quarandreams

created by: Maggie MacPherson (photography, poetry curation)
layout: Liz Wurzinger
poets: Leslie Joy Ahenda, Hari Alluri, Kai Bishop, Mikayla Cadger, Gilles Cyrenne, Miel Enage, Marisa Gold, Kyla Jamieson, Sonnet L’Abbé, Natalie Lim, Fiona Tinwei Lam, Kyle McKillop, Hasan Namir, Mala Rai, Christina Shah, John Swanson, Phoenix Winter, Northern Lights/Krystal Withakay, Liz Wurzinger, Lucy Yang

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In 2019 I was approached by Maggie MacPherson, a Vancouver journalist, photographer and artist, to contribute to a poetry collaboration she was initiating. The list of fellow poets was impressive, and I more than honoured to write ekphrastic poetry based on the mesmerizing photos she had taken during the pandemic.

Maggie created 2 photo series by dropping ink into water (in 2020, and again in 2021), which form the two respective chapters of the book. The mirrored images remind of Rorschach tests and invite the viewer to “plunge into perception”.

“A reflection of yourself can be found within these pages. Like gazing at clouds or reading a poem, your mind will intertwine what you know with what you see […]”

Eager to play with typography and layout alongside the written word, I couldn’t hold back offering my help in designing the book. Out of it bloomed a giving and inspiring collaboration I feel beyond grateful for, … and, of course, this wonderful book. (78 pages, 8x10”, soft cover)

It includes 29 colour images, accompanied by 29 poems, written by a diverse group of 20 BC poets, including Vancouver’s current Poet Laureate Fiona Tinwei Lam, who I was also lucky to study under in the Simon Fraser University poetry program a few years ago. 

Quarandreams can be purchased here.