The Wordsfest Eco-Zine
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WordFest ECO-Zine 2020 — 1 Introduction: Acknowledgements: Welcome to WordsFestZine, a publication born An ambitious project of this nature could not out of a partnership among Words, Poetry London, have happened without a lot of coordinating efforts. Western University, and Insomniac Press. Our goal WordsFestZine would like to thank all of the Words- this year was to incite writing that mapped new Fest organizers, and in particular, Josh Lambier, of ways of thinking, new ways of being, and, most im- the Public Humanities Program at Western, and portantly, new ways of imagining the future into Brian Meehan, of Museum London. which we are stepping at this decisive moment in We would also like to thank Kathleen Fraser, of history. Our call was simple: we asked for works of Western’s English and Writing Studies, for facilitating prose, poetry, creative nonfiction, art, and hybrid student and faculty involvement in this project; and work that charted the possibilities of the present and the many energetic and dedicated WordsFestZine the multiple futures branching out of it, for works volunteers. that imagined new utopias. We are grateful for the many sponsors of Words, We have divided the WordsFestZine into three including the London Arts Council, who make the sections: “Pastorals and Post-Pastorals,” “Breathless festival possible. but Hopeful,” and “Unrealized Futures.” “Pastorals Finally, to all of those who submitted their and Post-Pastorals” contains work that grapples with creative works for this Zine: thank you! the beauty of this passing moment and looks towards “the new forms of beauty that are emerging from it. Breathless but Hopeful” contains work that makes Cover artwork: Ben O’Neil room for the possibility of hope among the multiplying tragedies or the world. And “Unrealized Futures” contains work that turns towards futures that are variably impossible, triumphant, terrifying and in- evitable. Publishers: Managing Editor: Senior Editors: Tom Cull and Mike O’Connor Aaron Schneider Erica McKeen Courtney Ward-Zbeetnoff WordsFest Zine, 520 Princess Ave., London, ON, N6B 2B8, www.wordsfestzine.com This publication is a partnership between Insomniac Press, Poetry London and WordsFest. Copyright of each contribution is held by the contributors and cannot be reproduced without their permission. 2 — WORDFEST ECO-Zine 2020 Contents Pastorals and Post-Pastorals: Unrealized Futures: Sameer Z. Hussain (Art): “Lockdown” 3 Arunkumar Periyasamy (Art): “Kaappu” 20 Jennifer Wenn: “Hatchlings” 4 Arunkumar Periyasamy (Art): “Maasu” 20 Richard-Yves Sitoski: “Anatomy of the ditch Arunkumar Periyasamy (Art): “Kaakka Kaakka” 20 and soft shoulder of Round Lake Road between Abbey Horner: “Fragmented Frankenstein: The the Sherwood River and the village of Eternal Justice of Man” 21 Bonnechere, Township of Laurentian Valley, Paula Ethans: “she tried to leave” 21 Renfrew County, Ontario, throughout the Peter Heft: “we finally took indigenous summer of 1977” 4 knowledge squid-fungi hybrid seriously” 21 Andrees Gripp: “The Ruses of Mild Air” 4 Gareth Boyle: “The Fear of Missing Me” 22 Lisa Marie Kovac: “Gruff” 5 Travis Thompson: “A ‘conflict with the unnatural’ Julian Matthews: “ORANGE” 5 world we have become accustomed to living” 23 Ryan Gibbs: “Coventry Gardens” 6 Mahdiyeh Ezzatikarami: “We Survived!” 23 Pauline Shen: “Raccoon under the yoga studio” 6 Isaac Sherry: “Mazzocchio” 24 Rebecca St. Pierre: “Returning” 6 Dieter Heinrich: “Found Notes of Rad Harkey, Paddy Scott: “Bio Metric” 6 Dated 2029” 25 Akshayaa Selvaraj: “YOU ARE THE UNIVERSE” 26 Breathless but Hopeful: Akshayaa Selvaraj (Art): “YOU ARE THE Rimaz Nazeer (Art): “Dear Pandemic” 8 UNIVERSE” 26 Kelly Ge: “BLUE” 8 Chelsea Heathcote: “Wasteland” 27 Marlyne Scott: “DA WOMAN YAH!” 8 Daniel Robinson: “A Lump of Iron Ore and Marlyne Scott: “MOTHER” 9 Some Squiggly Lines” 27 Arivukkarasi Manivannan: “Maybe it’s the time” 9 Kellie Choinard: “breathless but hopeful” 10 Contributors 29 Courtney WZ: “At-Home Agoraphobia” 11 Catty Greentree: “The Magic” 11 Samsara Leung: “Either Way: A Dialogue” 12 S. Jane Fletcher: “i am standing at the edge of the earth” 12 Akshayaa Selvaraj: “NATCHATHIRA KAADU – FOREST OF STARS” 14 Akshayaa Selvaraj (Art): “FOREST OF STARS” 14 Nirosha Shanmugam: “Madras Memories” 15 Nirosha Shanmugam (Art): “Journal Page 1” 16 Nirosha Shanmugam (Art): “Journal Page 2” 17 Thirupurasundari Sevvel: “The Long March, India, May 2020” 18 Alexas D’Entremont-Smith: “The Sky is Gone” 18 Marlene Laplante: “healing haiku” 19 WordFest ECO-Zine 2020 — 3 Pastorals and Post-Pastorals Lockdown by Sameer Z. Hussain 4 — WORDFEST ECO-Zine 2020 HATCHLINGS waiting to board the casino bus. By Jennifer Wenn Timothy stalks playing hockey with bottle caps. A dead ballpoint. A dead spark plug. A dead hair bar- rette. Fetal, cowering under a black haze, Cigarette butts like spent shell casings shrinking from the oncoming day from an epidemic of gun mishaps. insistently knocking at the window, Black-eyed Susans like the daisies’ hippie aunts. when comes the lure of the familiar burble: Bumblebees with their craftsman’s unhurried industry. My daughter, reaching out from half Monarchs like Frida Kahlo’s jewelry come to life. a world away, texting evening pictures Pieces of pink quartz as valuable to an eight-year old from a Sri Lankan beach, tiny baby turtles as a ruby crystal shooter, a heron feather, pushing up through the sand, breaking free, a Star Wars card, a porcupine’s quill. past the hand-lettered sign carefully marking A rusted motor oil can like a tin of peaches from the place and Christmas Eve embedding. Erebus. Another burble, more images from her, A bicycle like a vulture-scavenged calf. little ones skittering to the ocean Fragments of headlights from the impact between to claim their place. Entranced, modernity she celebrates her joy and wonder, and John Muir’s notebooks. transporting me, and I am there too, witnessing Fragments of taillights like the drops Queen Anne new hope taking its first steps. shed from her pricked finger, drops that land on gravel and turn it red, red as a setting sun that hasn’t yet de- ANATOMY OF THE DITCH AND SOFT SHOULDER OF ROUND cided LAKE ROAD BETWEEN THE SHERWOOD RIVER AND THE if it will rise on the morrow. VILLAGE OF BONNECHERE, TOWNSHIP OF LAURENTIAN VALLEY, RENFREW COUNTY, ONTARIO, THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER OF 1977 THE RUSE OF MILD AIR By Richard-Yves Sitoski By Andrees Gripp Queen Anne’s lace, finery around her neck In this warmer than normal winter, yet at her feet a not-quite carrot fit for a hermit’s bowl. the trees are budding early, The glint of something silver. Maybe a downed satel- in February’s lite. rain instead of snow. Maybe a Hostess salt and vinegar chips package. Pull tabs in the aggregate like crashed planes in the I feel I ought to go outside mountains. and bring some soothing tea, Molson stubbies between the devil’s paint brushes. play a tranquil song What was the devil painting if not himself drinking for harp and strings, beer? Daisies never to feel the sting of love, of lovers be the sandman for a spell, pulling their petals off to prove that love is only love send the rousing leaves-to-be when something beautiful is frittered by degrees. back into their shells, Mullein tough enough to earn a proverb’s chevrons. Inner tubes even tougher, lengths of intestine lest the winds return from the north, from some ill-tempered ruminant. puddles freeze over, The deer crossing sign buckshot in some Lascaux-era and greening branches waken act of sympathetic magic. to a bird-less lie of ice. Ditch lilies waiting to lend their name to a bar band. Dandelions with puffs of geriatric hair, grannies WordFest ECO-Zine 2020 — 5 GRUFF what’s useful? Seems everything you say or do By Lisa Kovac these days is insulting somebody.” The goat nodded grimly. “But we’re getting to know when we’re insulting “Who’s that tramping over my bridge?” asked the people,” he said. “I guess that’s the first step. troll. Maybe you could tell your girls it’s a different “You’re not supposed to ask that anymore, re- world where we’re all learning new things, and we member?” said the smallest Billy-Goat gruff. all take turns helping each other. Just now, your “All this no-more-checkpoints nonsense,” grumbled family needs some help. But you’re using it to get the troll. back on your feet, and then you’ll be the ones help- “It’s called the Troll Food Sector Regulation,” said the ing people.” Billy Goat. “What if I want to help people now?” “It lets lazy lay-abouts like you go wherever you like “You might volunteer,” suggested the Billy Goat. and eat the whole hillside up, no questions asked. “There’s a group that volunteers to build houses for Never leaving any grass for the other goats. And people, and if you do it all day, they give you a free then you just waddle off home and lay around until lunch. I bet they could use somebody to roll rocks your next feeding frenzy. And all those other little around, don’t you think? They’d be a good refer- critters that don’t get any grass would actually like ence to have, too, in this new kind of a world.” to do something to better the settlement, if they had the energy. Despicable. I was performing a service for the people when I was allowed to eat you greedy goats up.” ORANGE “Well, you can’t perform it any more. It’s a new world By Julian Matthews now. Nice goats with a new lawn-mowing business can get on with their lives without great rock-brains Today is a good day like you casting stones and aspersions.