjorie Silverman
Carol A. Stephen
JC Sulzenko

If you have comments, questions, suggestions, or a bouquet of purple tulips to offer, please contact me at amanda@bywords.ca.

Amanda Earl

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