The editors of a Vancouver Island poetry journal are pleased with the variety of works they received for their inaugural contest.
The latest issue of Van Isle Poetry Collective, which has been in production since 2020, includes poems by not only the top three winners, but by writers who made the long and short lists, and honourable mentions as well.
Editors April Hilland and Derek R. Swallow first compiled the long list from more than 120 submissions and presented it to Nanaimo’s poet laureate Kamal Parmar who then selected the short list and top three winners.
“Me and Derek were absolutely blown away,” Hilland said. “And the quality was amazing … It was really difficult because Derek and I look for different things, so it was interesting to put our lists up against one another.”
The editor continue to say that she and her colleague were both drawn to the “earthy” submissions that reminded them of Vancouver Island.
Hilland said Nanaimo, Parksville, Victoria and Gabriola Island had a great showing, but she would love to see the work of artists from more remote areas of the Island as well.
Although the journal normally operates as low barrier and doesn’t charge fees for submissions, the editor said a reading fee for the contest was implemented because she wasn’t sure how many entries they would receive at the get-go and felt the winning poets deserved a prize.
The three winning poems of the contest were Robert Bowerman’s No Place To Call Home, Alexandra Norman-Ross’s The Edge of Nowhere and Clare Sharpe’s Ashes.
“It shows what’s on the forefront of many of our minds through the region and it’s important to note,” said Hilland of Bowerman’s poem. “Vancouver Island has a very unique feel about its region, but it’s important to note how pervasive the problems we’re having in society are … Vancouver Island is not immune to the hardships that people are facing on the mainland or in other provinces.”
Errington-based photographer Micki Findlay, who is also a regular poetry contributor to the journal, submitted her photography to separate the sections, as well as the poem These Hands.
“She’s going through the images of driftwood, the old battered driftwood and the human connection to the ocean, and human connection to the land,” said Hilland of Findlay’s poem.
Copies of Van Isle Poetry Collective: Special Edition can be purchased at www.vanislepoetrycollective.com.
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