"What started as a small sequence of poems about the Starbucks logo grew to monstrous proportions after the poet fell under a siren spell herself. All Day I Dream About Sirens is both an ancient reverie and a screen-induced stupor as these poems reckon with the enduring cultural fascination with siren and mermaid narratives as they span geographies, economies, and generations, chronicling and reconfiguring the male-centered epic and women's bodies and subjectivities."

The incredible Matthea Harvey, whose mermaid poems from If the Tabloids Are True What Are You? were a huge inspiration, had this to say:

Domenica Martinello’s “All Day I Dream About Sirens,” as its title advertises, blends marketing and mythology (“luxury in thread counts / in picking up the threads / of time)”. Poems about Parthenope, Melusine and the Sirens alternate with dissections of Disney and the mermaid-like creature found on a Starbucks cup of coffee. In this mishmash world, “The sun hangs in the sky like a logo” and “AquaMermaid classes rock suburbs,” where “‘it’s all about the tail, fitness and fantasy wise.’” She writes, “Have you ever tried / to profit from the tides? / It’s now almost impossible / to coax myths from the blue / patterned fabric of the world.” Almost. Somehow Martinello manages this and more. 

It was an unexpected surprise to find myself on the longlist for CV2’s 2018 Young Buck Poetry Prize (for real—a friend texted me about it and I was like huh??? I am??? Always a fun way to find out nice things).

The longlisted poem, “Just Desserts,” is something new and uncharacteristic for me. It’s a straightforward narrative lyric poem, which might be a safe zone or sweet spot for some, but is usually an uncomfortable and risky space for me.

It’s a welcomed push to continue with the new and to take personal risks—not only formal ones.

Come have some fun at a short writing activity with poet Domenica Martinello (me! hello!). From Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn” to Morgan Parker’s poems about Beyoncé songs, explore poems about art and write a few of your own. Even if the art is familiar, the results of ekphrastic (“descriptive”) poetry are often surprising. FREE and open to all.
Advance registration not required.

Save the date! Look forward to seeing you (and check our the other awesome free events happening in partnership with AWE). 

Achievement: Unlocked! Thanks to Guillaume Morissette for this photo, and for hosting. Feels really great to be back in Montréal for the foreseeable future.

Reading Emily Wilson’s new translation of The Odyssey inspired “Cattle of the Sun,” published in the new issue of Lemon Hound 3.0.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have several poems from All Day I Dream About Sirens surface in some pretty incredible places lately.

Check out an excerpt from DISNEY SONG published in the January/February Issue of THIS Magazine, ​PARTHENOPE & VIRGIL published on the DUSIE blog, and last but not least, the sprawling and angry THE IDEATION PROJECT (with accompanying audio!) published in Issue 40: Winter 2018 Issue of The Puritan.

Thank you for reading, friends!

Here’s an adorable picture of my best friend Rachel at the Quebec Writers Federation gala, accepting the carte blanche 3Macs Prize on my behalf for my essay “Ferrante in the Cellar: A Vulgar Appreciation” (more about the 3Macs Prize here.)

I'd like to take a moment to thank carte blanche, The Quebec Writers Federation, Klara DuPlessis, and especially Laurence Miall who solicited and edited "Ferrante in the Cellar," taking a blind chance on what I initially believed was an un-publishable piece of writing. Thank you to prize judge, the incredible Liz Howard, for recognizing my work—which feels like an award in and of itself. Also, huge congratulations to finalists Kasia Juno and Lauren Turner. I'm honoured to be in your company.

It’s official. ADIDAS lives!

The incredible Coach House Books will be publishing All Day I Dream About Sirens in Spring 2019. More details to come!

"The architecture of celebrated MFA programs like Iowa reinforces the forward-propelling notion that we are part of a lauded and historied trajectory of literary production, while also providing a feeling of quaint timelessness and suspension. Considering the dark and deranged global moment we’re currently occupying, it’s a multipronged sense of unnerve. The fierce preservation of processes, procedures, and customs all around me simply amplifies the great existential arbitrariness of it all."

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Read my latest essay, Ritual Nostalgia: Revising the MFA Stasis, and think through ritual, routine, and institutions with me.