For Poetry Friday, instead of an Easter-themed poem (as you might expect), we're going with a different occasion. A fauxccasion, actually.

In his collection Fauxccasional Poems, Daniel Scott Tysdal commemorates events that never occurred. Each poem is a tribute to such a fictional event, such as today's poem, "Tell Me How."

Reached via social media, Tysdal recalls the thought process behind this fauxcassional ode to Buddy Holly:

We don't like to dwell on it, but let's be honest; some days it seems like the world is made up of nothing but bad news.

Accordingly, today's Poetry Friday entry — published thirteen years ago and as relevant as ever — is S.P. Zitner's "The Bad News" (from his collection The Hunt on the Lagoon).

If you're looking for good news, better look elsewhere. Go find a cute cat pic or something.

Today's poem "Astrocottage" comes to the Interwebs courtesy of Katherine Leyton (from All the Gold Hurts My Mouth). Leyton's collection explores the subtle effects of the media on our perceptions and interactions, including the pain of alienation and the threat of violence simmering just below the surface.

However, "Astrocottage" feels a bit lighter than that summary would indicate.

We have a dual purpose behind our choice for today's Poetry Friday entry. First, we are celebrating Gary Geddes' recent win of the 2018 Freedom to Read Award. Geddes has written/edited over 40 books of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction — including, of course, his six collections with Goose Lane — and this recognition of a body of work that promotes free expression is another feather in a cap very much laden with them.

Secondly: while much of his 1998 collection Flying Blind is a poetic treatise on Israeli-Palestinian relations, we're more concerned with another of his poems, one that has much in common with our current situation, viz.: we're trapped in yet another Atlantic Canada blizzard.  

With that all said, let us take a moment, sit back, and let Gary Geddes guide us through the storm.

Poetry Friday! The bestest Friday of them all!

Without any more preamble, let's luxuriate in the gorgeous rhythms of Mitchell Parry's "Evening Song" (from his collection Imperfect Penance).

About Imperfect Penance:

• "Mitchell Parry’s imaginative, sometimes hallucinogenic, response to Georg Trakl's hothouse family and his intimate life and times is a gut-wrenching read. Imperfect Penance takes us through a journey of incestuous desire, drug addiction, war, and suicide. What to say about poems drenched in the 'green dreams of chloroform'? Harrowing yes, but fascinating, too. Darkly brilliant." — Patricia Young