"I tell it like it is, but always with empathy. Because I found empathy to be the most important thing."
Category: Poetry
Elegant Eliminations
An elimination is a poetic form where you don't write the words. You erase them. Take any stanza or paragraph with a rich, evocative vocabulary. I for example chose a few pages from James Frazer's classic work of anthropology The Golden Bough. Any other kind of text can fit just as well as any other--the …
“Gecko” : a poem for Michael Ondaatje
Two weeks ago, my seminar class on Michael Ondaatje got together to put on a fantastic presentation for Professor Robert Lecker. We were reading Ondaatje's poem "Tin Roof" and instead of writing a four-page essay response, which we are supposed to do every week, Prof. Lecker told us to go do something as a group. …
Poetry Launch Parties: The Veg and Scrivener
Last week's launches for Scrivener Creative Review at Kafein last Thursday and The Veg at Le Cagibi last Friday were a success. There were many talented readers at both launches. At Kafein for the Scrivener evening, speakers recited their poems like real hipsters in front of the electronic keyboard in the lounge area of the …
Continue reading Poetry Launch Parties: The Veg and Scrivener
“Anticlimax”
My most recent poem to be published was printed in Read this Dammit!'s January edition: "Janus: God of the Gateways." You can pick up a copy on McGill campus in the news racks in the Leacock Building or at the MacLennan Library. I am quite happy that I was able to read it at the …
“Ice Breaker”
Last Monday, the Fall edition of the McGill student literary journal STEPS was published, with my poem in it! . It's a reflection on arctic blizzards and hallucination--seeing things in randomness when there's no one else around to contradict you. . Bonus marks: Can you spot the allusions to Frankenstein and Don Quixote? If you …
Poetry Reading at Le Cagibi!
This Monday marked the occasion of my second ever poetry reading, where I recited "Ice Breaker" (which is this Friday's post), "St. Francis of the Amazon," "Seagull," and my final, uproarious poem "Anticlimax." The venue was in the backroom of Le Cagibi (pronounced KAH-jeh-bey, or "KGB" in phonetic Quebecois French), a hipster, student-populated restaurant on …
The Beets
Nothing like a good pun to lighten the mood on a Friday evening--or a Monday morning ... whenever you happen to read this. Fairly self-explanatory, but I would encourage anyone who takes a peak at this to learn more about the Beat Generation. Ever put some Jack Kerouac in your salad? I hear it's tasty...
Vegetables of the Romantic Period
Here are simply a few humorous pictures I drew last semester for The Veg magazine, a McGill student literary magazine (not actually vegetable-themed, but that's kind of a running joke...) You will recognize that the vegetables are all based on Romantic poets. Worth a laugh, I think. Kinda fits too--weren't the Romantics nature poets? Now …
“What Walmart Smells Like”
Being forced through the automatic doors of a Walmart one evening last winter with my family, I decided to deconstruct the experience of the torture that is globalized shopping by paying close attention to the most potent, yet misunderstood of the five senses. I hope you enjoy this post, as a break from my usual …
Matthew Rettino 