The Hummingbird Podcast

Noticing. Moving out of autopilot. Actively making decisions to notice. We chat about Anne Truitt’s book Daybook: The Journal of an Artist. Jessica reads a recent sensory inspired piece. Catherine shares the story behind her poem “Sleep Patterns for Seamus Heaney.” And we have fun with the word “colloquium.”  Join us for the last episode of Season Five!

We “sink in” to the role perception plays with art and writing. Catherine reads two excerpts from her novels (Quarry and The Most Cunning Heart) as examples. Jessica shares her poem “The Works,” a commissioned piece written when she was Poet Laureate of Cobourg. Plus we talk about portals, paying attention and writing through to see.

We talk about art as inspiration and connection. We share stories about visiting art galleries and our powerful one-on-one experiences with art. Catherine shares two poems that connect to two book covers “Troll Was No Monster” (Winterkill) and “Cancer in the Celery Forest” (The Celery Forest). Jessica shares her poem “Windblown Group of Seven,” inspired by a sketch by Tom Thompson of a landscape she knows and loves dearly.

We explore what this word means to us as creators, from the silly to the serious. Plus the role of intuition, practice and inner knowing. Jessica shares her poem “On Deciding on Learning to Write” and talks about her experience with writing workshops. Catherine shares two poems that bookend her writing journey: “Pupa” the title poem from her first book and “Part of the Song Where the Dead Come From” from her latest book, Put Flowers Around Us and Pretend We’re Dead: New and Selected Poems.

Beginning ideas, sustaining ideas, consuming ideas—how as creators do we relate to this word? Jessica shares her poem “The Crossing of Candle Eyes” and Catherine shares three short poems inspired by her mother: “The Red Element” “It’s Only Her Piano Face” and “ My Suburban Forest.”

While staying in to rest and heal what occupies our mind and imagination? What does it mean to “clean house”? How do we know what to hold on to and when to let go? We explore these things in dialogue and in poetry. Jessica shares two poems: “Leaving Home” and “Shine Firefly” and Catherine shares her poems “Freckle” and “Father’s Tattoo.”

Writing, resting, going inward, the importance of self-care. Letting go. Balance. Writing through dark times. Balancing our creative life with teaching. Valuing our own rhythm. Catherine reads an excerpt from her memoir Aether: An Out-of-Body Lyric and Jessica reads an excerpt from a book about Métis beadwork.

What might our dreams teach us? Catherine shares her poem from the Niagara Falls Poetry Project “The Water Draws.” Jessica shares her poem “When.” Plus sleep habits, reading habits and Raymond Carver’s poem “Late Fragment.”

How do you know you are a writer? Is it possible to find poetry in the everyday? What’s it like to share raw work? What might we do with our dream lines? Catherine shares her poem “Last Shadow” and Jessica shares a new poem “Robin Takes a Break.”

What assists us when we’re learning? What happens when we’re open and curious? Learning isn’t always easy and the unknown is our biggest teacher. Yet, how as writers do we share what we’ve learned? And what does the Medicine Wheel teach us? Catherine shares her poem “The Girl without Birds at the Top of the Stairs” and Jessica shares her poem “To Begin Again.”