Poet-in-Residence Tim Bowling Contributes

In 2009, Arc Poetry Magazine started a poet-in-residence program in which the poet in question guides a number of poets through refining their craft. “This is a response to our mission to support Canadian poetry,” write Rhonda Douglas and Chris Jennings, “but also partly in response to the many submissions we receive each month that are so close, but just not yet quite ready for publication.” Tim Bowling was the poet-in-residence for 2012-2013, working with approximately 25 poets, and the latest issue of Arc (73) showcase some of Bowling’s work alongside a selection from eight of the poets he worked with: Vincent Colistro, Rod Pederson, Michelle Brown, Jordan Mounteer, Heather Davidson, Helen Marshall, Ann Graham Walker, and Jordan Tannahill.

As an introduction to the special section in the magazine, Russell Thornton writes, “Bowling’s poetry conjures a world. That world includes one of the grand rivers of Canada and the greatest salmon river on the plant, and the town of Ladner with its fishing community underlife… His rapt awareness of the concrete particulars of his actual place allows Bowling to execute poetry that is, at its most striking, complete in its interconnections, and visionary. His passion for his locale and its inhabitants lifts that locale onto the mythic level.”

Poems included from Bowling are “Christmas Near Vancouver,” “Dread,” On the Morning of New Life,” High Summer,” “High Water,” and more.