The Nova Scotia Advocate has always been honoured to publish the amazing writing of Angela Bowden. We did a long interview to mark the publication of her first poetry collection, Unspoken Truth. In the interview we explore some of the themes of her book, and how growing up Black in New Glasgow shaped her and helped her recognize the deeply traumatic impact of racism on generations of Black Nova Scotians.
I wasn’t planning for poetry this weekend, but that changed on the spot after reading this poem about ableism, Bill c-7, poverty, colonialism, and so much more, by the always brilliant Gabrielle Peters.
Resilient roots, an excellent new poem by Guyleigh Johnson.
I’m an African Nova Scotian
From sea to land and land to sea
There’s no way you can see Nova Scotia
And not see me
Check out this week’s weekend video, featuring Angela Bowden reading two of her poems, “Black Boy Guilty” and “The Belly of the Beast.”
The Visitor, a poem by Truro poet Lenora Steele about her friend Effie.
Effie is not
homeless, she has a room and a
kitchenette, a shared toilet, the landlord
is on a first name basis with
her social worker, Effie’s rent goes
straight to him.
Contributor Alexander Bridge, who usually writes about the state of the province, switches gears and offers some wisdom and hope here as we ring in the new year.
Poet meets polar bear: an animated film of a climate grief poem by Mad poet Anna Quon.
Once there were bears in California
the woods fat with their smell.
Once bears roamed among redwoods–
aged trees that wouldn’t be felled.
Bears Once, by Halifax writer David Huebert, is a poem about the grizzly bear, once prominent in large swaths of North America, now extinct in California and elsewhere. The poem could as well have been about Nova Scotia’s mainland moose.
let’s tend to the forests like prophets
encourage them to wilder in old growth
and watch them mature into being
raising forests is a poem by Mi’kmaw poet and story teller shalan joudry of L’sitkuk (Bear River First Nation). It’s from her latest collection, Waking Ground.