“As Unnoticed As Possible” by Michael Trussler, Honourable Mention Winner of Vallum’s Annual Poetry Award 2020

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18:1, 2020, Annual Award, As Unnoticed As Possible, honourable mention, Michael Trussler

As Unnoticed As Possible

— for Lucy, our original mother

 

There’s almost always
two of them: mother

and (or mother with)
her child up against             

a tilting shoulder, a breast
about to tire     and four
separate
                        hands
                  each gathering
                    its own task
                    each finger
                an annunciation
                      of trust. Care. And this particular pair, an almost

young Australopithecus looking faraway down
into the distance yet beneath and between us, her

offspring, a toddler mesmerized by something
looming behind what’s already here,
this ancestral pair—the colour
of sun-tape over shadow—is
factory-made from plastic, is
                                     conjured
from the gasoline haze
from the gasoline haze
the toy city, an unforeseen cosmopolis done in
by polymers, some in the neonatal
intensive care unit, and others inside
our luminous and ever-improving tooth paste. River run, an infinite

regress of bodies ↔ these Instagram islands:
a floating montage from me    across to you     from
that jet trail passing instantly    to itinerant sea star to

whatever gods hummingbirds once knew, the telepathic and invisible
ones, she’s anxious       for me to learn      panic being
something     we both know.

 

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Michael Trussler has published poetry, short stories, and creative non-fiction. His short story collection, Encounters, won the Book of the Year Award from the Saskatchewan Book Awards in 2006. His collection of poetry, Accidental Animals, was short-listed for the same award in 2007. JackPine Press published A Homemade Life, an experimental chapbook blending photographs and text in 2009. The Alfred Gustav Press published the chapbook, Melancholy Girls with Sitar, in 2020. He teaches English at the University of Regina.

 

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This poem was published in the digital edition of Vallum issue 18:1, Invisibility. Available to purchase through our website. 

The Vallum Award for Poetry 2021 is now open for submissions! Check out the entry requirements on our website and submit your work to be one of our next winners! 

 

“Linger Factor” by Josh Feit, Honourable Mention Winner of Vallum’s Annual Poetry Award 2020

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18:1, 2020, Annual Award, honourable mention, Josh Feit, Linger Factor, Poetry Award

Linger Factor

The Department of Transportation sidewalk study ranked my neighborhood

15 points above average. A 24% linger factor.

My neighborhood would score even higher

if the DOT surveyed at night

when youth appear in clinamen lines.

The study found this: People who linger are

       talking to other people,  or buying         sandwiches,

                                                                                  

 using electronics,

                   browsing heirloom tomatoes,  playing cello,

              waiting for the bus,   watching an opera

singer,    giving directions to other people,   exercising,

  brushing someone’s hair out of their eyes,

stretching in the warm 21st century weather,    
 

showing signs of intoxication such as slurred speech or unfocused eyes,

        doing street upkeep like                          gardening or sweeping,

asking               for money or food,

            stopping, to take a cellphone picture of jets descending.

If you believe the local columnist, neighborhoods like mine,                         

where there’s evidence of Dvorak’s cello harmonics,

ruin everything.

39% of people who linger are reclining,

sitting on benches, for example, or leaning against a wall.

That’s what we were doing.

11% of people lingering are reclining on infrastructure not intended for reclining, which

indicates need for more infrastructure.

I was leaning on a wall talking to you. Waiting for the bus. Eyes unfocused.

Brushing your hair away from your face.

The linger factor was high.

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Josh Feit’s poems have been published in Spillway, CircleShow, Bee House, and The Halcyone Literary Review, among other journals. Feit was a finalist for the 2019 Lily Poetry Prize. He is the speechwriter for the Puget Sound’s regional transit agency.

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This poem was published in Vallum issue 18:1, Invisibility. Available to purchase through our website.

TheVallum Award for Poetry 2021 is now open for submissions! Check out the entry requirements on our website and submit your work to be one of our next winners!

2020 Year in Review: Part 2

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17:1, 17:2, 2020, 2021, Year in Review

To put it lightly, 2020 was a year of changes. We have all had to learn to adapt to this new way of living, yet despite physical isolation, we at Vallum feel so lucky to have been able to connect with you through the digital sphere. Thank you for helping us continue to share the art of poetry — we are truly humbled by the support of our community and send our sincere wishes of health and happiness to you and your loved ones for this year to come. 

Despite the many challenges and uncertainties of this year, we managed to launch Vallum: Contemporary Poetry issues 17:1 and 17:2, and publish four chapbooks: The Bannisters by Paul Muldoon, A Tilt in the Wondering by Nicole Brossard (re-release), It Was Treaty / It Was Me by Matthew James Weigel (1st Place in the 2020 Vallum Chapbook Award) and DC Poems by Joe Neubert (2nd Place in the 2020 Vallum Chapbook Award). Read about our new chapbooks here.

Judy Barlow won the 2020 Award for Poetry with “Walking Into East-end Toronto 2020” while Mary Trafford received second place with “Border crossings.” Honourable mentions went to Josh Feit with “Linger Factor,” Esther Johnson with “we lost ahmaud,” and Michael Trussler with “As Unnoticed as Possible.”

We also participated in virtual press fairs Word on the Street (Toronto) and Expozine (Montreal), and hosted outreach workshops with new facilitators and organizers. 

To reflect on the year, we asked this year’s contributors to share their thoughts on the books they read in 2020 and what’s in store for the year ahead.

Here’s what some of the writers published in our latest issues had to say:

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Aisha Hamid

Favorite Book of Poetry Discovered this Year
If They Come For Us by Fatimah Asghar. As a student of poetry, I found the deconstruction of form refreshing; it opened up endless possibilities for me.  

What’s on your reading list for 2021?
Calling a Wolf a Wolf by Kaveh Akbar, Living a Feminist Life by Sara Ahmed, Are you Enjoying? by Mira Sethi, If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha.

Best Writerly Advice. 
Notice the ordinary and the everyday – that’s where poetry is. And read books by womxn of color.

2020 Year in Review: Part 1

Tags

17:1, 17:2, 2020, Year in Review

To put it lightly, 2020 was a year of changes. We have all had to learn to adapt to this new way of living, yet despite physical isolation, we at Vallum feel so lucky to have been able to connect with you through the digital sphere. Thank you for helping us continue to share the art of poetry — we are truly humbled by the support of our community and send our sincere wishes of health and happiness to you and your loved ones for this year to come. 

Despite the many challenges and uncertainties of this year, we managed to launch Vallum: Contemporary Poetry issues 17:1 and 17:2, and publish four chapbooks: The Bannisters by Paul Muldoon, A Tilt in the Wondering by Nicole Brossard (re-release), It Was Treaty / It Was Me by Matthew James Weigel (1st Place in the 2020 Vallum Chapbook Award) and DC Poems by Joe Neubert (2nd Place in the 2020 Vallum Chapbook Award). Read about our new chapbooks here.

Judy Barlow won the 2020 Award for Poetry with “Walking Into East-end Toronto 2020” while Mary Trafford received second place with “Border crossings.” Honourable mentions went to Josh Feit with “Linger Factor,” Esther Johnson with “we lost ahmaud,” and Michael Trussler with “As Unnoticed as Possible.”

We also participated in virtual press fairs Word on the Street (Toronto) and Expozine (Montreal), and hosted outreach workshops with new facilitators and organizers. 

To reflect on the year, we asked this year’s contributors to share their thoughts on the books they read in 2020 and what’s in store for the year ahead.

Here’s what some of the writers published in our latest issues had to say:

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Archana Sridhar

Favorite Book of Poetry Discovered this Year
Cluster by Souvankham Thammavongsa

What’s on your 2021 reading list?
Luster by Raven Leilani and Just Us: An American Conversation by Claudia Rankine

Best Writerly Advice
Always carry a notebook or a piece of paper and a pen – in case inspiration strikes in a meeting or on a walk or even at family dinner… I am always surprised when a poem comes, and reminded of the importance to make space to welcome it.

 

 

Roxanna Bennett

Favorite Book of Poetry Discovered this Year
Side Effects May Include Strangers by Dominik Parisien (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2020) is a collection that means the world to me. It’s an intimate and insightful examination of pain written with exquisite vulnerability.

What’s on your reading list for 2021?   
Poetry-wise, I am super stoked for Khashayar Mohammadi’s Me, You, Then Snow (Gordon Hill, 2021) and for Kevin Heslop’s the correct fury of your why is a mountain (Gordon Hill Press, 2021). 

In terms of cultivating mindfulness in challenging times, I highly recommend these books to all beings:
Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain and Body (Avery, 2018) Daniel Goleman, Richard J. Davidson,
How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying (Penguin Press, 2018) by Michael Pollan,
The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living (Riverhead Books, 2009) by His Holiness the Dalai Lama,
When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times (Shambhala, 2007) by Pema Chödrön, 
Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation (Simon and Schuster, 2017) by Robert Wright. 

I also recommend reading nothing to develop a relationship with inner silence.

Best Writerly Advice. 
You don’t need advice, writerly or otherwise, you already know exactly what to do and have everything you need inside of you.