“I’ve always been a great puzzle to myself.” —Jo Carol Pierce I resent anything that isn’t a simple machine, like a push mower or a pair of scissors. I could explode a bicycle into all its component parts in half an hour, lay them on the ground from end to end. I like things with schematics...
Interview by Shawn Syms In connection with the annual Victoria Festival of Authors taking place October 16 to 20, 2024, Plenitude book reviews editor Shawn Syms interviews Cody Caetano, author of the best-selling 2022 memoir Half-Bads in White Regalia, which was long-listed for Canada Reads and...
they call the phenomenon “the brain zaps.” …………I call it the air before a thunderstorm. ……………………metal on your tongue. scent more ………………………………ozone than petrichor. harsher. …………………………………………you’re all sweat and dizzy ………………………………from the buzz, the crackle of it ……………………reverberating in your head:...
the chevron has rubbed off my anchor ring tattoo chain and rod swim rootless in finger flesh book re-ink appointment on the to-do list—ten years and counting you and I sleep in separate rooms one of us may as well get a good sleep new parents—temporary measure—eight years and counting coral reef...
Lena Mutafov (she/they) is an interdisciplinary artist focusing on poetry, fiction, photography, comedy, and music. They believe humor and vulnerability can go hand in hand. Her poetry has been published in Sea and Cedar and Eavesdrop Magazine, and she has featured as a spoken word poet for...
from Bad Houses (Arsenal Pulp Press, September 2024) When I couldn’t go on social media without getting sad or angry, I hired an intern. A quiet kid from one of my first-year composition classes. After the second week of class, as I was erasing notes from the whiteboard about how to paraphrase...
