An amazing short film of the opening night of Sitting Room Stories by David Tse...
From November 29, 2006 ~ Sitting Room Stories: an exhibition of handmade books by Lindsay Zier-Vogel
TYPE books Gallery, 883 Queen St. W, across from Trinity Bellwoods Park, Toronto
with readings and performances by: lindsay zier-vogel, tori allen,
jennifer dallas, johan hultqvist,
susan kendal and rhya tamasauska
And here are thearchives of the old front page...
(they needed a home and begged and pleaded...so here they are...*
December 24, 2006
A wonderful Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all*
December 21, 2006
A thrilling pre-Christmas treat:
the newest edition of dANDelion magazine (32.2)
including two of my wee poems: Belle Starr and Two Dances for Eliza
And there's also work by fantastic writers and artists including Canada's first Poet Laureate, George Bowering *
It's a beautiful publication, available at your local bookstore!
December 15, 2006
It might not seem like December outside these days, but it's been a bit of a Santa's workshop 'round here...
Hand bags, knit books and Scrabble ornaments galore... more gifty treats here
And in exciting Puddle Press news, the Japanese Paper Place has commissioned some of my paper collage calendars...
(please email me if you'd also like to purchase one...*)
December 12, 2006
More pics from the Sitting Room Stories launch here...*
~
How I love this season of dress-up and mulled wine, baked goods and wrapped up treats.
And after holiday goodness, I'll be dreaming up the west coast and London. Soon oh soon.
December 3, 2006
An amazing short film of the opening night of Sitting Room Stories by David Tse...
So exciting to have the wonder of that Wednesday evening documented!
December 1, 2006
Oh happy December to all. Tis one of my very favourite months...
photos taken by Ted Zier-Vogel
~
The pages are so thin,
it is impossible to turn one
without turning four,
and so we lick our index fingers,
and dissolve the corners transparent.
The ink bleeds through from one side to the other,
and we learn to read backwards
so that we know what is coming.
~
("Not that we're dissolving the corners of Puddle Press books, no indeed, we're all wearing gloves!")
November 30, 2006
Oh thank you to everyone who came last night to celebrate the opening of Sitting Room Stories.
It was such a wonderful evening...*
And a huge warm thank you to Tori, Suz, Jen, Johan and Rhya for their spectacular performances.
November 26, 2006
Sitting Room Stories is now open
Oooh, it's just thrilling. I can't believe my first solo show is up!
Suitcases and dressers, hankies and laundry racks, saucers and stunning old typewriters. Come look!
Thank you so much to Sean, Susan, Adam, Barb and Ken for your invaluable help this afternoon!
November 25, 2006
The final round of new books for "Sitting Room Stories"
May I present...
Calamity Jane, illustrated by Kim England ~ Clothesline, with wee clothes made by Susan Kendal ~ 590, a series of haikus (!!) inspired by my old home
A few more newbies here...
~
A lot of listening as I book-make...
a pinch of Craig Cardiff, a generous helping of Burning Spear, a cup or two of Regina Spektor and a dash of Cumbia...and of course CBC Radio One (and the tribute to The Last Waltz. Oooh, Kathleen Edwards singing The Band...does a Saturday afternoon get any better than that?)
This song smells like Ottawa,
where this song tastes like a third storey bedroom,
tongue split between missing
and loving
lips avoiding August smog.
November 24, 2006
Sitting Room Stories = tea party goodness
These days my home smells permanently of baking...scones and muffins and copious amounts of cookies:
ginger spice cookies, chocolate chip cookies, biscotti, gingerbreads, shortbreads, brownie cookies (and that's just in the cookie department)
Get your Puddle Press inspired bake-goodies next Wednesday at TYPE!
~
And there are so many exciting shows coming up:
Nov. 28-Dec. 3: Something Blue with Meagan O'Shea
Dec. 7-16: The Stronger Variations by Theatre Rusticle with the absolutely luminous Lucy Rupert
Dec. 8-10: the DUDE (Downtown Urban Design Event) with my favourite monsters
November 20, 2006
Getting so excited to open....
~
One quarter of the afternoon:
South from Front Street to the end of the city,
the Royal York to styrofoam cup stained railway tracks
and a sugar plant that smells like socks,
a 20 minute walk,
a 15 minute conversation,
and a lake
that is more goose and seagull
than water.
November 10, 2006
Some word-inspiration for the weekend...
gearing up for a Scrabble potluck ~ my interactive Scrabble Hallowe'en costume ~ my newest kitchen adventure: Scrabble cookies
*see you at the fair*
November 5, 2006
Some bookie treats for this grey Sunday morning (more here...)
(Oh, the photos just don't do them justice...come on by to TYPE, or the Small Press Book Fair or the OCAD Book Arts Fair to seem 'em for real...)
A book about the cowgirl Belle Starr, illustrated by the ever fantastic Rhya Tamasauskas and an Algonquin Park inspired creation with an embroidered lifejacket...
"forth and back: a conversation in poetry"...writer Alex Hollenberg and I wrote poems back and forth for a month...
Such an amazing process...now bound up with its own embroidered buttoned case
~
Some bits of inspiration that are keeping me ticking this November...
*amazing letter press wonders at port2port
*one FANtastic literary jounral at echolocation
* two extraordinary books: here and here
* some baking deliciousness. Pumpkin and ginger, does it get any better than that?
*DROOLING over the Vancouver paperly goodness at The Regional Assembly of Text
*Some of the most delicious food I've had in a long while....pomegranates and walnuts...mmm.
See you soon!
October 30, 2006
Books and books and more books. It's been a month of book making madness here at Puddle Press!
Get ready for two whole months of Puddle Press goodness. First at the Toronto Small Press Book Fair with cards galore
And then... at
TYPE books Gallery at the end of November. There will definitely be some gems unveiled there!
Cowgirls and lifejackets, hankies and birch bark, wishes and teacups.
I've also been working on some collaborative books with some of my favourite artists: a clothing book with textile artist Susan Kendal,
a cowgirl inspired creation with
illustrator extraordinaire, Rhya Tamasauskas and a dialogue in poems with Alex Hollenberg.
Oooh, it's going to be good. I'll post photos soon-oh-soon!
a wee poem and a huge thank you:
A pause,
like a skipping stone
across the surface of a Thursday evening,
one, two, three dots
that translates into four minutes of quiet,
or sixteen sidewalk squares
and one red light curb.
A HUGE and enormous thanks to the extraordinary (and extraordinarily patient!) Kyle Sim for his web mastery and computer genius. Thank you.
September 21, 2006
Oh, Hooray! I'm back. With my website on Isabella (my lovely Mac) and ftp programs to boot.
Much updating to come...there are books galore and so many events coming up!
But on this sunny, chilly Thursday, let's remember last Sunday...A Sustainable Living Festival up at Plan B's Organic Farm.
Clothes swapping, extraordinary music, a la Janine Stoll, Brian MacMillan and Mr. Something Something), ice cream cones, too many cookies, the sweetest-sourest grapes still warm with sun and the most delightful people.
Thank you to Johan and the Plan B folks for such a delightful, inspiring day!
~
A huge sky
hangs over mixed up kilometres,
conversations tangle over tangled concession roads
while eyes squint into the sun,
eyelids burn wth honeysuckle.
September 10, 2006
What a glorious day of brunching! Fig quiche and delectable conversation.
*keep your eyes peeled for a brunch-inspired puddle press book...on its way soon!*
A tangle of petal and stem,
the line where she ends and she starts
worn soft by sleeping strangers.
leaving behind a button instead of a bone.
September 3, 2006
She slips herself over his similes
and helps himself into his coat,
heart beating furiously
against the right side of his ribs.
August 12, 2006
Oh Algonquin Park.
I'm still reeling with words and skies and sunshine through lakes. My hair still
smells like swimming. After singing at the top of my lungs, the highway slipping past, I wandered back to Camp Tanamakoon to hear my seventeen year old self laughing on the docks and Dora's 40 year old self building a theatre. Amazing.
(Photos of a new Alongquin inspired book to come...keep your eyes peeled...*)
Three lakes later,
my right knee holds the imprint of a zipper, YKK,
my left, half of a buckle
and I wish I could sit
high above the cedar striped belly,
and trust that my paddle would still pull enough
water.
July 26, 2006
First, I would like to introduce you all to my two newest bits of joy...
my teacup necklace a la Amy Belanger...and Isabella Bella, my shining new computer
I've been bookmaking up a storm...many new Puddle Press treats for a fall show at the new and *amazing* bookstore on Queen W, TYPE...
Some sneak peeks...
* a pop-up-bird-inspired book * poem embroidered hankie * an accordian-style book about falling in love in Oshawa in 1941*
* teacup poems * wish poems (complete with you own lucky penny) *
More new creations here...
July 16, 2006
wish one:
dandelion soft
and wished with eyes shut tight,
and fingers crossed even tighter.
July 9, 2006
before and after...
and my newest writing space...
three cheers for sun and tea and grass between my toes
and, a wee bit of a poem from my new project written in my *new* yard...
The three windows lining the south wall
are muted with ivy green,
bruise-purple braids
interrupted by the beat of a sparrow's wing,
its song slipping through the leaded panes.
June 29, 2006
Sun streaks past glass and sill,
refusing to heed
the hardwood's parallel sentence.
June 21, 2006
The exact thickness of her heart wall
was the glass thickness of a Mason jar,
the rhythm of the red boil, the push pull rhythm of her heart,
andshe realized as she poured the sticky red sweet,
that her own heart
waited on a shelf of ribs,
sealed with wax for winter.
(and when the strawberry jam doesn't set...let it be strawberry sauce for banana splits and gingerbread pancakes...deelish)
June 8, 2006
Oh Edith and Eliza!
Some wonderful press in the eye magazine:
"Edith and Eliza, choreographed by Susan Kendal and Lindsay Zier-Vogel and danced solo by Kendal, was driven by subdued sounds interspersed with fractured samples of text by Zier-Vogel. In its delicious fusion of poetry with motion, Edith and Eliza used the wartime experiences of its titular characters to examine the triumph of womanly strength and sensuality over anxiety and restriction." ~ Lynda Spark from eye magazine
She sits because she is too heavy with wanting
with waiting and wanting
to stand any longer.
And she wonders, close to the floor,
how it is that waiting and wanting
are only one letter different
May 30, 2006
The set for Edith and Eliza. Isn't it beautiful?
(lights by Rebecca Picherak...she is amazing!)
And, if you come to the show, you get a keepsake one-of-a-kind hand made poem about Edith or Eliza
Oooh, I get thrills just thinking about it. Do come if you can*
May 26, 2006
Two new Puddle Press creations: Love, Eliza and love, a book of one-of-a-kind love letters...
These beauties will be launched at:
June 1, 2006 from 11am-5pm ~ Toronto Small Press Book Fair
Trinity-St Paul's Centre: 427 Bloor St W, Toronto.
May 21, 2006
June 1-3 2006 at 8:08 pm ~ Series 8:08 Season Finale
Winchester Street Theatre: 80 Winchester St.
Series 8:08 has commissioned Susan Kendal and I to choreograph Edith and Eliza...
Making wedding cakes out of mayonnaise, rolling bandages on Saturday afternoon,
dancing with soldiers till the wee hours of Sunday morning, knitting sock after bloody sock during lunch break at Eaton's,
tucking photos into the breast pockets of boys known and loved and boys barely known;
Edith and Eliza is the choreographic archive of two young women living in Canada through WWII.
Using fictional letters, historical documents, interviews with safe-side war brides
and poems by Lindsay Zier-Vogel, she and Susan Kendal
have created a solo exploring the definition of place and identity between two women in the 1940s.
The original score was composed by Kyle Sim and involves my poetry. It is nothing short of extraordinary.
The evening of work will also feature choreography by Ilona Dougherty and Meghan MacNeil
May 15, 2006
So not only are some of my very favourite artists performing at my show, Dear Edith, Love Eliza, tomorrow,
the raffle for tomorrow's party is going to rock yer socks off!
a puddle press hanging * handbound book * beaded wine glasses * a squeezable monster * puddles in my pocket poetry handbag
hand made plush kitty * amythest earrings * puddles in my pocket poetry t-shirt * poetry napkins * embroidered bird art
package of hand made cards * paper doll
See you at Bar Italia (582 College St.) tomorrow around 8.
* I can't wait *
May 10, 2006
Tuesday May 16, 2006: Puddle Press presents Dear Edith, Love Eliza
Bar Italia: 582 College St. (just west of Bathurst at Clinton) at 8pm
with choreography by: Lindsay Zier-Vogel & Susan Kendal and Jennifer Dallas
musicians: Janine Stoll and Harmony Trowbridge and Patrick Perkins
readings by: Lindsay Zier-Vogel and Rhya Tamasauskas
*Oh please come! It's going to be so much fun!*
May 4, 2006
May the fourth be with you.
April 26, 2006
love letter: return to sender
An email from Gustave Flaubert with the offer of some returned love and a call number.
And after skipping my way through the stacks, this extraordinary letter of love...
"the words that exist/without arms legs hands"
ps: pick up the newest copy of filling Station for my three poems, Letters to Amelia.
April 18, 2006
Love Letter Project II
(please excuse the flash-less flourescent library lighting)
The Library Love project is complete!
I created a big ol' stack of love letters -- one-of-a-kind hand-made art pieces with love poems tucked inside envelopes.
No tos or froms, just love, 100%.
An extension on the first round of Love Letter goodness...instead of casting love letters all over the city (newspaper boxes, parked cars' windshield wipers, fruit markets' cherry bins...), this round was for the library...Robarts at the University of Toronto.
I asked some of my very favourite folks to send me the titles of books they thought needed a love letter...
books they loved most of all, books they thought needed a smidge of love, books that inspired love, books they read while in love, books they wish they could love....and on this sunshining afternoon, I tucked a wee envelope of loving goodness inside each one.
From Irving Layton to Baudelaire, first editions, Nabokov in Russian, plays, poetry, fiction and everything in between...now full of love.
xo
April 8, 2006
ooooh, paper dolls galore
and they even come with their own notecard...
ps...they're even cuter close up*
to order...
March 31, 2006
You're invited to a tea party...
tulips and pecan banana chocolate chip muffins. Come on by.
And for your poetry reading pleasure, I have poems published in the Fieldstone Review and The Suitcase Generation
(ps...new creations here...)
March 29, 2006
The sky fills with round and song,
the blue of wish, the white of wish.
And through my mail slot...
...glorious paper treats from papier valise
vintage prescriptions, flash math cards, buttons, time cards, cigar bands, measuring tape ribbon
March 20, 2006
Oooh, it's spring!
And what a better way to kick it off than launching Misunderstandings Magazine
Amelia words and a heart beat that lines the pages spread
March 8 , 2006
A single step, a single secret tossed
Photo by Jeremy Brace
February 25, 2006
It is the sound of Sunday,
an alphabet split and spilled rearranged
so that ds meet ms
and js are closer to the surface
~
And some recent Puddle Press treats:
a knitted ipod case, some wee handmade cats (meow), a hand-felted computer case
February 19, 2006
East pauses more than it waits
West begins as wide as an open kiss
South stitched straight and south
North, a single syllable that drifts underneath him
~
February 22-25, 2006 at 8pm ~ Nine Tales of a Weathevane
Part of Blue Ceiling dance project's The Speed of our Vertigoes at Dancemakers Centre for Creation, The Distillery District, Cannery Building, Suite 313, Toronto
featuring the choreography of Susan Kendal, Malgorzata Nowacka, Brian McDonald and Lucy Rupert
Dancers for Nine Tales of a Weathervane: Jennifer Bolt, Jennifer Dallas, Lisa Farrington Eammons and Poetic Narrator, Lindsay Zier-Vogel
February 15, 2006
What a glorious Valentine's Day!
And the most delicious hug of a monster from one of my favourite monsters...
(to see more monsterly goodness, go here or here*)
and...stunning book-goodness a la Lynn Crosbie...
February 7, 2006
Oooooh, Valentine's Day is a-coming!
Three cheers for love!
(and one-of-a-kind Valentines!)
January 28, 2005
Buried under shingles' rain darkened grey
and under the wet pigeon's song,
in the south west corner of the room,
shoe boxes of rain-buckled photographs collect water
and liquor store cardboard turns mouth soft,
tongue soft,
leaking unlistened to songs
that would, if they could,
circle around the smell of damp,
circling round as wanting.
January 19, 2005
The bleached photograph:
white creases leave sharp lines, like scratches against glass,
surface smudged,
smeared with thumbprints, hers
and fingerprints, hers.
January 11, 2005
A wonderful happy new year to all*
It is shaping up to be a year of much performing and choreographing. Keep your eyes peeled.
Wing against white,
muted feather catching the lips of wind,
then leaning into its careful carry.
Dec. 24, 2005
A wonderful happy holidays to all
Dec. 19, 2005
The north wind does blow
and we will have snow.
Snow, white,
then grey as the IGA bags
with their red logos leached into sidewalk salt
then cast skyward, the opposite of falling,
bags shredded then tugged close by tree branches,
locked with naked fingers,
like wedding rings round,
like grieving handkerchiefs.
And then, only then,
buried by snow,
white first, then grey.
Dec. 1, 2005
Happy December to all.
Alongside all of your favourite booky creations available on the New Creations and Creations Pages (see button above) Puddle Press also has these hand-crafted gifts for those special folks in your life...
handmade photo album with a photo of your choice printed on the cover
photo corners included
(fifty dollar )
log cabin-esque quilted pillow with a photo of our choice (or mine*) in the centre
(thirty dollars)
hand embroidered paint-sample bird art
(fifteen dollars)
journal case with a velcroed cover and a place for a pen
so when the moment of inspiration hits, that writer in your life is ready to capture it*
(thirty dollars)
Please email me with any questions you may have!
Three cheers for a lovely hand-crafted month of goodness!
*Prices are in Canadian funds and do not include S/H*
Nov. 27, 2005
Oh November...
The Monster Factory and their 100% hilarious monsterly creations are in Toronto at the One of a Kind show until Dec. 4th. Check 'em out!
And for your ears:
Sarah Harmer's fantastic new disc I'm a Mountain.
Mr. Something Something's album the edge.
I am dancing my way to December!
Nov. 16, 2005
~
She travels the hallway
with fingertips on either side,
east west, west east.
Nov. 8, 2005
My afternoons are filled with leaves and words.
The wonderful Janine Stoll has a new album out and it is the soundtrack of my fall.
Nothing short of inspiring.
~
Some musings from her CD release party...
The song ends with a muted hand
and she promises sad,
folding her song like a careful envelope
stamping it with the centre of her throat
and mailing it to the first row,
the last row,
a scatter of salt trailing.
Nov. 7, 2005
Thank you thank you to all of you who made it out to the Small Press Book Fair.
Twas a grand day of all things book-y.
Oct. 29, 2005
She writes in pencil,
buttons holding her wrists closed.
Her scarf is damp and smells like apples
and her hair tucks itself behind small ears,
she slips behind herself
and smiles with her mouth closed,
talks as though she holds a pit in her mouth,
a date,
a plum.
Oct. 23, 2005
Oh a weekend of creating. Books and photos and words all bound up and ready for next weekend's book fair.
Some sneak peeks....
"extranjeros"
(stranger in spanish)
A book with musings on and photos of some folks who crossed my path in Spain.
An unclear photo of its structure - part sewn pages part accordian. Tis nothing short of exciting!
And another:
"posture"
Oct. 21, 2005
The Toronto Small Press Book Fair, fall edition is a-coming.
Saturday Oct. 29th from 11-5 at Trinity St. Paul's Centre ~ 427 Bloor St. W
I am creating away, new books and more books. Twill be grand. I'd love to see you there.
October 11, 2005
Oh Tuesday, lovely Tuesday.
Every Tuesday, the ever-inspiring Rhya Tamasauskas (monster maker extraordinaire) and I meet and talk words and poems and stories.
Ears are thick with listening,
with circling round, round,
two flights from the basement.
October 3, 2005
A reading, tonight at Sylvester's Café - above the GSU pub, 16 Bancroft Ave.
(The street is a bit tucked away, running parallel to Willcocks, just north of Spadina Crescent).
~
The morning is eclipsed by grocery lists
September 20, 2005
Posture One:
He stands with a sleeping spine,
a small and careful curve
that rounds itself
like empty fingers from an unused palm.
September 2, 2005
We make our own rain
and finger spell shadows
against the late afternoon.
August 28, 2005
Small truths revealed in summer chalk
against sidewalk
and falling hems against shins.
August 21, 2005
We fold our napkins into flowers,
roses mostly, and rabbits,
and some semblance of a swan,
but you, you make airplanes,
convinced that you can convince the linen to fold paper sharp,
and act paper thin.
But your airplane has wings
that are too thick with hem,
with dinner crumbs
to fly.
August 9, 2005
Let's dance.
August 7, 2005
Yesterday shows up again today
and offers itself in sidelong glances,
the same wasps circle the same ankles
and the open mouths of cups.
Your fingers dip into the glass jar beside the sink,
pulling small commas,
pauses doubling as seeds,
that will change the taste in both of our mouths.
July 25, 2005
Hillside oh Hillside!
Twas such an amazing weekend. Amazing music, wonderful folks and general merriment.
Some exceptional performances by: The Weakerthans, Po' Girl, Crescent & Frost,
The Shiftless Rounders and The Be Good Tanyas.
~
Some Hillside inspired po'ms:
His fingers twin
and empty themselves quiet,
in a wet sad song in C minor
that plays while the rain slips from the sky's fist.
It is a morning song
but could double as a lullabye,
or a single prayer.
~
The train isleaving, in the key of G,
and he asks only for a whisper,
shaping the edges of town like the edges of sleep,
the edges of summer,
of summer missing.
July 15, 2005
I would like to introduce you to The Pilot Project, an amazing initiative that believes that the work of artists and writers improves when supported by a strong community.
This burdeoning collective has just produced their first publication, Pilot Pocket Book I (It is a stunning, beautiful collection and is only $15!!). An excerpt from my novel-in-verse about Amelia Earhart has been included and illustrated!
The launch for Pilot Pocket Book I is Thursday July 21st at 8:30pm in Toronto at the Old York Bar & Grill (167 Niagara St.). I, along with other contributors will be reading. Come on out and support some a-mazing art!
(Isn't she a beaut!)
July 11, 2005
New Creations! All written in Spain and made here in Toronto....
It is best to begin with a map
A hand-embroidered creation - accordian style book in a traditional German case-in binding with stunning inside covers sent from India
~
This morning
"Today, the sun burns palms like handfuls of kisses"
Another accordian style book in a traditional binding, glorious paper from India and machine stitched.
~
Letters to Amelia Earhart
"I do not tell you I've missed you, that it's been almost two years,
but admire your pants (brown linen and belted) instead
and tell you that the tap water tastes like broken stones."
How I missed her in Spain. I wrote this collection on my wee terrace in Sevilla.
See the New Creations page for more info...
July 8, 2005
Poems galore on the poems page, with photos from that wonderful place called Spain.
They soak deep, like the words 'I love you'
in a sleeping mouth,
half swallowed, half spoken
and almost drowning,
they rise to lips in small, salted island,
patient dark and bruise-green.
July 5, 2005
Oh I am back and full of Spain.
Full and full. Much writing. Much sun. So much goodness.
I do not know what misses Sevilla more, my ears, my eyes or my throat...
~
From a construction site somewhere in Sevilla:
They stand above the floor
on planks of wood
that kiss other planks in sharp corners
and bow in the middle like the beginnings of a smile.
The light falls sideways against the door
but heats the top of each step, filling impatient corners
and newly scraped walls, walls made even by the plaster-white hands, forearms
that smell like ghosts and look like statue.
~
The ocean opens after hours of south,
a complicit and dangling blue
born from our wanting,
from the sky's waiting.
It is a blue that counts itself in three syllables
and countless secrets,
a blue that does not ask but answers
and breathes when lungs refuse.
May 28, 2005
I am off for some Spanish adventures...but leave you with some Grand Canyon magnificence to fill your lungs deep...
~
I will love you in alphabetical order,
and then miss you from Z back to A
(and cross my fingers
that you will be back
by the time I reach your arms).
~
*kiss*
May 25, 2005
Thanks to all who came out to the Spring Small Press Book Fair. Twas a grand day of books and all things book-ish...
May 23, 2005
My favourite saxophone-playing superhero...BEN BURKE!
A quick poem to remember north:
(and part of an epic project with the illustrious Rhya Tamasauskas exploring lifejackets)
The boat looks like a piece of fruit
split open, with lifejacket sweet
lining its metal hull.
We will not wear them
until we run the boat into a rock
and are afraid the propellor will not be able
to carry us home.
May 14, 2005
The Spring Small Press Book Fair is a-coming!
Saturday May 21st from 11-5 at Trinity St. Paul's Centre, 427 Bloor St. W
And I am launching some mighty fine paper-ly creations, like these one-of-a-kinders...
and these paper wonders...
April 26, 2005
This coming Saturday is a whole bunch o' dancing goodness!
Apr. 30 at 8:08pm at Metro-Central YMCA 2nd floor (20 Grosvenor St., just north west of Yonge and Colllege) Susan Kendal will be performing an excerpt
from "Whistling Matilda", choreographed by Kendal and Lindsay Zier-Vogel, a soon-to-be trio inspired by the lives of safe-side war brides during WWII. Saxophonist Ben Burke will be accompanying Susan live, with another excerpt accompanied by Kyle Sim's exceptional original composition comissioned specifically for "Whistling Matilda". There will be four other choregraphers showing their work at the Series 8:08 Choreographic Workshop, where audience members are invited to offer written feedback on the pieces shown. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $8.
And, after, it's your turn to dance! Get your dancing shoes ready for Turning Point at the Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St. W. Doors open at 10 where you can dance till you can dance no more!
~
A wee poem to keep this grey April at bay:
~
She giggles until she is helpless,
a rustling tangle of cloth and lungs.
He puts his hands around her ribs
as they shake, still laughing
and catalogue the different hugs they have known:
hands around necks and waists, and switch,
hugs like slow dancing, like waltzing,
hands like wings
hugs with faces in palms,
hugs jumped and diving into holding,
hugs of bellies pressed against belly,
hugs of breasts against spine,
hugs of standing and lying,
hugs of words that do not rise to lips,
hugs of minutes and weeks and wanting.
(They hold each other and list).
inspired by performances by Heidi Strauss and Darryl Tracy
April 11, 2005
It's the newest accessory - THE APRON!
Puddle Press-made, reversible, pocketed, embroidered and ribboned
*100% gleeful*
(Photos by Rhya Tamasauskas)
April 6, 2005
I am pleased to introduce you to Emelina.
She likes to read "Black Beauty" and skip in Toronto alleyways.
(Photos by Rhya Tamasauskas)
March 31, 2005
I would like to introduce you to Emma:
She loves to read, play scrabble and knit.
(...hmmm...just like me...)
Lovely lady Emma is my submission to Loobylu's Month of Softies, an on-going on-line craft project.
This month's theme was "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Child"
ps - she's also a superhero!
March 21, 2005
Phewf, tis been a long and hibernating sort of winter,
but Spring has arrived and with it, delightful one-of-a-kind poetry clothes Skirt:
*poetry-plane pants*
poetry bags - perfect for tucking into that bicycle basket*
If you are interested in purchasing a pair of these delightful poetry clothes, drop me a line!
They're perfect for spring and selling like hot cakes!
January 31, 2005
Puddles in my Pocket is proud to present our newest line of poetry clothing:
ooooooh!!! BEAUTIFUL reversible poetry/plane bags (and pants, notice the pants!)
Stunning grey wool poetry pants...
and a delectable blue poetry skirt.
If you're in Toronto, c'mon out to our launch, PANTS ON FIRE, on Feb. 8th!
See the Contact page for purchasing information*
January 27, 2005
p.s.: The illustrious Ben Burke is playing some sax-guitar jazz duet
at the Press Club (850 Dundas St. W)
every Saturday eve from now until a while from now.
Check it.
January 23, 2005
Envelopes press against belly
as letters unfold like leaves
and unfisted palms,
spreading themselves wing-wide,
octave-wide.
And above, a tangle of throat,
a tangle of tongue
as lipsticked kisses line themselves
like paperdolls, like secrets,
like love
along the single line of swallow
(a single swallow).
*
Inspired by a dance-sax improvisation with dancers Susan Kendal and Jennifer Fullerton and sax player Ben Burke.
Come on out to PANTS ON FIRE on Feb. 8th to see this dynamic trio perform live!
ps: check out the newest edition of koi magazine!!
January 20, 2005
Puddles in my Pocket presents: PANTS ON FIRE
A evening of collaborative arts featuring Puddles in my Pocket's premiere pant and skirt line alongside dance, music and readings.
Bar Italia, 582 College St., Toronto
Performances begin at 8pm
*
Featuring:
the launch of Puddles in my Pocket pants and skirts,
one-of-a-kind poetry clothing creations by Lindsay Zier-Vogel and Susan Kendal
Musical performances by:
Christa Couture
Patrick Perkins
Vishal
Readings by:
Lindsay Zier-Vogel
Rhya Tamasauskas
Dance improv with dancers:
Jennifer Fullerton and Susan Kendal
and sax by: Ben Burke
*
come and celebrate collaboration at its finest
January 4, 2005
Happy New Year!
The sky bursts into a million shards of blue
and questions
will rain for weeks
against the sidewalk's patience.
December 24, 2004
Happy holidays to all*
December 18, 2004
A very new puddle press creation:
limited edition New York books.
~
Emma walks through Picasso
with the snow pants swishing.
Each step leaves a mark
of the morning's snowball fight
but she does not look behind her
and will not ever know.
December 6, 2004
*Oh OCAD Book Arts goodness*
A weekend filled with wonderous paper creations!
~
She lies and paints them white
then lines them up along the windowledge
and imagines they have faces
and that they are facing outwards.
Her lies look like bones against the glass,
like an untethered spine
whose ribs have long since stopped reaching round
and holding tight.
November 27, 2004
Paper pinned and winged against spine,
a single wish for sky.
November 22, 2004
Oh monster madness.
Check 'em out!
November 19, 2004
My *new* sari-silk scarf.
Recycled and respun and knitted on up.
Snug as a bug in a rug I tell you.
Another recipe for warm:
1 lemon squeezed
2 tbsp of maple syrup
hot water
1 tsp cayenne pepper
heat 'er up and drink 'er down.
~
Our heads bow
against the evening
like late dandelions,
weighted thick against the cord of neck
and ready to break into soft
and into wish.
(psst: check out the "events" page).
November 14, 2004
Oh fall*
And blind against sky
against circles,
against ribs,
fingers like wings
and throats like feathers.
~
Also...Check out Serengeti Press' newest anthology "Witness"
It is an extraordinary collection! Powerful and poignant and all things in between.
My poem '43-'46, based on my grandparent's WWII tale of love has been included.
November 5, 2004
Slow dancing...
"It was just a hug that spun
itself round and dizzy"
I got 4 of my favourite writers to write on THE four songs:
More than Words, Stairway to Heaven, Bed of Roses and November Rain.
(Enter Mark Freeman, Susan Kendal, Adrian Smith and Rhya Tamasauskas...)
Then I added my own musing into the mix and made a book for each song.
They are an absolute riot and will be on sale through the site and at the Toronto Small Press Book Fair tomorrow.
They are agonizing and gangly and just waiting against the wall for someone to ask...
"Smells like Teen Spirit ended in bloody noses
and a school-wide ban on mosh pits"
ps - the New Creations page is chock full of new treats*
November 2, 2004
Many bookish wonders being spun out from under the piles of red leaves and wooly mitts...
"Kisses and Hugs": mini pillows for your loving pleasure*
Does it get any cuter than hand embroidered X's and O's.
"Patchwork Totes"
My sewing machine has been kicked into high gear for these babies.
Lined, pocketed and poemed.
(And there are so very many more creations...keep your eyes peeled to the new creations page!!)
October 20, 2004
We lie like stamps,
twinned and stuck against the top right corner of an envelope,
addresses are woven into pillowcase soft
and we are folded in tight
and sealed with a lick of cloth,
our own tongues quiet
and pretending to sleep.
October 17, 2004
Jennifer Castle and her CN Tower-iffic shirts.
A must have.
October 16, 2004
Footsteps fall against the ceiling,
against their hardwood,
against my plaster.
I live below a couple
and know the weight of their feet
and the press of their heels.
Though they are strangers
and I would not recognize their faces,
the way they hold their hands,
the angle of their shoulders,
my apartment is papered with their footprints,
maps of their Sunday evening waltz,
their Wednesday morning polonaise,
the swing of their Friday afternoon.
October 14, 2004
A new short story is up on the poems page. (A very knotty story at that*)
And a review of Susie Burpee's The Countess of Main Events and Lesandra Dodson's In Silence up at The Dance Current
The rain falls without me realizing
and I wait,
postmarked and drenched
on the edge of Wednesday.
October 8, 2004
I have been thinking a lot about the process of receiving art, performance particularly, but all art. The process of being an active audience member, of opening oneself up. Not that one has to be "moved"; I think that is one of the biggest mistakes - having the expectation of being affected. It takes just a bit of opening up, like a big exhale, to allow the art to land on you however it does, without judgment or expectation, not forcing a narrative as we are so prone to imposing, or forcing it to be anything that it is or is not. Just letting it be and letting onself be in relation to it. That experience is enough.
I saw Lesandra Dodson's In Silence and Susie Burpee's The Countess of Main Events last Saturday and tried to let it land on me.
It landed, with fast and furious wings, in a tangle of half-secrets and almost-promises.
~
(inspired by Lesandra Dodson's In Silence
Her hair sticks to lips
like a thin and narrow kiss
and she follows another like a shadow,
like a sentence that follows close
and follows fast.
October 3, 2004
Tuesday Oct. 5th from 11:45-noon: the illustrious Christa Couture and CBC's Out Front will present: "It's like riding a bike", a documentary on her recent attempt at re-learning...enjoy*. Lady Amelia (my new taupe bike) and I are waiting with baited breath.
~
(I know its hip to knock the 'burbs, but walking to my mom's the other evening, I had a symphony of crickets singing me their end-of-summer song.
Cricket lullabyes are good for the soul).
September 25, 2004
Chestnut season is upon us.
Find those glossy jewels and fill your pockets.
September 19, 2004
the air moves through like breathing...
Voila: the Puddles In My Pocket line of skirts.
Various colours and sizes at Skirt: 903 Dundas St. W
September 16, 2004
Skirt:
903 Dundas St. W in Toronto, just east of Grace St. (and the ever delicious Saving Grace)
Absolutely charming beautifully crafted clothes and accessories
and I am honoured to let y'all know that the Puddles In My Pocket line of skirts, shirts and handbags are now being carried at Skirt.
Go on a clothing adventure and explore away.
(And yes you did read it correctly, Puddles In My Pocket now has skirts. They are a joy.)
September 11, 2004
Farmer's markets are fantastic:
piles corn and tomatoes
and wee potatoes and glossy red peppers,
eggplants like oversized jewels
samples of peaches and cantaloupe.
Oh, deelish!
September is a good month for fresh sunshine edged treats!
September 8, 2004
We keep time,
locked in pulse points at wrists and throats
where the skin is tight and pale,
and holds minute hands that spin without asking,
without wondering or pausing for lunch for kiss or for sleep.
~
ps: People that steal bikes are some of the nastiest folks around.
A plague on all their houses.
September 2, 2004
Happy September to all*
I am currently on an Olympic detox program
(but not before I wiped out on a jog, pretending of course that I was in Athens...)
~
The skin on my shoulder,
and the skin on my elbow is raised slightly,
like scraps of armour
or misplaced embroidery in a dark and scabbed red,
the colour of cheap wine;
bits of sidewalk wait underneath,
gray slivers above the pale blush of new skin.
And you can tell which way I fell,
twisting right, then turning couter-clockwise
once the cement had replaced the sky.
It was my fault,
head in the clouds and ankles in the gutter,
I had forgotten the roll of heel and lift of knee,
the two-four rhythm, left right, left right
and still my mind woudln't come to,
cement screeching through my skin
palms screaming "Come back! Come back!".
I could not listen, I still do not listen.
August 31, 2004
I have started in on a very exciting collaboration: working with my med school friend Suzanne on a poetry-medicine project.
It is so exciting to move from these very dry and clinical definitions to my own definitions. From A to Z.
And it helps oh so much to escape my own patterns and rhythms.
Some examples:
Cilia:
Microscopic hair-like projections lining the nose and bronchi
They bow in small c's
with butterflies for stomachs
and knocking for knees,
hearts a-flutter and hearts in throats.
"Cilia, Celia, Cecilia you're breaking my heart."
~
McBurney's Point:
An anatomical landmark in the right lower quadrant of the abdomen over the usual site of the appendix
Unlike McDougall's Point,
north of Haliburton and reaching rocky into Lake Bushwick,
McBurney's point falls below ribs
and is marked with a small scar,
fingernail white that arcs upwards in a pale half-c.
~
Tinnitus:
Sensation of a ringing, roaring or buzzing sound in the ears or head
And under a small circle of tight skin,
bees, angry bees whose angry Queen roars her declarations,
casting echos against the busy bellies of her drones
who do not whisper in response,
but raise their winged voices to an answering scream.
And, under a small circle of tight skin,
bees, whose angry honey is not sweet.
August 28, 2004
August 26, 2004
Dreaming of Sienna....
The Innis Herald has published some of my writing. Hooray!
(Tis under the online features*)
August 21, 2004
www.koi-magazine.com
The lovely Miss Heather Traher has just completed the first issue of her magazine Koi, and it is FANTASTIC.
Wonderfully designed, with a great selection of writing, words and images.
So exciting! And such an honour to be a part of issue number one!
August 15, 2004
I have been feeling restricted by writing "poetry", always trying to be "poetic". So I have been writing descriptions of things. Anything.
And it is proving to be enormously inspiring:
The clock is cheap and rimmed in plastic.
The hands are probably plastic too, buried under a plastic face that is transparent
and raised just enough to let the minute tick past.
It says "Quartz" near the 6,
like the quartz veins that run through small pebbles at the lake
and the huge mountain sized granite that line the highway north and north.
Only the second hand, the busiest hand, is straight.
The others, the two that move more slowly,
swell in the centre
and taper off near the ends, near the numbers
and disappear into 10:35 and 11:46.
~
The edge of the counter is scalloped and ainted pale, like the edge of an apron.
But not the apron she wears.
Her hem is straight with seams silent and unscalloped.
And above the counter's fancy edging,
marmalade waits behind small glass and a cash register opens and closes,
ringing through date squares and peach pies like gills, opening, closing.
~
The bricks are red
and replace both roads and sidewalks,
thinking of themselves as superior,
and far more romantic than their estranged gray cousins.
August 11, 2004
I am involved in some choreography in the upcoming fFIDA International Dance Festival this weekend.
Susan Kendal has used my writing from my novel-in-poetry about Amelia Earhart as the impetus and spoken text for the piece.
The Amelia Project
Choreography: Susan Kendal
Dancer: Lorraine Aston
Text: Lindsay Zier-Vogel
fFIDA International DANCE Festival
The Studio Theatre, Series B
August 13, 9pm
August 14, 4pm
August 15, 7pm
The Distillery Historic District: 55 Mill Street
Dancemakers’ Centre for Creation, The Cannery Studio #313
$10 plus GST / Box Office: 416.504.7529
She wonders
with a thousand feet of sky below her
if she has forgotten how to walk,
if her feet have forgotten the press of heel, toe
if her legs have lost the weight of carrying the rest of her body.
August 10, 2004
The lovely Christa Couture has a new website.
Shiny and new and full of wonderfulness.
The very same lady that showed me the wonders of Jericho Beach and a certain Vancouver Value Village
ps: she even writes songs about jennifer gray. does it get any better than that?
"David he drives us to the lake for the day
He's Patrick Swayze I'm Jennifer Grey
We're weakend with laughter I fall in the water"
~ Christa Couture
August 3, 2004
there are no words today
for the lake that will not stop,
for the wind that will not stop.
July 29, 2004
A day of love letters. Of love. And wishing. And love letters.
Tuesday, my writing collective (aka my partner-in-crime: Rhya Tamasauskas) and I went on a love letter rampage this afternoon:
love letters slipped into love-soaked, love-sealed envelopes and scattered all over the city.
*Keep an eye out for a love letter. It may just be addressed to you*
I love the crease of paper,
the slip, lick of envelope
and the long journey east.
I love in east.
~
I love you because your rib cage
reaches further than my arms could ever reach
and because you prefer to smile skywards.
~
Your heart waits inside a compass,
arrows like arteries
and your feet know where to fall.
~
ps: I love you
July 25, 2004
Hillside 2004:
Man alive, what an amazing festival. Music and music and music.
It is spectacular. Such amazing people, such extraordinary artists.
Some new discoveries included:
Nathan Lawr, The Bills, Pieta Brown, Pilate, Nathan and Reid Jamiesom
Some delicious favourites:
Oh Susanna, The Wailin' Jennys, Andy Stochansky and Martha Wainwright
a wee bit of a poem:
Mending hearts with spools of song,
stitches held still with the silver of twin saftey pins,
verses slipping in and out of the purple-red tight.
some good ol' fashioned Hillside fun.
July 21, 2004
THANK YOU THANK YOU
to all of you who came out and supported "Puddles In My Pocket" at our Toronto launch party!
It was a grand evening and I am overwhelmed and overjoyed by the support of so many.
A summer afternoon kiss to all*
ps: there are still many a shirt. Get yours today!!
July 19, 2004
"Puddles in My Pocket"
one-of-a-kind poetry based clothing created by Susan Kendal and Lindsay Zier-Vogel
They are stunning. Absolutely and positively charming.
and...one-of-a-kind! They are a joy to wear, to give, to have.
YUM!!
And they'll be on sale at the official launch:
Tuesday July 20th (a) 8pm
at Bar Italia: 582 College St. (at Clinton in Little Italy)
pwyc (suggested donation: $5)
for a night of celebration and merriment.
Please find order forms here: Order Forms
july 14, 2004
just a wee taste of what is to come....
"Puddles in My Pocket"
one-of-a-kind poetry based clothing created by Susan Kendal and Lindsay Zier-Vogel
july 13, 2004
You are cordially invited to: the launch of "Puddles in My Pocket"
one-of-a-kind poetry based clothing created by Susan Kendal and I.
Details: Tuesday July 20th (a) 8pm
at Bar Italia: 582 College St. (at Clinton in Little Italy) o
pwyc (suggested donation: $5) for a night of celebration and merriment.
It will be a fantastic night of readings, live music, exquisite poetry clothing and textiles and a dance film
with the illustrious artists: Rhya Tamasauskas, Stephanie Silverman, Rhys Brisbin, Harmony Trowbridge,
ohbijou, Patrick Perkins, Susan Kendal, Kyle Sim, Jennifer Fullerton and Susanne Chui and me, Lindsay Zier-Vogel.
Save up your summer pennies and indulge in some beautiful poetry clothes.
(We will be accepting personal cheques and cash)
photos of the deelightful creations to come.
keep your eyes peeled.
and peek through the fences*
july 7, 2004
It will be a weekend of inspiration! The Toronto Outdoor Art Show is on at Nathan Phillips Square (July 9-11)
Art and art and art. And be sure to check out Rhya Tamasauskas and the Monster Farms. Section Turquoise, Booth 575
~
The afternoon ends with rain.
and a single wish for a pakora.
july 5, 2004
Cadillac kisses and moonbeam wishes:
we drive north
with the sun burning a line
down the centre of the front windshield
and a quiet moon
whispering its way up the back.
the bugs come later
and further north,
hurling themselves against window glass
with a passion we have not even felt.
june 27, 2004
oh my cherry tree is a-bursting with sweet deliciousness.
it's pie time.
june 26, 2004
I went on an incredible bike ride this morning with my bike-riding dad:
south and south, until the roads turn into water (how easy it is to forget that Toronto is on a lake...)
pedaling alongside the Toronto Port, on an empty road lined with marinas and boat bits.
the paint seems to peel more easily next to the lake
and there are so many birds, fearless flyers, with none of the caution or hesitaton of city sparrows.
On and on we biked, through big fat raindrops and thin moments of sun until we hit the The Leslie Street Spit -
an absolutely extraordinary part of Toronto.
It is an entirely human creation - made from the earth dug up in the 50s from all of the big downtown buildings.
How bizarre to be looking from such a distance at the buildings that created this spit.
Spit, what a great word for this slip of land teeming with birds (over 300 types!) lots of gravel, a lighthouse and no cars. None.
And then we wended our way back to the city for some delectable breakfast goodness at Bonjour Brioche.
Saturdays are good days.
a small poem for an inspired Saturday:
Papered whispers line her throat,
ink seeping outwards to skin in a slow bleed.
Thick blue tattoos rise to a pale surface
and circle her neck
from chin to collarbone,
from skull to spine.
june 20, 2004
filming filming filming
for Whispering Matilda, my newest choreography and dance film.
(in the photos: dancers Susanne Chui and Jennifer Fullerton, filmmaker Rhys Brisbin and one sweet camera!)
They stand in blue and white,
with sleeves like small breaths,
pale skin against peeling paint
and flour stuck to fingers as an extra skin,
a softer skin that stains skirts a dusty white
and leaves its mark along cheekbone and chin.
The smell of butter is woven into the thin weave of their cotton dresses,
and, brushing the spiders' threads from their throats,
from the small box where their voices used to be,
they speak over dozens of eggs cracked open and spilt,
talking with flour-sugar-whitened hands,
hands like birds over water, circling and diving.
june 14, 2004
Susanne Chui and Jennifer Fullerton in Whispering Matilda
Today was the first day of filming Whispering Matilda, an extraordinary dance film. It is based around poems I have written about my grandmothers' experiences in and around W.W.II
The creation process has been so exciting. And I have created a framework that does not leave me in full control.
(a potentially-scary prospect for a control freak like myself).
But man oh man has it been exciting, trusting the artistry of the dancers, the filmmaker and soon enough, the composer.
Letting go of my artistic patterns and allowing for so many more possibilities.
Oh collaboration, too much fun!
It is just incredible, working with such dedicated, such inspiring and generous artists.
The screening will take place third week of july-ish. book it.
artists involved in Whispering Matilda include:
Lindsay Zier-Vogel ~ choreographer
Susan Kendal ~ rehearsal directress, costume designer and original dancer
Jennifer Fullerton and Susanne Chui ~ dancers
Rhys Brisbin ~ filmmaker and Kyle Sim ~ composer
june 10, 2004
love letters:
does it get any more charming?
very new, very puddlepress creations.
wee envelopes stitched in red with hand embroidered hand writing
"love"
(it's all we need)
june 8, 2004
a weekend in mckellar ontario.
complete with a night at the Avon Motel after running out of gas 40 km from Parry Sound at midnight
right after i took this photo, i saw a wolverine.
it's true (and NO, it was not a dog...)
AND did you know that wolverines are also known as "carcajou"
~
Picking fights like daisies,
like raspberries,
mouth stained a sweet and violent red,
fingers wrapped to tight fists around straggly green stems.
Words are spit like seeds,
(the same small seeds I will find later,
lodged between two teeth
and evading the search of tongue)
and syllables are parsed
to the 'love me love me not' rhythm of pale petals,.
You listen because of the bruised sweet,
because of the sunny yellow cetnres,
I know you cannot help it.
The daisy fights are prettier the next day,
splayed over the lip of an old jam jar,
but the raspberry fights are swallowed
and it takes days for the lipstick smear of raspberry red
to disappear.
june 4, 2004
oh my. thank you thank you to all of those who came out to TWILL 1 last night. it was such a great night. such.
a huge thank you to lady Harmony.
and for all the support. wow. thank you.
and for those of you anxiously awaiting the very last poem that mysteriously disappeared here it is:
The tongue of sky licks the very edges of her body,
slipping through lips and pouring into belly.
This same sky pours itself against the earth
like liquid tin hardening under the roll of cloud,
it meets the line of land
and spills slightly over.
Sky like water
slips past fingers,
and the space between arm and body
that would be wing.
may 30, 2004
the illustrious Harmony Trowbridge is throwing one FANtastic fundraiser this coming week in t-dot:
TWILL 1 (This is Where I Live) on Thursday, June 3rd, 2004
C'est What (Front St. at Church St.) drinks at 9:30PM, show at 10pm
Claudia Dey, Final Fantasy, Harmony Trowbridge, John Southworth, Kill Unit, Lee Sheppard, Lindsay Zier-Vogel, Ohbijou and more.
all proceeds from this event will be donated to the ARTSCAPE Gibraltar Point Centre for the Arts
Recipe for a Delicious Sunday:
sleep in.
then throw in an extra tablespoon of lazing about
1 extra large sun, shining through slightly opened curtains
drink coffee, the extra dark, extra sweet kind over, (3 cups is optimal)
to coffee mixture, add extra large cinnamon buns. savour.
read: books. newspaper. anything. let sit for at least an hour.
continue to add afternoon ingredients slowly,
these may include: frisbee, lilac sweet, letter writing, barbequed sweet potatoes and/or long walks north, then south.
*happy sunshine to all*
may 23, 2004
this may be the most exciting thing about spring:
for a mere ten dollars, you can commission your very own poem written by me.
all i need is a quick list of characteristics, the barebones of a story, a memory, an event....anything you would like a poem about.
and voila....your very own personalized poem!
(nudge, nudge, what an amazing gift!!)
email lindsay
my sweet new lady, Pearl.
she rides like a dream*
may 22, 2004
Toronto-based dance artist Jessica Runge is performing this weekend in toronto. the sets are beyond incredible (to say nothing about the extraordinary performance*) - worlds unto themselves with waterfalls that fall from the ceiling and thick beds of tulips that would put even my gardening nana to shame, picket fences that split open like wings and a red dress with seams like bones. 8pm this evening at the Winchester St. Theatre. magic.
She walks the far edges of sidewalk squares
and saves her questions for Fridays
when they fall hard as chestnuts from her lips
and bounce only slightly against the date-stamped cement.
Later, each weekend,
she gathers these questions tight in a fist,
like April tulips between soil and vase,
a green that bruises darker green
and refuses to wait for answers.
(inspired by Runge's The Girl Who Fell From the Sky)
may 18, 2004
some small press reminiscing:
embroidering above oodles of books
lindsay, rhya, matt and much paper
(note: the tall books are the famed one-of-a-kind list books created by rhya and i)
a quick poem:
And on every second Sunday,
she sets aside one hour to breath
and after, eats carrot cake melted slightly by sun.
And on the first Wednesday of every month,
she crumbles rosemary into whatever she cooks -
breakfast, lunch and dinner.
A few times a year on Tuesdays and Fridays,
she drops three dollars worth of pennies on sidewalks,
good-lucking strangers.
And on the fourteenth Tuesday,
she likes to wear lipstick in a colour
that reminds her of her Nana
or her mother.
may 17, 2004
oh small press book fair goodness. this saturday was just so grand. so many inspiring hand created books and words.
thanks to all those who came out and cheered on all the small press-ers.
the greatest find of the day was I am not a Scientist - Scientific Essays and Explorations by Matthew Hood.
a gem of science-y musings and illustrations that are far too funny. tis a self-published venture and is too good to be true.
may 14, 2004
after praying a silent prayer,
a mint flavoured prayer,
she blessed her own forehead each morning,
a thumbprint of tap water
after she had brushed her teeth,
marking the space a finger below her hairline
with circular damp,
lowering her eyes to the edge of sink.
*see you at the book fair*
may 11, 2004
this saturday's small press book fair will be the venue for the unveiling of "listing" a new limited edition creation by tuesday
. poet and creator extraordinaire, rhya tamasauskas and i have created 10 beautiful books filled with one-of-a-kind collages of poet-isized lists
if you are a list maker or know of one, tis a perfect and artistic homage to lists everywhere. (and only twenty-five dollars apiece*)
may 7, 2004
spring is here. it's official.
i saw one of the most captivating shows i have ever seen last night. Sarah Chase's Potraits/Mapping at the Harbourfront Theatre in Toronto.
in 2002, she travelled to europe and got to explore three strangers' houses for a day each, and then spend three days with them and ask them anything in the world. she has since created three dance pieces, where she tells the stories of these people that were once strangers.
never have i seen the minute details, the small stories of someone's life so poignantly offered.
i am in the process of writing a review of it for the Dance Current Magazine and will post it here when it is completed.
(she has been featured in this week's the NOW magazine)
i have also started a solo on the lovely susan kendal (that may morph into a duet for a film in june and may or may not morph back into a solo for a night of our work sometime in the future...). it is so exciting to see words transfer through the body, physicalized poems. oh, the power of the body, of words to be just as abstract as they are specific. delicious on these spring afternoons.
happy weekend to all*
may 5, 2004
Tomato:
a red that resists thumbprint,
like a shoulder or the belly of calf,
the green length of stalk soon forgotten
and split, seeds like milk teeth
still wet from mouth,
spilling, without falling
and waiting for a fingerful of salt
and the reclaiming of warm red mouth.
may 1, 2004
It is a new month. and a new month means new poems.
I would like to introduce puddle press' featured poet of the month...the illustrious Rhya Tamasauskas, poet and inspirer extraordinaire.
A selection of her poems are posted on the "poems" page of this site.
“Doo do do do do”
I picture coloured girls,
rose and neon girls, some blue and purple with sequin eyes.
~ from "Walk on the wild side"
happy new month to all*
(lot's of events coming up, keep your ear to the ground, and screen to the site)
april 30, 2004
last day of april. my cherry tree is full of flowers.
Vienna Home Bakery:
sweet peached tarts, trays of icing sugar and bottles of maple syrup near the cash register,
pies are stacked floor to hip and cookies cutters tangle their metal limbs in an empty pie-dish under shelves of jam
(whose seeds still remember her soft song).
the air moves through like breathing.
april 28, 2004
Lullaby:
Irene goodnight,
Irene goodnight,
goodnight Irene,
goodnight Irene,
I'll see you in my dreams.
Wrapped around afternoons
and old rooms that still smell like then,
footprints line the slow walk west.
I love you in the morning
and in the afternoon.
The rain is late and will be dinner,
asphault puddles cut into mouthfuls
and swallowed against sky.
I love you in the evening underneath the moon.
A thumbprint,
a handprint against sleeping skin,
a piece of rain leftover,
sleep is both song and page
with a tablespoon wish for water
buried under and deep.
april 22, 2004
and after waking:
working on words, pages and pages of words,
words that will be a manuscript one day. and then a book.
it is hard to write when your fingers are always crossed.
~
this sunday, april 25th at 805 dovercourt road (in toronto), 2nd floor at 2pm, three solos from The Women's Project, choreography by Karen Kaeja will be performed by Roula Said, Megan Andrews and Joanna de Sousa,