For the sake of not forgetting: 5 bits of Venice

Venice is a walking and a water city. This means the person you meet on the boat –– the public transit everyone takes –– you will likely see again in the square. It's a small, social city.

There are 53,000 local residents.. Every day 60,000 tourists weigh down the island for a few hours, then return to their cruise ships and leave. This makes it a teetering place. I picture the island itself as a raft that tilts to take on passengers and again when they leave.

It seems like a precarious balance for those who live in Venice: to host with kindness -- as they do -- and to maintain some privacy and space and quality of life. They attend to us. Me, a visitor too. I feel I'm somewhere between tourist and resident. And for some reason, with all my attention, I want to attend to the place and those I meet.

Happiness

“Happiness is coming for me unexpectedly from the sky somewhere over Thunder Bay, 1125 miles from where I’m heading, 10AM on the wing.”

A new poem in Queen’s Quarterly: “Happiness.”

Poetry, Featured PoemRonna BloomDecember 22, 2018poem, happiness

Life Lessons from a Writing Workshop

“One key barrier that I identified in my writing process, is the desire for what I write to be perfect right away.” Samara Moore, Gradlife Ambassador at University of Toronto reflects on a writing workshop and its applications.

Workshops, In The NewsRonna BloomDecember 12, 2018Life lessons, Writing

Don't Be Superficial, Cause We'll Soon Find Out

Last summer I was invited by The Brave Festival of Risk and Failure at Harbourfront to write poems for people on the spot. About 40 folks came over several days and I asked what they needed a poem for and then I wrote it. And then they took it and walked away.

At the start of my shift on the second day, a man was waiting there, eager. No excited. So into it, it made me nervous.

Poetry, RX for Poetry, Featured PoemRonna BloomNovember 12, 2018Happie Micha Edwards, Harbourfront Centre, Risk, Spontaneity, Poetry

The Poet in Community program at the University of Toronto-- It's time to make the connections

The Poet in Community program at U of T has been going now for 10 years and yet this is the first I’m writing of it here. Why is that? I’m asking myself. And I realize I’ve fallen prey to exactly what this program was created to counter.

Ronna BloomOctober 14, 2018

The More and the Toronto Book Awards!

I was bowled over this week to find my book, The More, on the longlist for the City of Toronto Book Award. What a gift to see it leaning up against the other longlisters. Thanks, City of Toronto Book Awards!

Ronna BloomJuly 13, 2018

New Poems

Two new poems in the summer issue of Juniper Magazine. Here's a bit from the first one called, "Speak Heart."

Featured PoemRonna BloomJune 29, 2018poems

On now in Toronto: PLANT Architect's installation of the poem, The City

Courtesy of PLANT Architects, my poem "The City" is now painted 20 metres long on King Street, Toronto as part of the King Street Pilot project. Here's what Azure Magazine had to say:

Poetry, In The News, Featured PoemRonna BloomJune 3, 2018