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Life isn’t always good — or just. Then sometimes, it is. A week ago our featured poets, John  Barton and Tina Biello, both shared about the dichotomies of life. From the unforgivable behaviour by the British government towards Alan Turing, to the warmth and preciousness of familia, both Island poets held us captive with a couple of wonderfully superb readings.

Poetry is a good thing.

Next month promises to be just as rewarding. On August 21, we have two poets whom we haven’t seen at Poetic Justice in quite some time. Let’s see who’s coming…

Heidi Greco

Heidi Greco is a writer, editor, and sometimes-instructor. She and her partner live in a house in Surrey that might as well be nestled in a forest; it’s completely surrounded by trees. She’s a longtime recycler, composter and forager and can be found picking berries or mushrooms, depending on the season. Her poetry, fiction, essays and reviews have been published in a vast array of books, anthologies and literary magazines. In 2015, she had poems that appeared in four anthologies, including The Revolving City: 51 Poems and the Stories Behind Them. She has a new book forthcoming in 2018.

Christopher Levenson

Christopher Levenson settled in Vancouver in 2007 after 39 years in Ottawa, where he taught English and Creative Writing at Carleton University.  His eleven books of poetry include most recently Night Vision (Quattro Books, 2014), which was short-listed for the Governor General’s Award. First recipient in 1960 of  Britain’s  Eric Gregory Award, he also won Ottawa’s Archibald Lampman Award in 1987 for Arriving at Night, co-founded and was first editor of Arc magazine, and, with Rob Taylor, revived the Dead Poets Reading Series at the VPL. He translates German and Dutch poetry and is enthusiastic about South Asian Literature in English.

So mark your calendars for 3:00 p.m. on Sunday August 21, and in the meantime consider something you’d like to present at our Open Mic that day.  And here’s a shout-out to Poetry in the Park… this Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. It’s going to be good weather all week, so take it in. Check out their line-up here.

It was a barn-burner of beautiful poetry at June’s monthly reading. Not only did we have three very diverse but equally talented poets, but Fiona Lam, Jeff Steudel, and Alan Woodland were all superb at delivering their work in a professional and captivating manner. We even had a viewing of our first video poem at Poetic Justice!

In July, it’s going to be an all-Island affair when John Barton from Victoria and Tina Biello from Nanaimo join us. Once again, it will be a Poetic Justice debut performance for these two gifted poets.

John Barton

John Barton has published eleven books and six chapbooks of poetry, including West of Darkness: Emily Carr, a Self-Portrait (third bilingual edition, BushcekBooks, 2006), Hypothesis (Anansi, 2001), Hymn (Brick, 2009), For the Boy with the Eyes of the Virgin: Selected Poems (Nightwood, 2012), Balletomane: The Program Notes of Lincoln Kirstein (JackPine, 2012), Polari (Goose Lane, 2014), and Reframing Paul Cadmus (above/ground, 2016). Co-editor of Seminal: The Anthology of Canada’s Gay-Male Poets (Arsenal Pulp, 2007), he is editing The Essential Douglas LePan for Porcupine’s Quill. Born and raised in Alberta, he lives in Victoria, where he edits The Malahat Review.

Tina Biello

Tina Biello grew up in the small logging town of Lake Cowichan, BC. She studied Theatre at UBC and now finds herself writing. Since 2008 her poems have appeared in chapbook anthologies edited by Patrick Lane. Her first book of poetry, In the Bone Cracks of the Walls (published by Leaf Press) was part of a multi-disciplinary art exhibition of poetry, watercolour and music in Montreal, Vancouver, and Italy. A Housecoat Remains is her second book of poetry published by Guernica Editions in 2015. She also teaches performance mask to students all over Vancouver Island.

So mark your calendars for 3:00 p.m. on Sunday July 17, and in the meantime consider something you’d like to present at our Open Mic that day.  And here’s a shout-out to Poetry in the Park which kicks off its 2016 summer schedule on Wednesday, July 06.  Check out their line-up here.