The Wished-for Everything

PICTURE FROM THE GLENS OF ANTRIM, from our recent trip.

As was mentioned on ubiquiRon’s blog, writers mostly have other jobs. I’m preparing to return to my job as a Grade 5/6 music teacher. I spent the day organizing instruments and trying to choose music for the choir and the band. I also was scrambling to work on a few writing projects before IT IS TOO LATE and I have less time. This caused me to reflect on the various things that I have coming up, writingwise. Perhaps I will return to this list when I worry that I’m not getting much writing done during busy times in the term. It will remind of the publications that I have to look forward to and to the projects that are well underway. Nah. I’ll still feel that I’m not getting enough writing done. It’s always that way.


a story “Letter from Grandma’s” in Animal Tales: Favourite Stories from Chirp Magazine – this just out.

a chapter in The Closets of Time, an anthology/novel comprised of chapters written by 12 different authors, published by The Mercury Press, edited by Bev Daurio and Richard Truhlar.

The Wished-for Reaches: On the Death of a Poodle, an essay for Geist magazine.
some visual and text pieces for Rampike

"James Tenney and the Theory of Everything," an article for Musicworks magazine discussing how James Tenney’s essay, “John Cage and the Theory of Harmony,” can be seen to continue the tradition of considering music as a metaphoric representation of current ideas about the nature of the universe. Tenney’s multi-dimensional harmonic sound-space challenges us to imagine the multi-dimensional universe of modern science.

Brainbox, a poetry book forthcoming from Coach House, coming out sometime after my grandkids’ get out on parole

a poem for Taddle Creek

three poems for Hamilton’s H magazine

three prose pieces for rob maclennan’s Chaudiere Books’ anthology of short prose

a six word poem to be published I forget where.

a 31 word poem for Crane’s Bill books collection of 31 word poems

a chapbook, and several periodical publication of poems written with Greg Betts from our The Obvious Flap (see below) project, and two unrelated poems to appear in Jason Christie's Room to Move magazine

things I’ve been working on:

The Obvious Flap, a collaborative poetry ms that I’ve been working on with Greg Betts

The Unibrow Underground, a YA novel (which was accepted and then I withdrew it from the publisher since they seemed much too flakey and undependable.)

some poems exploring ‘translation’ with derek beaulieu

performing / composing with Bump Head, a performing poetry/music ensemble with poet Kerry Schooley (Slim Volumes) on vocals and my son, Ryan Barwin, guitar. I play flute, saxophone, computer, and washboard. (I was going to play the washing machine, but I couldn’t manage to carry it upstairs.)