Celebrating National Poetry Month with Canthius
Every April, Canada celebrates National Poetry Month. The League of Canadian Poets, a national non-profit organization, leads the charge and hosts an array of contests, events, and writing projects for poets and poetry lovers alike. For 30 days, we revel in the power of verses, enjambment, blank spaces, and rhythm. Most importantly, we cherish the ability to craft stories about the world and ourselves in an artistic form that has morphed over centuries and continues to reach new dawns.
To celebrate National Poetry Month, we at Canthius rounded up the poems and books of poetry that we are currently reading or excited to read. We hope these serve as a jumping off point to continue fostering a love of poetry beyond April. Happy reading!
Rebecca Mangra, Communications Coordinator
Ada Limón’s “Instructions on Not Giving Up”
Ada is one of my favourite poets. This poem was referenced in a poetry workshop I attended recently and reminded me of Ada’s wonderful ability to unearth the incredible out of the mundane. To illuminate beauty in those cracks of ourselves we want to throw away. To remind us that the greening of the trees might be the thing that saves us.
Sanna Wani, Issue 10 Guest Editor
Poetry as warm as bread. Enough longing to pass between two hands, enough home to make between us. This collection grounds itself in the lyric, in the sprawling care of time. From the nostalgia of old shoes to an ode to pork chops, Bass's work is as slick and heady as a long, slow-cooked meal.
Chuqiao Teresa Yang, Board of Directors
Manahil Bandukwala, Digital Content Editor
Leah MacLean-Evans, Editorial Board Member
Sanna Wani’s new collection My Grief, the Sun. I’m looking forward to reading it soon!