Come celebrate the publication of Kyla Jamieson’s début chapbook, Kind of Animal (Rahila’s Ghost Press, Spring 2019 at this gentle evening of poetry. Jamieson will be joined by Rosemary Xinhe Hu and Megan Jones at the Vancouver Art Rental and Sales Gallery, on the unceded land of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. This is land with which the Chemainus and Sto:lo Nations also have a relationship.
Doors open at 6:00, show at 6:30 sharp. Readings will last approximately 30 minutes. Admission is a suggested donation of $5 at the door if you have the means. There will also be chapbooks and books by the poets and host Adèle Barclay available; cash payment is preferred.
LOCATION: The Art Rental & Sales Gallery is located on the ground floor of the Vancouver Art Gallery. Note that this event coincides with the VAG’s extended-hours entrance-by-donation evening, but one doesn’t have to wait in the line to attend this event. Entering through the Hornby street entrance, take a sharp right and proceed past security to the end of the hall, where you will find the Art Rental & Sales Gallery on your right.
ABOUT KIND OF ANIMAL: The poems in Kind of Animal document the immediate aftermath of a concussion and the symptom-woven seasons that follow. In concrete, visceral, and accessible language, Jamieson illuminates the lived reality of an invisible illness that is often reduced to medical jargon or symptom labels and difficult for outsiders to comprehend. As time collapses and expands around her and the life she once lived drifts further and further away, Jamieson turns to dreamscapes and ‘the internet of [her] being’ for guidance. What began as a deep desire for a return to normalcy morphs, over the course of this journey, into a fierce determination to love and value herself and her life exactly as they are. These poems are a portal to a new perspective, a flare sent up to mark the spot where despair turns into hope.
For more information on the poets, host and the event’s accessibility, see the Facebook page.