In Volume Seven: Chapter Nine of the Podcast, we welcomed Clinton, Ontario-born and London, Ontario-based Educator, Writer, Author, and Poet Blair Trewartha. The author of three chapbooks and two full-length poetry collections, including the recently released Half-Earth, Blair joins me for his first appearance on the program to discuss a collection more than a decade in the making.

We begin by celebrating the release of Half-Earth, reflecting on the excitement surrounding its launch, the warm reception it has received, and what it means to finally share a new full-length collection twelve years after his Relit Award-shortlisted debut, Easy Fix. From there, Blair discusses how becoming a father fundamentally reshaped both his life and his writing, explaining how conversations with his two sons unexpectedly became some of the emotional foundations of the new book. Together, we explore how parenthood transformed his understanding of skepticism, compassion, mortality, and the uncertain future his children will inherit in a world shaped by climate anxiety and rapid technological change.

Our conversation then turns back to Blair's creative beginnings. Growing up on a farm outside Clinton, Ontario, he reflects on the rural landscape that continues to influence his imagination and the lasting impact of the nearby Goderich salt mine. He discusses how the stories shared by family members and friends who worked in the mine left a deep impression, leading us into a discussion about the importance of listening, oral storytelling, and the fascination with other people's stories, which evolved into a desire to tell his own through poetry.

Contact Blair:
Instagram @btrewart Purchase Half-Earth: Here

Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:

Meccamorphosis – Penny Dreadfuls
Instagram: @meccamorphosis Website: meccamorphosis.com

Leah V – Yours
Instagram: @leahvspeaks Website: leahvspeaks.com

Mike Rosen – When God Happens
Instagram: @heymikerosen

Sonya Renee Taylor – My Body Is Not An Apology
Instagram: @sonyareneetaylor

Steven Willis – The Hustle Speaks
Instagram: @stevenwillispoetry Website: stevenwillispoetry.com

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In Volume Seven: Chapter Eight of the Program, we welcome Milwaukee, Wisconsin-born and based Writer, Poet, Storyteller, Author, Performance Poet, Teaching Artist, and Creative Change Agent Dasha Kelly. A former Milwaukee Poet Laureate and Wisconsin's first Black Poet Laureate, Dasha has spent decades building community through the power of story, imagination, and creative expression.

During our conversation, Dasha reflects on her early years as a self-described curious kid, arts-and-crafts enthusiast, and natural storyteller. We discuss the role her mother played in encouraging her creative pursuits, her early interest in fiction writing, and how a fascination with psychology and human behavior ultimately intersected with her lifelong love of storytelling.

Dasha shares her journey into poetry, including her initial resistance to the form before eventually embracing it as a powerful vehicle for exploration and connection. We talk about her creative process, how she determines whether an idea belongs in poetry, fiction, or nonfiction, and the ways those forms often overlap in her work.

We also examine the evolution of Milwaukee's literary community through Dasha's eyes, comparing her reflections from the early 2000s to the thriving creative culture she helped cultivate over the years. She speaks candidly about community building, connection, and the profound impact of bringing together people from different backgrounds through shared artistic experiences.

Contact Dasha:
Website: dashakelly.com Instagram: @dasha_kelly

Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:

Porsha O. – Trigger
Instagram: @porshaolayiwola Website: porshaolayiwola.com

Barbara Fant – Medicine
Instagram: @iambarbarafant Website: barbarafant.com

Black Chakra –I Spit Fire
Instagram: @blackchakra88

Ariana Brown – Supremacy
Instagram: @arianathepoet Website: arianabrown.com

Javon Johnson – Shotgun
Instagram: @javonism

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In Volume Seven: Chapter Seven of the podcast, we welcome Dunnville, Ontario-born and Toronto-based Writer, Author, and Poet Jennifer LoveGrove. Jennifer is the author of four full-length poetry collections and the novel Watch How We Walk, which was long-listed for the Giller Prize. Her poetry collection Beautiful Children with Pet Foxes was long-listed for the Raymond Souster Award, and her newest collection, The Tinder Sonnets, is available now via Bookhug Press.

In our conversation, we discuss Jennifer's creative history—from childhood creativity and growing up with a typewriter and lamp-chair writing setup, to the lasting influence of religion and the sense of outsiderhood that shaped both her worldview and artistic voice. We discuss her movement between fiction and poetry, whether those creative instincts originate from the same creative space, and the realities of maintaining a writing practice beyond romantic ideas of inspiration.

Jennifer speaks candidly about discipline, resistance, self-doubt, and the emotional terrain of writing—why first drafts can feel exhausting, what revision gives back, and whether satisfaction comes from the act of writing itself or from seeing something new brought into existence.

We also spend time discussing The Tinder Sonnets—a collection based on Jennifer’s experiences navigating dating apps and modern relationships in middle age. Our conversation touches on vulnerability, confession, female desire, misogyny in contemporary dating culture, and the expectations society places on women as they age. Jennifer reflects on writing openly about intimacy and emotional complexity, what it means to transform personal experience into poetry, and whether the collection brought clarity, confrontation, or simply another way of living alongside difficult truths

Contact Jennifer:
Purchase The Tinder Sonnets: bookhugpress.ca Instagram: @jenlg52

Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:

Prentice Powell – True Love
Instagram: @prenticepowell1906 Website: prenticepowell.com

Asia Samson – Enough
Instagram: @theasiaproject Website: theasiaproject.com

Alysia Harris – Death Poem
Instagram: @poppyinthewheat Website: alysiaharris.com

Kyla Janee Lacey – I Pulled Out A Knife On Him
Instagram: @kylajlacey Website: thatswritekyla.com

Emi Mahmoud – Window Games
Instagram: @emibatuta Website: emi-mahmoud.com

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