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Fern G.Z. Carr

Former lawyer and current League of Canadian Poets member Fern G. Z. Carr recently achieved quite the distinction: Her biographical listing found its stellar way into The World's Lawyer Poets in conjunction with a research project conducted by Professor James R. Elkins of the West Virginia University College of Law.

Dr. Elkins's database, Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and Poetry, is a compendium of biographies of lawyer poets categorized by country. The site contains links to his research, articles about poetry and poetry resources. Carr joins a select group of contemporary Canadian poets; additionally, her poetry, slated for publication in West Virginia University's journal, Legal Studies Forum (which features the literary work of lawyers), also enjoys Parliamentary Poet status. I Am, a lovely example of her talent, can be savoured here. Kudos!

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Don't forget that the deadline for The George Bowering Baseball Trivia Quiz quickly approaches. Batter up by midnight tomorrow night . . . or you'll strike out fer shure. Google is your friend. Do no evil :). The Grand Prize, an autographed first-edition copy of Bowering's latest, The Diamond Alphabet, will be shipped quicker than you can reach first, I bet; plus, that IOWerZ T-Shirt grows rarer and rarer by the day. Trust me on this. There ain't none left for sale. This is the only way you can now acquire one. Go for it! They're long-sleeved. They're black. They're warm. They're designed by Our Pope Paul I. And, since I am wearing mine as I tappy-tip, they're . . . um . . . sexy . . . yeah!

P.S. Nope. The mascot ain't part of the prize. Sorry (not sexy enough).

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One poster's worth a thousand words; and, in this case, you can read the rest of the story on Prism Is a Dead Event here. (There will be cake! Yum! Can someone fax me a piece if it's gluten-free, PLS/TIA?)

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Here's a terrific treat: The audio of a "transcreation" of one of Nicole Brossard's texts from our freshly minted Parliamentary Poet Laureate, Fred Wah (who will appear right here in the fresh from Banff in the coming weeks, just so you know).

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"If the United States has a poet with rock star status," writes Ralph Ellis, "it's Billy Collins. He can sell books AND draw a crowd . . ." (Especially when the temperature's a balmy 12°C :).)

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Finally, I had planned to provide poetry lovers and those learning to love poetry as much as we do with a terrific list of new works appearing this spring sometime this week. Honest! What happened? A crow, that's what. I kid you not. A crow flew into my picture window, the biggest window in this shack (natch), the one that cost less than my grand deductible but more moolah than I had available in the disposable-income snack bracket. So? All winter, I have had the pleasure of flapping plastic and cardboard and higher heating bills and all kinds of fun things here. It's a circus, I tell you. HannaH GrrL loves it. She sits beneath the un-window and sleeps. I have no idea why such a ruckus would appeal to her snoozabilities; but, there you have it.

What? Welp, I can finally afford to replace the window and guess what else? I can finally afford the workman to actually do the job, too. It happens this week. My computer is in front of the un-window (until I have to move everything and you know what that means). OMGasp! How will I live without Rudolph for a whole day or two (as my guy says)? No computer access? No news? No nothing? I am already trembling as I type this . . .

To make things crystal clear: My Low-E sealed big picture window returns. I will see my spruce tree again. I will watch the blue jays settle in its branches. I might even snap a pic if a bluster of blue jays arrives to celebrate. They miss me. I know they do. I can hear them calling for me. And, that crow that smashed the window so long ago I forget when it happened? He was fine. I know he was a he because a she would not be so dumb.

And, I am telling you all this exciting news from The Almaguin Highlands because? Sadly, it means if I have no computer access, I may not be able to bring you all the po-news and po-bits fitz to print. I will make it up to you (although that doesn't mean the deadline for anything changes, either!). Have a great week if this operation takes longer than two days, okay? Okay. This is The Near North after all. (Don't ask.)

(Hat tips, Kitty Lewis and Lenore Langs.)

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