Devour: Art & Lit Canada – Issue 005 – Early April 2020 – 1st Special Panku Issue.

Devour: Art & Lit Canada is dedicated to the Canadian voice.

ISSN 2561-1321 Issue 005

Devour Art & Lit Canada

Find some of Canada’s finest authors, photographers and artists featured in every issue.

Photograph by Ann Di Nardo

The mission of Devour Art and Lit Canada is to promote the Canadian art world by bringing world-wide readers some of the best Canadian literature, art and photography.

ISSN 2561-1321 Issue 005 April 2020 Devour: Art and Lit Canada 5 Greystone Walk Drive Unit 408 Toronto, Ontario M1K 5J5

DevourArtAndLitCanada@gmail.com Cover Photograph – Ann Di Nardo

Editor-in-Chief – Richard M. Grove Layout and Design – Richard M. Grove

A special Panku issue for The Poetry Pandemic Project.

For this project the name “Panku” comes from a cross between the words “Pandemic” and “Haiku” = Panku. It is meant to be a humourous play on words. In these strange pandemic days, I thought it was time that we lightened up a bit so I started “The Poetry Pandemic Project”. We put a call our for uplifting, fun, light, amusing, pandemic poems in the form of a Panku. – See the call for submissions on the last page of this magazine.

Photograph by Ann Di Nardo

Devour Content Feature Profiles: Photographer – ( all photographs ) – Ann Di Nardo From the Publisher – Introduction – p. 8 – The New Norm – p. 9 From John B. Lee – Good-Morrow: Thoughts in a Time of Plague – p. 10 30 authors from around the world listed in order as they arrived in our inbox: – Kimberley Grove – Ontario, Canada – Kate Marshall Flaherty – Ontario, Canada – Anne-Marie Burrus – Ontario, Canada – j.a.farina – Ontario, Canada – Elaine Foreman – Ontario, Canada – Ed Baranosky – Ontario, Canada – Keshab Sigdel – Kathmandu, Nepal – John B. Lee – Ontario, Canada – Jorge Alberto Pérez Hernández – Gibara, Cuba – Les Robling – Ontario, Canada – Naina Dey - Kolkata, West Bengal, India – Gopal Lahiri – Kolkata, India – Ellen S. Jaffe – Ontario, Canada – April Bulmer – Ontario, Canada – Ed Woods – Ontario, Canada

– Giti Tyagi – Karnal, India – Kathryn MacDonald – Ontario, Canada – S.L.Peeran – Bengaluru, India – Kathy Figueroa – Ontario, Canada – Graham Ducker – Ontario, Canada – Miguel Ángel Olivé Iglesias. Holguín, Cuba – Michael Levy – Florida, USA – Taylor Graham – California, USA – Vessislava Savova – Sofia, Bulgaria – Julie Abouchar – Ontario, Canada – Glória Sofia – Cabo Verde – Germain Droogenbroodt – Spain – Stefanie Bennett – Sydney, Australia – Raad Kareem Abd-Aun – Babylon, Iraq – Richard Stevenson – British Columbia, Canada

Devo ur : Ar t and L i t C anada

The Poetry Pandemic Project Well here I am in mid‐April collecting and compiling poems for The Poetry Pandemic Project. It was just a few nights ago on April 09, while I was laying in bed listening to a CBC radio program called “As It Happens – The Midnight Edition”; Carol Off and Chris Howden always have a great lineup of guests.

Well the one that caught my ear that night was about a New Yorker that started writing “Honku” poems in reaction to the honking cars outside his window. You will have to listen to the podcast to find out more.

For me, as a publisher and writer, this episode got my gears churning. I decided right then that what the poetry world needed was an upbeat poetry pandemic project so I invented the Panku which is a mix of the two words Pandemic and Haiku. By the time I finally fell asleep I had written over a dozen Panku poems. Tossing and turning after I finally turned off my night light I decided to put out a “call for Panku poems” to my poetry colleagues. So here we are on Sunday, just 4 days later, and I have enough Panku poems from around the world for this special issue and two days later I have it finished and live at www.issuu.com. I will keep collecting and publishing Panku as long as the submissions keep coming in but for now this first special issue if here in your hands.

Aside from “The Poetry Pandemic Project” I had written this short prose piece, the 13 th in the series, of my Not‐So‐Old‐ Geezer social commentary pieces. So here it is below. I hope you enjoy this issue of Panku poems and pass the word that the first issue is published.

All the best, Publisher, Richard M. Grove (Tai as I am know to fellow writers)

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The New Norm Now here is a strange not‐so‐old‐geezer McDonald’s experience I wish none of us ever had to experience but it is after all the new‐ norm and has become not all that strange. The date of April 06, 2020 will give you a clue of just how normal this new‐norm‐ bizarre experience is or isn’t. I am in Toronto on The Danforth and pulled up to the McDonald’s drive‐through with my wife to pick up three large coffees and a muffin – the Fruit and Fibre muffin was for me. The non‐decaf was for Kim’s girlfriend that was biking to meet us from her home, a short distance away. We are not allowed to meet in her back yard even if we stay two meters apart so we planned to rendezvous at McDonalds in the parking lot. As was anticipated, and is the new‐norm, only the drive‐through was open. The high‐carbon‐foot‐print line was ten cars deep, maybe not so long considering the strange social climate, even though it was well past noon on a sunny pandemic day. We received our coffees in surprisingly quick order and pulled up to wait for Kim’s girlfriend to pedal up for a two meter distant chat. When she arrived she was afraid to pull up to our car and even stand two meters away because there was a police cruiser parked having a McDonald’s coffee break just two cars away. We all joke about city construction workers and police being on duty while in a coffee line. Even though they deserve a coffee break it is still a weird idea that I have to sit in my car facing a police cruiser sharing, with them, our McDonald’s pandemic calming moment. Thank heavens for cell phones; Kim pranced around the corner to meet her girl‐ friend with their coffees while I luxuriated in the sun‐warmed car listening to jazz on the radio snoozing in my fearless‐pandemic moment of tranquility. So not all that bizarre but bizarre enough for this not‐so‐old geezer.

Richard M. Grove

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Good‐Morrow: Thoughts in a Time of Plague And now good‐morrow to our waking souls, Which watch not one another out of fear; For love, all love of other sights controls, And makes one little room an everywhere. … lines from “The Good‐Morrow” by John Donne

The local playground is closed. The gate locked against an intrusion of children. The swing set marked off like a crime scene.

Meanwhile, with a red flash of crown feathers, a single flicker feeds in among a drab multitude of ground sparrows. And spring is waking the earth with a restless stirring of toad consciousness as it is with the slow movement of frost‐ nudged stone – a brown responding.

Chorus frogs in a full‐voiced choir sing wordless hallelujahs of swamp sex in a promiscuity of life‐greening primavera thriving on the verge of the mucky swale.

At five in the afternoon a solitary bald eagle glorifies blue heaven coursing west over the bay, heading home to the high thatch of his aerie, that rough nest kindling under his talons like the slow burn of a fire he’s banked for dreaming.

Though April is here the gull‐busy town beaches remain winter lonesome. The walking trails stretch like ghost paths leading deep into a forbidden forest. The sidewalks become

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an echo chamber of footfalls and the quiet streets are haunted by an eerie silence in an absence of auto‐ mobiles. Out of doors the world seems surreal, post‐ apocalyptic, gothic, cursed by an enchantment as we live locked in, peering through curtains like ghouls behind lace. How long must we endure?

Someday soon we’ll glimpse the smile behind the gossamer mask. Until then, remember the size of life, how it out‐ reaches us, as we stand both under and within heaven, our vantage limited only by our individual imagination and the quality of our individual attention. Poetry may not be sufficient to fend off the loneliness of life in this age of confinement but it may, in the words of the poet make of one little room an everywhere.

John B. Lee Author of over 60 titles (See the cover of his newst book on page 84)

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Les Robling Ontario, Canada

Easter Sunday bell ringing comfort shutting out the silent intruder

Kate Marshall Flaherty Ontario, Canada

Blue Flame let’s all light a candle— the greater the gust, the hotter the oxygen.

John B. Lee Ontario, Canada

in fear of this virus the good American buys a gun

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Jorge Alberto Pérez Hernández Gibara, Cuba

Gibara was in a great motion just one man enter infected now we are noiseless.

Miguel Ángel Olivé Iglesias Holguín, Cuba

Light Tremors grip as I turn to pray trustful He will hear me and heal us all – His light.

Ellen S. Jaffe Ontario, Canada

Day in the Life Bake cookies, watch movies, then go admire the daffodils – which adamantly refuse to stop blooming.

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Photograph by Ann Di Nardo

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Photograph by Ann Di Nardo

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Antony Di Nardo Cobourg, Ontario

Panku Wings Sometimes I have angels in my hair …

Gloria Sofia Cabo Verde

The melody of the sun echoed In the sky window The virus poems hurt The voice of the city

Marie‐Lynn Hammond Ontario, Canada

What’s the time?

Oh wait.

As Buddy Holly said, I guess it doesn’t matter anymore.

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Michael Levy Florida USA

Closed schools leaess trees awaiting budding scholars.

Giti Tyagi Karnal, India

LIGHT Sparkling rays, hope spread wide, The light at the end, Of the pandemic in sight!

Naina Dey Kolkata, West Bengal, India

In a queue A meter apart You pretend ignorance Love lost over the last loaf

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Graham Ducker Ontario ,Canada

Why does it take an emergency to create an atmosphere of sharing and caring?

Ed Woods Ontario, Canada

fatigued from news we help seniors their praise of appreciation we will hug months later

Jorge Alberto Pérez Hernández Gibara, Cuba

Calm seas, black in the bottom a school of fish do not need to keep 6 feet apart.

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Antony Di Nardo Cobourg, Ontario

Panku Headset I carry books I carry nonsense I carry anything you can imagine

Marie‐Lynn Hammond Ontario, Canada

Four weeks isolated alone.

Look for pluses: All the garlic you can eat

Miguel Ángel Olivé Iglesias Holguín, Cuba

Home Home sweet home never before so meaningful so salvaging.

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Keshab Sigdel Kathmandu, Nepal

Being Social I isolate myself from My family and neighbors To be active on Social sites!

Antony Di Nardo Cobourg, Ontario

Neighbour next door talks to his violets ‌ the cook pours tears into her soup

Michael Levy Florida USA

The nightclub singer empty tables n chairs silent applause

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Photograph by Ann Di Nardo

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Giti Tyagi Karnal, India

SILVER LINING Ocean tides, low and high, The moon, the waves, pandemic cure, Carrying ship safely ashore!

Richard Grove Ontario, Canada

Five of us congregated in the elevator keeping our six foot distance

Richard Stevenson British Columbia, Canada

doctors now rock stars – their photos emblazoned on T�shirts and mugs

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Elaine Foreman Ontario, Canada

After years of cohabitation I learn you thrive in lockdown embrace the stillness of days

John B. Lee Ontario, Canada

being blind till then to all things invisible he suddenly sees what isn’t there

Germain Droogenbroodt Spain

The blackbirds wonder why the streets are so empty sorrowful their songs

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Vessislava Savova Sofia, Bulgaria

pandemic even my haiku with masks

Antony Di Nardo Cobourg, Ontario

Panku Track new world on shut down old one still hoppin’ … the ke‐dunk kedunk of trains

Anne‐Marie Burrus Baltimore Ontario

carry on the evening sky is clear of planes bound for Paris and London – keep calm and ….

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Les Robling Ontario, Canada

keep apart stay home in home dwell together

Giti Tyagi Karnal, India

HOPE Across the troubled waters, An anchor steering the humankind, A shimmering light, a gleaming hope!

Miguel Ángel Olivé Iglesias Holguín, Cuba

Hope Cell‐deep, mind‐healing before body‐healing, hope guards, hope in the communion of science and God.

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Photograph by Ann Di Nardo

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Graham Ducker Ontario, Canada

Does isolation improve the appreciation of self�reliance?

Only the stores know.

Marie�Lynn Hammond Ontario, Canada

The week contains only three days now: yesterday today tomorrow

Keshab Sigdel Kathmandu, Nepal

New Boon Lockdown period Has unlocked The breeding potential!

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Taylor Graham California, USA

World Poetry Day, our reading’s cancelled.

Poems shelter for the ages in a book.

Richard Grove Ontario, Canada

from my car window I blew a kiss to a friend six feet away

Arianne Laporte QuĂŠbec, Canada

Before I craved some time alone, Now I crave crowded places.

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j.a.farina Ontario, Canada

cleansed white tablecloth at Easter scourged with spilled red wine awaits its bleached resurrection

Germain Droogenbroodt Spain

Not for Everyone The bougainvillea’s blossom announcing the spring.

John B. Lee Ontario, Canada

I whisper stay away come close enough to hear me

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Antony Di Nardo Cobourg, Ontario

Panku Beach sand in my shoe … a seagull … a salmon a ship at half‐mast

Stefanie Bennett Sydney, Australia

above the ‘bramble bush’ Vincent’s “Starry Night”

Kim Grove Ontario, Canada

Jesus’ Panku “Pray that ye enter not into temptation.”

“Fear not.”

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Photograph by Ann Di Nardo

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Ed Woods Ontario, Canada

churches electronic worship only still a faithful soul God’s sunlight blessed this day

Jorge Alberto Pérez Hernández Gibara, Cuba

Church open religious service inside no one in the mass but the Priest

Keshab Sigdel Kathmandu, Nepal

Reality The most satisfying news Is about death tolls Because it ensures That I’m still alive!

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Naina Dey Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Under the bed The jar of beads waits To be found During Lockdown

Richard Grove Ontario, Canada

Love is the only real infection

John B. Lee Ontario, Canada

in fear of nothing the brave man coughs

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Ed Baranosky Ontario, Canada

It is too common To cast blame On Pandora, Forgetting Pan�ic.

Stefanie Bennett Sydney, Australia

no doubt about it, the sour dough is on the rise

Giti Tyagi Karnal, India

MASK Innocence hides behind the mask, Eyes open wide, words lesser, World seems clearer, purer!

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Antony Di Nardo Cobourg, Ontario

Panku Panic panic … just another word inside pandemic

Vessislava Savova Sofia, Bulgaria

lipstick and high heels time for the greengrocery’s

Elaine Foreman Ontario, Canada

Photos of sourdough loaves, fresh from the oven, fill my mailbox, I imagine their taste

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Photograph by Ann Di Nardo

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Graham Ducker Ontario, Canada

The future will drown the greedy in toilet paper.

Raad Kareem Abd‐Aun Babylon, Iraq

we stayed home for a while bears deer raccoons birds came along calling Nature came checking on us

Marie‐Lynn Hammond Ontario, Canada

I count onions, scour the fridge...

Hiding at the back – yay! one still‐firm tomato

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Richard Stevenson British Columbia, Canada

no ferries or planes – the harbour taken over by kayaks and canoes

Jorge Alberto Pérez Hernández Gibara, Cuba

A beautiful day one more day, another day, we are still waiting in bed.

Arianne Laporte Québec, Canada

Who knew that nature, Could take over humanity?

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Naina Dey Kolkata, West Bengal, India

The rain fell Soaking the park For once the children were happy Missing playtime

Anne‐Marie Burrus Baltimore Ontario

no alarm! the joy of second breakfast and the oblivious birds perhaps I’ll get dressed – for them

Richard Grove Ontario, Canada

confused

in Canada do we have to keep 6 feet or 2 meters apart

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Jorge Alberto Pérez Hernández Gibara, Cuba

See you soon brother I miss your hugs for now we greet with tapping toes or elbow

Jorge Alberto Pérez Hernández Gibara, Cuba

Panku dancing With close friends, we tap our right foot, then the left, it’s like dancing

John B. Lee Ontario, Canada

I wear a mask of strangers I see myself in every face

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Photograph by Ann Di Nardo

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Michael Levy Florida, USA

A solitary time watching paint dry a faux experience

Naina Dey Kolkata, West Bengal, India

I go out to buy handwash And return With semolina and shampoo

Ed Baranosky Ontario, Canada

A Doomsday Clock moves Seconds to midnight Harvests Our apprehension.

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Graham Ducker Ontario, Canada

Revealed desperation seething beneath the seemingly calm exterior.

Giti Tyagi Karnal, India

THE MOTHER Bringing back my smiles, Working night and day, No rest she takes, Even in the lockdown!

Keshab Sigdel Kathmandu, Nepal

Live Telecast Live telecasts Show nothing but deaths Do you want TVs To show you live?

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Kate Marshall Flaherty Ontario, Canada

I crave communion, now that we touch screens— even through zoom our light flickers, shines.

Naina Dey Kolkata, West Bengal, India

I count the biscuits And count them again Should I have half or full?

John B. Lee Ontario, Canada

in light of tomorrow there’s darkness yet to come

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Elaine Foreman Ontario, Canada

Lured by the silence, a fox and her kits emerge from beneath the boathouse

Giti Tyagi Karnal, India

PEN Spare time, words aplenty, Holding pen, beginning to write, Quarantine stories, Of hope, future bright!

Richard Grove Ontario, Canada

I need a hug a deep caring hug not another e�hug

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Photograph by Ann Di Nardo

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Les Robling Ontario, Canada

silently infectious you scoundrel covid depriving me of consoling hugs

Graham Ducker Ontario, Canada

Pandemic increases the gratitude for those that care for us and true friends.

Michael Levy Florida USA

Pandemic runs amok hospitals overow a frog crocks

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Naina Dey Kolkata, West Bengal, India

It is a good time to hide Behind Emojis Of fake emotions

Keshab Sigdel Kathmandu, Nepal

Essence Be strong enough To face your valentine Beauty parlors Are closed these days!

John B. Lee Ontario, Canada

invisible man cannot see his face unless he isn’t there

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Naina Dey Kolkata, West Bengal, India

The curfew gloats Watching me cook We swallow charred curry and rice

Gopal Lahiri Kolkata, India

birds tweeting the hymns of lockdown

Giti Tyagi Karnal, India

BLOOM Garden full of blooming owers, Buzzing bees, humming birds, Sans human presence, Nature rejoices!

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Anne�Marie Burrus Baltimore Ontario

panku? entirely insuďŹƒcient, sir to experiment with impunity on rhymes for pandemic, quarantine, immunity

Kim Grove Ontario, Canada

Nobel Peace Prize Zoom and Skype deserve the prize.

What greater harmony brought to a hurting humanity!

Elaine Foreman Ontario, Canada

In novels, characters meet in crowded restaurants, bars at dinner parties, headless of physical distance

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Photograph by Ann Di Nardo

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Arianne Laporte QuĂŠbec, Canada

Staying inside, Makes us go outside.

So many people are walking on my street.

Richard Grove Ontario, Canada

the jar of bitter marmalade I made for you sits waiting, undelivered

Kate Marshall Flaherty Ontario, Canada

Think of coins passing hands, unable to touch now, but washed clean— exchanging prayers instead.

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John B. Lee Ontario, Canada

the last loneliness more silent than the ďŹ rst

Antony Di Nardo Cobourg, Ontario

Panku Poem blackbirds dip their nibs into the ink of the lake ... writing the world a poem

Richard Grove Ontario, Canada

a sunny day walking o my cabin fever with my darling wife

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Julie Abouchar Ontario, Canada

Sheltering at home, creativity takes ight: bread, poem, song, prayer.

Michael Levy Florida, USA

Wondering thoughts smiling within untying why knots

Gopal Lahiri Kolkata, India

sunrays out usher the captive you and me come to light

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Les Robling Ontario, Canada

oh narcissistic villain vainglorious virus vanity will surely bring you down

Kim Grove Ontario, Canada

Easter message In self‐isolation I share Jesus’ tomb preparing for a resurrection of thought

Anne‐Marie Burrus Baltimore Ontario

trivially fare thee well, small talk not even the dull weather merits a mutter

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Photograph by Ann Di Nardo

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Gopal Lahiri Kolkata, India

tomato chicken curry no ketchup with the orders during quarantine

Keshab Sigdel Kathmandu, Nepal

Job Security Do firefighters Worry of losing jobs When there is no fire In the city!

Giti Tyagi Karnal, India

SKY LANTERN O Sky Lantern, fly high dear, To my friend, oceans afar, Sprinkling quarantined love, cheer!

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This sequence of 10 Panku needs to be taken together because they tell a single story about leaving Cuba and arriving home in Canada.

Kathryn MacDonald Ontario, Canada

Cuba closes border Air Canada cancels ticket Stranded in paradise Family in a panic

Fly low over coast Baracoa to Havana Sun shines, oblivious to coronavirus terror

At Aeropuerto Havana Wrap rosy shawl over hair Nose, mouth, throat, shoulders Burkalike, throughout night

Dim lights and eerie silence Shroud cavernous airport But sleep, where have you gone?

In Miami a man lurks behind Bandana pulled up to glasses Hat pulled down

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Tell the Miami airport man He needs a crack “That’s how the light gets in.

Pearson International almost empty Train to Union Station too Travel’s been coronavirus‐hoodwinked

Train pulls into B’ville station Travellers trapped Behind locked door Staff in hiding

Silence unholy Swallows music and laughter See empty spring streets

Fourteen‐day quarantine ends Vino tinto raised Buena salud a todos Good health to all

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Ellen S. Jae Ontario, Canada

Home Safe shelter in place, familiar things at hand, loved ones nearby or online – breathe in gratitude.

Elaine Foreman Ontario, Canada

I baked a cake for your birthday, alone, we enjoyed it for weeks

Gopal Lahiri Kolkata, India

mojos in the animal world caged humans in tears

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Photograph by Ann Di Nardo

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Kim Grove Ontario, Canada

Smiles become extra special with social distancing

Richard Stevenson British Columbia, Canada

burger joint server stick handles credit cards with a hockey stick

Richard Grove Ontario, Canada

so silly the trails are closed but the sidewalks are open

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Kate Marshall Flaherty Ontario, Canada

A new currency, now bills can’t change hands— prayers on paper many; kindness on coins.

Kathy Figueroa Ontario, Canada

housebound cupboards cleaned utensil drawers explored storage jars labelled my kitchen is a wonderland

Kathy Figueroa Ontario, Canada

soup soup today, soup tomorrow soup indefinitely dried bean, lentil, brown rice and, for excitement, pea

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Kathy Figueroa Ontario, Canada

bread machine bread machine, bread machine on the go bread machine, bread machine kneading dough

Kathy Figueroa Ontario, Canada

abstention memories only of potato chips not worth venturing to store into corona virus’s trap

Kathy Figueroa Ontario, Canada

provisions bulk food bagged spice rack sees action sacks of our stored in wooden treasure chest

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Ed Baranosky Ontario, Canada

Who could stay indoors On such a spring day?

Here now Is mysterious.

Elaine Foreman Ontario, Canada

Easter morning I open the front door, discover a jar of sweet maple syrup

S.L.Peeran Bengaluru, India

Ban on social events Empty streets Love making takes beating.

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Photograph by Ann Di Nardo

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Gopal Lahiri Kolkata, India

awash in left over handshakes my hands are sanitized

Anne‐Marie Burrus Baltimore Ontario

seriously like baseball scores statistics but what I want to know – truly – is, how are you?

Elaine Foreman Ontario, Canada

We watch from shore as flushes of long‐tails and mergansers congregate on the river

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Richard Grove Ontario, Canada

essential services does our mayor, our Prime Minister, other rich guys still have a maid service

Naina Dey Kolkata, West Bengal, India

I wash and scrub Till my nailpolish akes The maid waits For her month’s pay

S.L.Peeran Bengaluru, India

Social distancing Love on crutches No parting kisses

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Gopal Lahiri Kolkata, India

birds taking long ight ready to migrate to a new war zone

Ed Woods Ontario, Canada

Quarantine eects distraction I create poems My wife eyes me while digging a hidden grave

Kim Grove Ontario, Canada

Owed to Daniel A music maestro shares his arias from his courtyard balcony.

Neighours cheer.

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April Bulmer Ontario, Canada

Supply Chains in the dim even dreams are quarantined: but an astrologer predicts a paradigm shift: sanitizers, treasury...

S.L.Peeran Bengaluru, India

O golden silence You have returned With deep hibernation

Taylor Graham California, USA

It’s hazardous to touch, to kiss, to breathe.

Spirit lives and loves without contagion.

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Photograph by Ann Di Nardo

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Gopal Lahiri Kolkata, India

the wooden wall�clock has wound down gone cuckoo

Ed Baranosky Ontario, Canada

In an empty temple A gust of wind Alone rings The forgotten bell.

Elaine Foreman Ontario, Canada

Squirrels hang from branches, suck sweet buds, dance along the garden fence in hot pursuit

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Jorge Alberto PĂŠrez HernĂĄndez Gibara, Cuba

Gibara was in a great motion just one man entered infected now we are noiseless.

Gopal Lahiri Kolkata, India

children run amok in the house of lockdown

Naina Dey Kolkata, West Bengal, India

My appetite grows with the Lockdown Craving pastries and pies From stores behind closed shutters

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Richard Grove Ontario, Canada

We need a bad snow storm so we feel better about staying in

S.L.Peeran Bengaluru, India

Absence of zooming Vehicles, screeching Sounds, silence

Richard Stevenson British Columbia, Canada

drive‐by shootings, yeah but drive‐by birthday greetings? not before Covid‐19 (for Diane)

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Les Robling Canada, Ontario

spring snowdrop crocus sun smiling infectious joy

Naina Dey Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Strange that We all wear masks Nowadays Over old ones

Vessislava Savova SoďŹ a, Bulgaria

silence suddenly one of my neighbors starts singing

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Photograph by Ann Di Nardo

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Ed Baranosky Ontario, Canada

On the horizon Thunder growls Before the squall Above empty streets.

Taylor Graham California, USA

Social�distance grocery line out the door – patience under March sun, poem in my head.

Gopal Lahiri Kolkata, India

laptops sending fun stories from the kitchen table

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Elaine Foreman Ontario, Canada

Redwings stake their claims on ochre marshes, cling to cattails, cluck to mates

S.L.Peeran Bengaluru, India

Eerie silence Chirping of birds Call from unknown

Graham Ducker Ontario, Canada

Be gone dark spot of my soul or I’ll use a stick to fend you o.

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Ann DI Nardo Cobourg, Ontario

Point A to point B Gotta break free While signs around me scream Stay Home

Richard Grove Ontario, Canada

missing our pool and hot tub, now I have to shower in our apartment bathroom

John B. Lee Ontario, Canada

believe me when I tell you I have nothing more to say and furthermore ‌

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Photograph by Ann Di Nardo

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Photograph by Ann Di Nardo

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Photograph by Ann Di Nardo

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Thank you Anna for all of your magical photographs.

Photograph by Tony Di Nardo

Ann Di Nardo trained as a visual artist at The Ontario Collage of Art and Bishop’s University. She is a passionate gardener who frequently carries her camera along with the rest of her gardening tools and most often the camera does the brunt of the work. She divides her time between Cobourg, Ontario and her garden in Sutton, Quebec.

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Coming Soon from Hidden Brook Press

The Poetry Pandemic Project Call for Panku Poem Submissions for a future issue of Devour: Art and Lit Canada

hope, fun, light, amusing, uplifting, NO poems with the theme of fear, sex, drugs, anger, doom and gloom, will be considered.

For this project the name “Panku” comes from a cross between the words “Pandemic” and “Haiku” = Panku. It is meant to be a humourous play on words. In these strange Pandemic Days, I thought it was time that we lightened up a bit and start The Poetry Pandemic Project. Send us your uplifting, fun, light, amusing, pandemic poems in the form of a Panku – See descriptions below. Your Panku can be ironic, sarcastic, satirical and even sardonic but NO poems with the theme of fear, anger, doom and gloom, will be considered.

A Pandemic of Poetry: Our goal is to make this a worldwide pandemic book so help us reach as many countries as possible. Send this call for Panku to your worldwide list. Let’s see what happens. Let’s see if we can create a poetry pandemic.

The working title of the book is: In These Strange Pandemic Days. We have no idea how many Panku Poems we will receive. We don’t know if this will become a tree book or an e‐book. At the very least it will be an e‐book and everyone that submits will receive a free download. We will stay in touch with further details. For now we will publish as special issues of Devour: Art & Lit Canada. Later we will combine all of the special issues into one book.

Deadline: For now there is no deadline. Just sent your Panku in ASAP. We are planning on publishing as many special issues of Devour: Art & Lit Canada as we can. As soon as we have enough for a special issue we will publish but will continue to receive submissions for the next special issue.

This will be a Hidden Brook Press project but please send your Panku Poems to this email address only – pankupoems@gmail.com. It will help us keep the Panku submissions separate from our other HBP projects.

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Submission Details: 1 – Send a maximum of 10 Panku Poems.

2 – Each Panku Poem can be no more than 15 words.

3 – Each Panku Poem can be no more than 4 lines long.

4 – Your Panku Poem does not have to have a title but if it does the title will be no longer than 15 characters including spaces.

5 – Above EACH Panku Poem include your name in italics.

6 – Above EACH poem below your name include your Province / State and Country 7 – Do Not send as an attachment – send in the body of email only.

8 – Do Not send resume, bio, CV or other personal info.

9 – At the top of your email include your name, Province/State, and email address. Please all 3.

10 – Do Not put any numbers listing your poems.

Thank you.

We will stay in touch after we receive your submission.

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Photograph by Ann Di Nardo