Yep, she was a great show down at The Artery last evening. It was the (annual?) Talonbooks Launch and it was great evening of verse featuring George Bowering, Weyman Chan, Stephen Collis, Garry Thomas Morse, and Frank Davey. George kicked it off with some experimental and playful verses (“piss on it, I’m old enough that I can explain my poems”); Weyman kicked out what could have been the world’s best Star Trek poem (although, he didn’t do it in Kirk’s voice); Stephen gave us some beautifully scathing commentary on our disposable culture; Frank Davey wowed with a series of funny/evocative poems featuring Google search results; and Garry shut it down with the ghost of Jack Spicer and a stirring, haunting, yet-to-be-published piece. Some awesome stuff, and by all accounts the authors did well at the book table. Congrats to Talonbooks and all the authors!

Today’s Events

Now, let’s plan out today’s events. At noon, you’ve got a Book Chat featuring local star Laurie MacFayden in conversation with George Bowering. that’s at 12:00noon, at CBC Center stage, downtown in the City Center Mall.

At 7pm, you’ve got the Writer’s Guild of Alberta’s Poetry Award Shortlist Bash featuring the poets that have been shortlisted for the prestigious Stephan J. Stephansson award. It goes down at Audrey’s Books 10702 Jasper Avenue, 7pm.

At 8pm you’ve got the Poetry Slam Finals. This’ll be a super-freakin’-cool event that chooses Edmonton’s first slam team! This is presented by the Breath In Poetry Collective, who have been holding slam semi-finals for the past few months. I hear the competition has been excellent, and it’ll be great to see the results, because E-Town needs a slam team. Here’s the lineup of readers. This happens down at The Artery, 9535 Jasper Avenue, 8pm.

And that’s it for now. Hope y’all are enjoying the festival! I tell ya, the weather sure helps doesn’t it? See you ‘round.