Speaking of Speaking of Poets

Fellow Winnipeg poet Lori Cayer and I had a stint on campus/community radio station CKUW yesterday. Or, more properly, we pre-recorded our segment for later broadcast.

Since Lori and I were to share a mic, Lori had to stand on a step-stool, which we sourced from the CKUW offices.

...I didn't tell anyone, but the radio station's offices were once The Uniter's offices, where I spent four or five years while at the U of Wpg....

The format of Speaking of Poets, the show we were guests on, was that we each read one of each other's poems and one of our own.

And it was such a goddamn treat to hear Lori read my poem. I grinned throughout while also, you understand, tried not to move or make any joyous noise. (Those greedy microphones!)

And then I leaned in and read both the poem I'd picked out and the one host John Cunningham requested of me: Chorus and Nine months: swelling & swollen.

It was the first time I'd performed the latter, so reading it with no rehearsal was like running into a fond friend you've been neglecting and promising tea, sometime, somehow.