Lynn Pickering’s interview with JC aired on Sunday, April 7, after the noon news on 99.3 County FM’s The County Reads… The County writes.

JC read her ecletic selection of poems written by poets from the mid 1800’s to today. “Since Prince Edward County is on the path of totality for the April 8 eclipse of the sun, what better way to mark this occasion than with poetry that offers glimpses into its light. Such an eclipse won’t happen again in the County for more than 400 years, which is well past my best before date!” JC added.

Among the poems she read were words written by Bliss Carman, Robert Louis Stevenson, Walt Whitman, Philip Larkin, Mary Oliver , Robert Bly, and Richard Wagamese.

 

Here’s the link to the story on countylive.ca about the Prince Edward County Authors Festival’s County Reads debate at which JC will champion ALL THE COLOUR IN THE WORLD, the C.S. Richardson novel which was a finalist for the 2023 Giller Prize.

https://www.countylive.ca/five-residents-will-defend-favourite-books-at-county-reads-debate/

 Five panellists will attempt to persuade the in-person audience that their title is THE one which everyone in Prince Edward County should read. After the pitches, members of the audience vote, and the winning book emerges from that process.

 “I chose ALL THE COLOUR IN THE WORLD by C. S. Richardson, a finalist for the 2023 Giller Prize, because I could not put it down!” JC explained. “And it’s not a whodunnit!”

 JC looks forward to the debate and encourages friends and colleagues to attend the event and support her choice! County Reads takes place at St. Mary Magdalene Church at 335 Main Street in Picton, Ontario, on Thursday April 18 at 7:00 PM.  Tickets are available at Library branches in the County and at the door. For further information, go to:

peclibrary.org/countyreads

JC was a panellist in the wrap-up event at the Picton Armoury for the first County Arts Mentorship Program, which began in October, 2023.

 JC spoke first on the panel and described how she worked closely with County poet Heather Lindsay over the four core months of the mentorship. She discussed how their collaboration evolved and what she brought to the table. Here’s The Picton Gazette’s great story on the event with the fine photo of Heather and JC taking part in the panel.

https://pictongazette.ca/post/collaborative-creation

Here’s CountyLive’s take on the culminating event:

https://www.countylive.ca/county-arts-celebrates-mentorship-program-success/

And here’s the link to how the Wellington Times captured the story:

https://wellingtontimes.ca/mentorship-program/

“In my writing career, I have been fortunate to have been mentored by the best (Olive Senior, Miller (formerly Sylvia) Adams, and Allan Briesmaster), and I have worked with poets aged 7-97! This focussed program gave me the chance to share my experience and expertise and, at the same time, to learn from my mentee, Heather Lindsay, ” JC explained.

“Serving in the first mentorship program to be offered in the County was a true privilege. I thank County Arts for giving me the opportunity.”

Yes, it finally snuck into my life. In spite of my diligence for almost 3 years in wearing a mask and gloves in any indoor public space and handwashing/sanitizing until my hands felt raw, the current incarnation of the virus hit me like a fully-loaded truck.

I am grateful to have access to anti-viral medication which I hope will cut the severity of the disease. But getting COVID causes me to observe this:  Often, I was the only person masked indoors, the consequences of which are plain for everyone to see. ERs are overloaded as more as more people become very ill.

The lack of concern about how one person’s health can impact on others, particularly those most at risk– the vulnerable very young and the elderly — dominates herd thinking now. That’s more than a shame as it entails big time costs to society and each taxpayer.

Caring about the health of others needs to come back into fashion. Perhaps an influencer can help make that happen.

Here’s a piece from my collection with the working title REAPER, which contains short poems using words drawn from obituary notices and articles in the Toronto Globe and Mail. I hope to find a publisher for it in 2024. I write found poetry under my pseudonym, A. Garnett Weiss.

Best wishes to all for a healthy, happy 2024 and for healing for the world.

Masks

Satisfaction, a familiar face

come alive to teach containment,

relief and hope to the most animated,

although sometimes

at a price.

Sources: Words or phrases drawn unaltered from death notices and obituary articles published in the April 15, 2017 Toronto Globe and Mail.

 

 

 

JC thanks The Wellington Times for bringing her seasonal, prose poem, “Evergreen” to readers in Prince Edward County.

“For everyone who does not receive the print version of this weekly paper, here is the poem. I hope you enjoy it. Happy holidays to one and all.”

Evergreen

I unwrap the witch on her broomstick—a merry witch with red hat, plaid dress and a smile befitting a Christmas tree. I bought her at a shoppe filled with holiday fare in a small town on the way to Maine one July.

The hefty, ceramic angel in a tutu smiles from a nearby branch where a felted gnome in blue and white hangs below a pewter moose. The tin star from Mexico, each point a primary colour, reigns again after languishing in pieces until madcap glue reunited its halves.

I had not thought I’d have a real Christmas fir again. Holidays took us away from home to be with our children. With little joy, I divided decorations between them for their own trees, bid farewell in my mind as I saw how each ornament suited its new site.

Favourites I placed one-by-one in a box with compartments for bells, bears, birds, glass balls, figurines, snowflakes, and silvered spiderwebs.Just in case I should be lucky enough to have a real tree one more time.

I’m looking at our Balsam now. The story of each decoration returns to me as grandchildren find a perfect place on low branches for those not breakable. The younger boy I trust with tiny orbs in emerald. He keeps asking for one more.

When later I approach with fragile pieces for higher up, I see he has clustered the balls like grapes on one bough. He grins at me, says they are friends, like brothers, then crashes into his older sibling when my back is turned, their moment of harmony past.

 

 

 

On Sunday, December 10 on 99.3 County FM, the voice of Prince Edward County, JC recommended 5 poetry books in time for the holidays to Lynn Pickering, host of  The County Writes…The County Reads. 

 “What a challenge to decide which titles to feature in this interview. I chose poetry that illuminates this season of festivals of light, when there is such darkness in the world. I looked for poetry that spans the ages,” JC explained.

Her choices included the work of these fine poets: Rumi in the year that marks the 750^th Anniversary of the death of this Sufi mystic; Dylan Thomas; Lorna Crozier; J. Drew Lanham; Sharon Creech; and Edgar Lee Masters.

“If poets are prophets, how different would the world be today if Rumi’s views about systems of belief had held sway.”

JC read poems to illustrate why she made these particular recommendations and concluded her comments with a found poem from her new manuscript, Reaper, which she hopes a publisher will bring out in 2024.

 

Here’s the link to the Ontario Poetry Society’s contest which closes in mid-November:

https://www.theontariopoetrysociety.ca/contest-Found-Poem-Anthology-2023.html

JC can hardly wait to read the entries which are already coming in. “I enjoy found poetry, both when I create new work based on words or lines sourced elsewhere and also when I read what innovative poems others write. Found poetry is NOT a second class form of writing in my opinion but rather a way in which poets can find new ways of exploring and expressing their own unique points of view.”

JC encourages emerging and established poets to take the plunge into found poetry and to enter this contest.

“Halloween offers the chance to dress-up as someone or something completely different. Treat the creation of a found poem as a similar opportunity to embrace another dimension as a poet. I look very forward to my role as judge for the Ontario Poetry Society,” JC concludes.

JC and Carol have been writing collaboratively for many years. Their first full collection, which seeks a publisher, has the working title of BREATH OF SKY AND WATER. This manuscript includes the poem “Afloat on Flan Pond,” which California-based Silver Birch Press published in its series with spices and seasonings as the theme.

To read their ekphrastic poem, after an image by Will Cotton,  go to: https://silverbirchpress.wordpress.com/2023/10/03/afloat-on-flanpond-by-carol-a-stephen-and-jc-sulzenko-spices-seasonings-series/

“I enjoy writing with Carol because, for the most part, we find a way into each new poem that allows us freedom to riff off each other’s line or lines smoothly and yet to remain true to our own intention.

In BREATH OF SKY AND WATER, each poem demonstrates the power of ekphrasis, where one work of art serves as a springboard for another. In some cases, the poems we write stay close to the original artwork. In others, we stray farther afield. It’s always and adventure, ” JC adds.

Prince Edward County’s Arts Lab programming in October featured JC a weekend workshop which explored the synergy between collage and found poetry.

JC welcomed the participation of registered artists and writers. “I learn so much in such exchanges. It amazed me how many of us worked in both collage and in words with imagery related to trees.I thank each participant for the richness they brought to the time we spent together.”

 JC also looks forward to working with a mentee through the first mentorship program from October 2023 through March 2024

“I feel privileged to have these opportunities to work with County artists.

 “My approach to leading workshops and to mentoring remains consistent: I am not prescriptive. With the workshop, I seek to enable emerging and established writers and artists to enhance their capacities to express themselves through poetry. I always am eager to learn from and with them.

 “The mentorship program will allow me to develop a working relationship with the mentee writer over its 5 month period in a way which addresses and advances that poet’s goals. I look very forward to this unique program.”

Here is a link to the Arts Council October newsletter featuring JC:

https://countyarts.ca/artscene/jc-sulzenko/

I did not know what to do

                                

Let us stand here and admit we have no road,

though what we say can cover truth

beneath the bitter ground this year—

the past itself disgraced by the ferocity of the new

edges curling with blasphemy and blame—

oppression which preceded history.

Vigilant in anguish and unattended grief,

my own heart and I catch my breath in pain,

now ululate in deep despair,

in deep apology,

lonely for something, nameless as they had been

like shades of broken stars.

               Cento gloss

                Title: Olena Kalytiak Davis, “On the Certainty of Bryan”

                Line 1: William Empson, “Homage to The British Museum”

                Line 2: Fred Cogswell, “Black and White”

                Line 3: Susan Hahn, “January Ovaries”

                Line 4: Campbell McGrath, “Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool/The Founding of Brasilia (1950)”

                 Line 5: Molly Peacock, “Blasphemy & Blame”

                 Line 6: Richard Greene, “Independence”

                 Line 7: Gloria Burgess, “Blessing the Lepers”

                 Line 8: Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, “The Race”

                 Line 9: John Whitworth, “The Room under the Eaves”

                 Line 10: E. J. Pratt, “Come Away, Death”

                 Line 11: Claudia Emerson, “Cyst”

                 Line 12: Elliot Fried, “Daily I Fall in Love with Waitresses”

                (Lines drawn unaltered from Bricolage, A Gathering of Centos by A. Garnett  Weiss)