Please note: this reading takes place on Saturday, not our usual Sunday


Saturday, September 18
7:30 pm

Concordia Coffee House
2909 NE Alberta

$5.00 suggested donation


Jen Currin was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, and lived in Boston, upstate New York, Denver, and Tempe, Arizona, before settling in Vancouver, B.C. in 2002. Jen teaches writing and literature at Vancouver Community College and Langara College. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing and an MA in English, and has published three books of poetry: The Sleep of Four Cities (2005), Hagiography (2008), and The Inquisition Yours (2010).

Grafitti or You are on Yew Street
 
We have been busy hating
& making home-spun slogans.
 
Very busy. A canister of you
is a canister of me.
 
Walls: We can climb them,
knock them down, or dissolve...
 
Someone wants to respond,
to enter an egoless room.
 
You are on Yew Street
facing audio charges,
 
half-stepping, afraid of drama & editing.
 
But the undo mob isn't angry.
They're busy loving everything.
 
Taking fire-walking classes,
wondering if the compost worms will eat glass.
 
It's not just manipulations on a page.
 
She let the children throw rocks at her.
 
It's not just paragraphs someone wants to call emotional.
 
Every dog must learn repetition:
 
Hey, let's go downtown and pick up some costumes.
 
& unlearn:
 
My mask--doesn't quite fit.

Jen Currin