I’ll be heading over to CP24 this Sunday afternoon, March 10, to be interviewed about my new role as Toronto’s Poet Laureate. The interview will take place in studio around 3:00pm. Tune in to CP24 Toronto via your television provider, stream on CP24.com/now [you might need a cable subscription to access this feed] or check […]
On Friday, March 8, I spoke with CBC Metro Morning’s Matt Galloway about my new role as the City of Toronto’s Poet Laureate. And I read my poem, “The Worm Picker.” You can listen to the segment here. CBC Metro Morning airs on CBC Radio One 99.1 Toronto, Weekdays from 5:30-8:30 am.
CBC Metro Morning Interview Read More »
This morning, at a meeting of the Economic and Community Development Committee at City Hall, I was honoured to be chosen as the next Poet Laureate of the City of Toronto. This appointment must still be made official in a meeting of City Council on March 28, 2019. Per the City’s Press Release: “The position
Toronto’s Next Poet Laureate Read More »
This fall, Lummox Press released Tamaracks: Canadian Poetry for the 21st Century, an anthology edited by James Deahl. Tamaracks presents the work of 113 Canadian poets from Halifax (Brian Purdy) to Vancouver (Daniel Eliza). The anthology contains 183 pages of poetry and 54 pages of full bibliographies and biographies. Included are many new and veteran
Tamaracks Anthology Now Available! Read More »
Fellow poet Anna Yin has translated five of my poems into Chinese for Poetry East West. You can read them HERE. Two of these translations also appear side-by-side in the quarterly, Poetry Sky. You can read those HERE. You can find Anna Yin online at annapoetry.com. Enjoy! 他们为何祈祷 他们所祈祷的似乎并不多，已有的一份领地，尽管尘土飞扬的杂草延伸到天空：一片草地，树木轻微环绕，起伏着，错综复杂的斜坡由溪流穿过，再在湖泊，水域和芦苇沼泽旁平静歇息。微风吹过，波纹泛漾如音乐;海洋，在高处可见，从树林丛中闪闪发光，近得就像当你沉默时在内心深处可以听得见。阴处和影子：那是被大地的绿树手指保护着和湿润着的向太阳和天空的开放。然后在这些先决条件下将有一些事情发生：女人在满堂的光亮中和黄昏水面投影前歌唱;并且以某种方式一起生活不成为一个丑闻和一个耻辱。
Translations by Ann Yin in Poetry East West and Poetry Sky Read More »
… The song needs only paltry you to live. lt wants to catch the blood of your wandering attention, drink it, give it a body. My poem, “Descent to the Dead” is today’s featured poem on Poetry Daily. Click here to read the poem in full. Poetry Daily chose “Descent to the Dead” from the
“Descent to the Dead” Featured on Poetry Daily and in Vallum 15:2 Read More »
When reading The Sparrow, Moritz’s latest selected poems, I was taken aback by how fluid it all seemed—it felt like reading a single, very long, very old sequence that is determined to smoke-out something from a thick, thorny brush…its target unknowable, yet still set in its ways. I have an interview with James Linsday available
Open Book Interview Read More »
The poet is privileged to remember that sometimes, dark times, poetry is under the sign of hope, and hope only exists in any true sense when there is hopelessness. As part of their month-long #anansipoetryproject, Anansi is published a blog post or interview with each of the three poets on their spring roster. My short
#AnansiPoetryProject Essay Read More »
What a Broadside! To celebrate the launch of The Sparrow, Anansi has produced a Special Edition Broadside of my poem, “Death of a Sparrow,” in a limited release of 50. This Broadside was printed and bound at Coach House on bpNichol Lane. A select number of these prints will be available at the Anansi Bashes
Death of a Sparrow Special Edition Broadside Available from Anansi Read More »
The effects of Moritz’s poems are startling, unnerving, and deeply satisfying.” – Micheline Maylor Quill & Quire has published a starred review of The Sparrow in their April 2018 edition. In “A Resplendent Sparrow,” Micheline Maylor calls The Sparrow “an essential read.” Maylor identifies a “cohesive arc” to the selected, identifying both the optimism of the
The Sparrow Reviewed in Quill & Quire Read More »
Then the strong one was off, a willing arrow, gone, curving into the trees. -from “Death of a Sparrow,” The Sparrow I’m pleased to show off the cover design of my forthcoming book, The Sparrow: Selected Poems, A. F. Moritz, whose official “birth date” from Anansi is April 3, 2018. Many thanks to Alysia Shewchuk at
The Sparrow: Cover Design and Launch Dates Read More »
the chorus of mosquitoes there benevolent, their hum telling of sorrow overcome by good I am thrilled to have two new poems included in The High Window, Issue 6, Summer 2017 : The Dearest Freshness, and Origin of the Image. You can read them here alongside the work of several other poets. This summer, the High Window’s featured poet is Richard
Two New Poems in The High Window Read More »
Brian Campbell’s Shimmer Report is a book of artistic power and accomplishment, wisdom, and pleasure. Among its many dimensions, both of form and of subject matter, a notable one is its many wonderful developments of the theme, “Out of certain mud, we rose” (“The Arrow”): aspiration surviving and blossoming in the all-too-human facts of damage,
My Review of Campbell’s Shimmer Report in Vallum 14:1 Read More »
Still longing though long gone for the health of all forests and cities and one day to visit them… My poem, “You That I Loved,” from The Sentinel, has been reprinted in UofTMagazine’s Spring 2017 issue as part of their celebration of National Poetry Month in Canada. Also included in this edition are poets George Elliott
You That I Loved in UofTMagazine Read More »
The images and words, lying scattered, hear the line’s mute shape and come dancing to make up a body for it, visible and solid. I have a new poem in The Yale Review. “The Rhythm of Time” appears in the April 2017 issue [Vol. 5, No.2]. You can access “The Rhythm of Time” and the rest of the
“The Rhythm of Time” in The Yale Review Read More »
Last year, Prism International published a selection from my interview with James Wood regarding my most recent book of poems, Sequence. Below, you will find a transcript of that interview in its entirety. Sequence : An Extended Interview with James Wood JWW: What inspired the writing of Sequence? AFM: I think that primarily it came
Sequence : An Extended Interview with James Wood Read More »
A person is a vow, a promise he makes to himself and others, a faithfulness to a love, and not in the sense that we usually give to making a vow, but in the sense of a decision which is an orientation of the total self. CNQ, Canadian Notes and Queries, has published Evan Jones’ one-on-one
And yet it was this sense of poetry as a type of thinking that drew me to A Houseboat on the Styx and solidified my decision to devote the bulk of my literary activities to poetry. It seemed necessary to disavow all that my early life had been built on, but I had an awareness that doing
Autumn Getty Reads a Houseboat on the Styx Read More »
The High Window is a new quarterly review of poetry co-founded by David Cooke and Anthony Costello. It publishes poetry in English from poets in the UK and around the world. In addition, each issue contains an editorial, a literary essay, poems in translation, poetry reviews, and an occasional feature. I am pleased to have
Four Poems in The High Window Read More »
This week, PRISM magazine published a conversation I had with James Wood, entitled: “In poetry, what is learned is of the blood”: An Interview with Award-Winning Poet A.F. Moritz.” Here’s a sampling of the questions Wood asked me: What inspired the writing of your most recent collection, Sequence (House of Anansi, 2015)? How do you see the new book’s relationship
My Conversation With James Wood In This Week’s PRISM Read More »
Last Fall, I had the pleasure of reading at the Resonance Series in Montreal. Klara Du Plessis has curated the monthly readings at Resonance since 2013. When putting together a night, she aims to pair young, upcoming and established writers, and to complement poetry with prose. Not bound by style, all text-based projects of quality are welcome.
Read “Creating Despair” On The Resonance Reading Series Archives Read More »
In 2012, I delivered the Anne Szumigalski lecture of the League of Canadian Poets. This talk, now an essay, “A Garden Is Not a Place: Poetry and Beauty,” has just become available in the new book, Measures of Astonishment: Poets on Poetry, published by the League of Canadian Poets in conjunction with the University of
Measures of Astonishment Is In Print! Read More »
Authentic, lived experience is the means by which humanity can heal ‘the rift/between aspiration, delusion and your body’: the physical world manifests the spiritual and enables humans to ‘produce your own style or faith.’ The Toronto novelist, poet and critic, James W. Wood has reviewed my book, Sequence, for Stand magazine, a co-production of the
James W. Wood reviews Sequence for Stand Magazine Read More »
As part of Brick Books’ ongoing Celebration of Poetry, Elena Wolff has written about my book, Sequence. In reading Sequence I feel myself brought into an ongoing conversation—deep and old, yet new and ever-present. Immediate and accessible, yet challenging too. It resists interpretation, provokes interpretation, and personalization. I am drawn to locating myself within the work.
Elana Wolff Reads Sequence and Presents a Distillation Read More »
The result is a long poem that at different times appears modern and ancient, common and rare, solitary and communal. The effect works beautifully. What makes it so engaging? The answer seems to rest in a series of risky stylistic choices made by the author. As I said before, the reviews for Sequence are pouring
Patrick M. Pilarski reviews Sequence for Vallum Read More »
Events and moments slip the bonds of chronology to find connection, or sequence, through their common essence.. The reviews for my book, Sequence, are starting to pour in. Take a look at Alison Goodwin’s review on ARC Poetry Magazine’s website: Alison Goodwin, The Search for Wonder, A.F. Moritz’s Sequence.
The Search for Wonder Read More »
… Star systems were conceived and died in the silences between each two. New Poetry published a new poem of mine today. It’s called “The Clock.” I hope you’ll read it and enjoy it! Then,
Read “The Clock” on NewPoetry.ca Read More »
I have an essay and two poems in the October 2015 edition of The Volta online. This edition was edited and introduced by Johanna Skibsrud and John Melillo. Do read their fantastic introduction, The Art of Losing, and have a look around at the full complement of this month’s writers. Here’s a link to my
An Essay and Two Poems in The Volta Read More »
Words & Music is an hour-long weekly program on WMNR radio in which Will Duchon reads poems and pairs them with music he feels reflects the soul and energy of each poem. On Friday, May 22, Duchon featured my poem, “Better Days,” from The Sentinel, on the show, following it up by some “Reflections” by Duke Ellington. The
“Better Days” Featured on Words & Music Read More »
Along with fellow Anansi poets Erin Mouré and Karen Solie, I took part in a special Poetry Month Q&A for Open Book Toronto. You can find that interview here: Poetry Month Special: Talking with Anansi Poets A.F. Moritz, Erin Mouré and Karen Solie.
Open Book Toronto Poetry Special Read More »
As part of their celebration of National Poetry Month, CBC Books hosted a “Quickie Couplet Contest” on April 7th. Followers on Twitter and Facebook were invited to complete couplets whose first lines were provided by eleven Canadian poets. I was lucky enough to be one of those eleven poets. Here’s my couplet! How would you
CBC Quickie Couplet Contest Read More »
To celebrate National Poetry Month and the launch of my collection, Sequence, I took part in the CBC’s Magic 8 series of interviews. I had the pleasure of responding to questions posed by the following writers: Lynn Coady, J.B. McKinnon, David McGimpsey, Johanna Skibsrud, Kim Thùy, Alan Bradley, Charlotte Gray, and Shani Mootoo. Read the full article,
CBC Magic 8 Interview Read More »
To celebrate this month’s release of my new collection, Sequence, Anansi Poetry editor Damian Rogers met with me at the Royal Ontario Museum for a one-on-one interview. This interview is now available as Anansi’s inaugural poetry podcast! Here’s a link to the Anansi Poetry Podcast site. And here’s Anansi’s Soundcloud file: [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/200192584″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%”
Anansi Poetry Podcast with Damian Rogers Read More »
My new book of poems, Sequence, is now in print! Order the Book from Anansi now! Or, join me at the Toronto and Ottawa launches and purchase your copy in person! Sequence Anansi, April 9, 2015 from the publisher In Sequence, the reader accompanies the poet step after step and breath after breath through a haunting and
Sequence Is Now In Print! Read More »
Quill & Quire has given Sequence, my forthcoming book from Anansi, a starred review. Of the book, Candace Fertile writes: The contemporary long poem as conceived by Moritz includes several aspects: epic, lyric, collage, montage, narrative, and meditation. The title suggests movement, and the poem is all about movement, both physical and emotional, although the overall
A Starred Review of Sequence in Quill & Quire Read More »
Sequence has been featured on CBC’s Canlit 2015: 15 poetry collections to look for in 2015! Here’s what the CBC had to say about Sequence: The 19th poetry title by the former Griffin Poetry Prize winner and one of the country’s most revered living poets, Sequence offers a haunting world of intense observation. Built as one long poem,
Sequence is on the CBC’s CANLIT List Read More »
The Tradition has been chosen one of the first group of books to be offered in a print-on-demand edition in Princeton University Press‘s new Princeton Legacy Series, a group of titles republished as print-on-demand from the press’s history back to 1906. Here’s a look at the original cover, from 1986: And here’s a link to the
The Tradition: Print-On-Demand Read More »