four lines

Where we are shapes who we are. The four invisible lines of north, east, south and west have tangible impacts on our lives. We are looking for poems that exemplify this: poetry in place. Poems that are rooted in the earth. Poems that embody home. Poems that could only happen where you are right now.

Now that summer is here, four lines is back! Here are the winners from our last challenge! Check out the new art for each piece on our revamped website as well:

Summer is the time of heat and it's only getting hotter: heat domes smashing records, wild fires everywhere. The earth is heating up: permafrost and glaciers melting at record paces. Can you handle the heat? Is a hot day under the sun heaven or sweaty, oppressive torture?

Mild, medium, or hot? Spice is the spice of life! Do you need heat with what you eat?

Turn up the heat! Across the world people are turning up the heat on their governments and societies, confronting injustice and oppression. Who needs to feel the heat to make change happen?

What are your four lines on heat? Send them to me @

The #winter winners are here! Just in time for summer...

We want do more than make a token gesture and move on with our normal routine. We commit to representing all voices in the poetry we publish and to furthering the cause of reconciliation and equity in our country through educating ourselves and advocating for others to do the same. Please visit the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation online (nctr.ca) to learn about the history of residential schools and the calls to action made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

For Earth Day, a poem about the river that runs through the little patch of Earth I live on. What poems do you see on your little patch of Earth?

After talking time off for Easter, the next quarterly challenge is here: FLUX

Our world is in flux; our sense of normal is in flux; always in flux the future is. What are your four lines on flux, on change, on flow, on fluidity?

Challenge open until July 4th. Send me your lines @