What can a poem do?
In response to recent events in Ukraine and as an act of solidarity with people everywhere whose lives are endangered by violent acts, a group of Canadian poets have gathered to consider the powers of poetry for a troubled world.
Penn Kemp, Richard Yves-Sitoski and Susan McCaslin began the conversation on February 24, when the invasion of Ukraine started. The result --
#PoetsInResponseToPeril is a 3-part project, gathering Canadian poets in solidarity with Ukraine.
1) It is the book Poems in Response to Peril, bringing together 48 of our finest poets (including George Elliott Clarke, Goran Simic and Sheri-D Wilson) in an anthology in support of Ukraine. Contact Penn Kemp (pennkemp@gmail.com) for ordering details. All proceeds go to support for Ukraine.
2) It is a Zoom poetry event on April 2 at 14:00 EDT featuring over 30 poets from the book. To register, see rsitoski.com > News & Events > Poets in Response to Peril.
3) It is a YouTube playlist of videos by book contributors and other Canadian poets who share poems on the subject of art in times of peril, curated by Richard Yves-Sitoski. Here's my contribution: