I’m writing to you today, as a guest writer of Feuilles, from Berton House in Dawson City, Yukon. For two months I am the writer in residence in Pierre Berton’s childhood home. It’s March 20, but winter is stubbornly hanging on here. It has in fact warmed up from when we arrived three weeks ago to 40 below. But the mornings are still briskly cold, and the afternoons rarely warm above minus 10.

This is a bit of a homecoming for me, as I grew up in the Yukon and spent my first four years in Dawson. The town has been incredibly welcoming to me and my family. We’ve been invited to countless community events since we arrived. In spite of the weather, the community has decided that it should be spring, and is acting accordingly. This weekend is the community’s spring festival, and we’re looking forward to more cold-fingered, warm-hearted fun.

Traces News

New Issue Coming Soon!

Our Spring 2026 issue launches in just one month. Be sure to subscribe to receive the issue straight to your inbox.

Subscribe now

The Order of Love

Community Events & Opportunities

Orion Arts residency: Open for Applications

Applications are OPEN until midnight, Sunday, April 12th, 2026.

Launch of Optic Heart: A Biography of Margaret Avison. Volume 1: 1918-1977 by David A. Kent

The St. Thomas Poetry Series is hosting a launch for David A. Kent’s new biography of esteemed Canadian poet Margaret Avison. The launch will be held atS t Thomas’s Church, 383 Huron Street, on Saturday, April 25 at 2:30 pm. Reception to follow.

Poems for Persons of Interest: Poetry Submissions Open

PFPOI will be open to poetry submissions for their June issue, April 1 through April 30.

2026 Rhina Espaillat Poetry Award

The 2026 Rhina Espaillat Poetry Award is now open for submissions. The winning poet will receive a two-thousand-dollar award, and the winning poem will be published in Plough Quarterly. Deadline to submit: April 30th.

Vallum Chapbook Award

Enter Vallum's annual Chapbook Contest for a chance to win $300, publication, and 25 complimentary copies of your chapbook! Open to Canadian, U.S., and international entrants. Deadline: April 30, 2026

The Understory: A Comment Festival

Save the Date for THE UNDERSTORY, Comment’s inaugural festival to be held at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, from Thursday, May 28 to Saturday, May 30, 2026.

2026 Jane Greer Memorial Poetry Contest

Dappled Things has announced the Jane Greer Memorial Poetry Contest in honour of beloved poet Jane Greer. Submissions are open now until May 31st!

Cultivate 2026 Retreat: ROOTED (Greenville, SC, June 19-21)

Come join faithful creatives and leaders from all over the world during this inspired and equipping retreat, taking place June 19th-21st in Greenville, South Carolina, at First Presbyterian Church. Tickets are now on sale and selling fast!

Do you have a publication, event, or milestone you’d like to share with the Traces community? Submit your news to be featured in a future edition of “Contributor Sightings.”

Second Reading

Berton House is right across the road from Robert Service’s old cabin. I stare at it every day.

I’ve always had a conflicted relationship with Robert Service. Growing up in the Yukon, you’re constantly force-fed his poetry. I developed a sense that it was somewhat gimmicky, something like the sour-toe cocktail that tourists flock to but that locals roll their eyes at.

Since I’ve been here, I’ve been reading Pierre Berton’s 1907 edition of Songs of a Sourdough, and I’ve developed a new respect for Service. Simply on the level of verse, he was a master of the ballad form. (Berton also had a collection of other poets who tried to imitate Service, and the difference in quality is glaring.) But is his work poetry?

We can perhaps set aside “The Cremation of Sam McGee,” which is clearly a masterpiece of genre writing. Beyond that, his Klondike poems are certainly uneven, but what has been impressing me (perhaps because I’m reading them on site) is their deep sense of place. When I read his later work, after he had left the Yukon, his facility with verse continues, but there is a raw energy and rootedness that is lost.

I find “The Spell of the Yukon” particularly striking. There’s a freshness to his phrasing, a particularity of vision, that I think elevates it to the level of true poetry. Look at that fourth stanza—“some mighty-mouthed hollow,” “the big, husky sun”—so many of these phrases still feel like a distinctive expression of a deeply-felt experience of place.

The Spell of the Yukon
By Robert W. Service

I wanted the gold, and I sought it;
   I scrabbled and mucked like a slave.
Was it famine or scurvy—I fought it;
   I hurled my youth into a grave.
I wanted the gold, and I got it— 
   Came out with a fortune last fall,—
Yet somehow life’s not what I thought it,
   And somehow the gold isn’t all. 

No! There’s the land. (Have you seen it?)
   It’s the cussedest land that I know,
From the big, dizzy mountains that screen it
   To the deep, deathlike valleys below.
Some say God was tired when He made it;
   Some say it’s a fine land to shun;
Maybe; but there’s some as would trade it
   For no land on earth—and I’m one. 

You come to get rich (damned good reason);
   You feel like an exile at first;
You hate it like hell for a season,
   And then you are worse than the worst.
It grips you like some kinds of sinning;
   It twists you from foe to a friend;
It seems it’s been since the beginning;
   It seems it will be to the end. 

I’ve stood in some mighty-mouthed hollow
   That’s plumb-full of hush to the brim;
I’ve watched the big, husky sun wallow
   In crimson and gold, and grow dim,
Till the moon set the pearly peaks gleaming,
   And the stars tumbled out, neck and crop;
And I’ve thought that I surely was dreaming,
   With the peace o’ the world piled on top. 

The summer—no sweeter was ever;
   The sunshiny woods all athrill;
The grayling aleap in the river,
   The bighorn asleep on the hill.
The strong life that never knows harness;
   The wilds where the caribou call;
The freshness, the freedom, the farness—
   O God! how I’m stuck on it all. 

The winter! the brightness that blinds you,
   The white land locked tight as a drum,
The cold fear that follows and finds you,
   The silence that bludgeons you dumb.
The snows that are older than history,
   The woods where the weird shadows slant;
The stillness, the moonlight, the mystery,
   I’ve bade ’em good-by—but I can’t. 

There’s a land where the mountains are nameless,
   And the rivers all run God knows where;
There are lives that are erring and aimless,
   And deaths that just hang by a hair;
There are hardships that nobody reckons;
   There are valleys unpeopled and still;
There’s a land—oh, it beckons and beckons,
   And I want to go back—and I will. 

They’re making my money diminish;
   I’m sick of the taste of champagne.
Thank God! when I’m skinned to a finish
   I’ll pike to the Yukon again.
I’ll fight—and you bet it’s no sham-fight;
   It’s hell!—but I’ve been there before;
And it’s better than this by a damsite—
   So me for the Yukon once more. 

There’s gold, and it’s haunting and haunting;
   It’s luring me on as of old;
Yet it isn’t the gold that I’m wanting
   So much as just finding the gold.
It’s the great, big, broad land ’way up yonder,
   It’s the forests where silence has lease;
It’s the beauty that thrills me with wonder,
   It’s the stillness that fills me with peace.

Off the Beaten Path

One of my favourite community sites in Dawson so far is the Dawson City Thrift Store, attached to Saint Paul’s Anglican Church. I’ve frequented many thrift stores all over Canada, and this one is my favourite. It’s located in a ramshackle old Dawson building and is bursting with absurdly affordable treasures.

The store has been running, in one form or another, since the 1940s. My aunt, Evelyn McDonald (pictured), has been involved since about the 1980s. The revenues from it fund a community dinner they serve every Wednesday (also cooked by Aunt Evelyn!) which is open to everyone from town. The food’s amazing, and you’re sure to meet interesting people.

There’s just one month left to submit to the spring issue of Traces Journal! Read on for our submission guidelines, and for a slew of links to poetry contests, residencies, and open submissions of interest to our readers.

Read to the end to learn about a unique artist residency in a monastery in upstate New York, and how you can apply!

Subscribe now

Traces News

Submissions are OPEN!

We’re now open for submissions for our Spring issue, which will be published in May 2026. We’re accepting poetry, book reviews, and interviews (pitches and completed pieces).

We are also open to prose pieces and are especially interested in publishing short essay series on topics related to Canadian and Christian art.

Submit!

The Order of Love

Do you have a publication, event, or milestone you’d like to share with the Traces community? Submit your news to be featured in a future edition of “Contributor Sightings.”

Community Events & Opportunities

Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse Contest

The New Quarterly’s annual Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse Contest is open again! Deadline EXTENDED to March 9th, 2026!

Inkwell Writers’ Competition: The Agony & Ecstasy of the Artist

just announced their first writer’s competition! Click the link for eligibility, guidelines, and more. Submissions close March 31st, 2026.

2026 Annual Sacred Poetry Contest

Submissions are open for this ekphrastic sacred poetry contest. The best part? This year, one of the featured paintings is by Canadian painter Clarence Gagnon! Deadline: March 31, 2026.

Claire Harris Poetry Prize

The Claire Harris Poetry Prize, an initiative of Goose Lane’s icehouse poetry imprint, is now open for submissions for debut poetry collections. The prize aims to enhance the visibility of debut poetry collections by previously unpublished poets from Black, Indigenous, and other racialized communities. Deadline is March 31, 2026.

Behold the Man! A Wayfare Poetry Contest

Wayfare magazine announces “Behold the Man!,” its first annual contest for poems about or related to Jesus of Nazareth. Submissions are accepted February 1st through March 29th, 2026 (Palm Sunday).

Orion Arts residency: Open for Applications

Applications are OPEN until midnight, Sunday, April 12th, 2026.

The Understory: A Comment Festival

Save the Date for THE UNDERSTORY, Comment’s inaugural festival to be held at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, from Thursday, May 28 to Saturday, May 30, 2026.

2026 Jane Greer Memorial Poetry Contest

Dappled Things has announced the Jane Greer Memorial Poetry Contest in honour of beloved poet Jane Greer. Submissions are open now until May 31st!

Contributor Feature

reviews The National Gallery of Canada’s current special exhibition, “Winter Count: Embracing the Cold for .

The North Facing Window

The Many Colours of Snow

I tend to imagine winter as reality having been flattened out: the vivid colours of fall are replaced with a muddled palette of grey and white and cream; the steady noise of an active social life with quiet evenings in and solitary reading…

Read more

3 months ago · 5 likes · 4 comments · Marie Trotter

Special Highlight: Orion Arts Residency

The Monastery Arts Residency brings artists and writers to live, create, and seek beauty for a week under summer skies at Mount Saviour Monastery near Elmira, NY. If you’re looking for an opportunity to get off the grid and spend some time surrounded by artists, monastic rhythms, and hundreds of sheep, this residency is for you! You can read all about the residency on their website and check out photos from previous summers on their Instagram.

You can also follow on Substack, and check out their founder & director, who is a poet, photographer, iconographer, and more!

The snow is coming down! This week, it seems like everyone I talk to across the country is buried in snow. I hope you’re curled up somewhere by a raging fireplace with a cozy drink and a pile of books beside you. Read on for the latest gallery-going recommendation, a slew of open poetry contests, and the latest news from the Traces team.

Traces News

Welcome to our new Managing Editor: Liv Ross

We’re excited to have Liv Ross as our new Managing Editor! Liv Ross is an urban monk, a poet, and essayist writing in and from the Ozarks. In addition to writing, Liv practices gardening, pipe-smoking, leather-working, music-making, and mischief. She has been published in The New Verse Review, The Front Porch Republic, Silence and Starsong, Solum Journal, and VoeglinView. She also serves as Managing Editor for Traces Journal. Her first book, The Blackbird Ballad, is scheduled for publishing May 2026 from Solum Literary Press. She can also be found on Instagram @liv_ross_poetry, or her substack, https://substack.com/@theabbeyofcuriosity

We’re Hiring!

As Liv transitions to her new role, we’re now hiring for two editorial positions: Reviews Editor (Poetry) and Interviews Editor. Interested applicants can send a CV and a short cover letter to traces.editor@gmail.com.

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Submissions are OPEN!

We’re now open for submissions for our Spring issue, which will be published in May 2026. We’re accepting poetry, book reviews, and interviews (pitches and completed pieces).

We are also open to prose pieces and are especially interested in publishing short essay series on topics related to Canadian and Christian art.

Submit!

The Order of Love: Valentine’s Edition

Our Traces dispatch, “The Order of Love,” is published monthly. For February, we have a special “Valentynes” installment on Chaucer and one of the first Valentine’s Day poems ever written!

Do you have a publication, event, or milestone you’d like to share with the Traces community? Submit your news to be featured in a future edition of “Contributor Sightings.”

Community Events & Opportunities

St. Basil Writers’ Workshop

The St. Basil Writers’ Workshop is a year-long program for fiction writers to focus on the craft of writing. Workshops are taught by a variety of faculty, including Jonathan Pageau and Paul Kingsnorth! Applications will close February 28th, 2026.

Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse Contest

The New Quarterly’s annual Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse Contest is open again! Deadline is February 28, 2026.

Winter Count: Embracing the Cold at the National Gallery of Canada

The exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada, “Winter Count: Embracing the Cold reflects on winter’s significant impact across diverse cultures and artistic expressions.

Featuring more than 150 works from the early 19th century to the present, this exhibition brings together Indigenous, Canadian settler and European perspectives on the subject.” On now until March 22nd, 2026.

Claire Harris Poetry Prize

The Claire Harris Poetry Prize, an initiative of Goose Lane’s icehouse poetry imprint, is now open for submissions for debut poetry collections. The prize aims to enhance the visibility of debut poetry collections by previously unpublished poets from Black, Indigenous, and other racialized communities. Deadline is March 31, 2026.

Behold the Man! A Wayfare Poetry Contest

Wayfare magazine announces “Behold the Man!,” its first annual contest for poems about or related to Jesus of Nazareth. Submissions are accepted February 1st through March 29th, 2026 (Palm Sunday).

The Understory: A Comment Festival

Save the Date for THE UNDERSTORY, Comment’s inaugural festival to be held at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, from Thursday, May 28 to Saturday, May 30, 2026.

2026 Jane Greer Memorial Poetry Contest

Dappled Things has announced the Jane Greer Memorial Poetry Contest in honour of beloved poet Jane Greer. Submissions are open now until May 31st!

Contributor Sightings

The Traces community out in the wild…

“Conspirators,” by

Read Kostas’ latest short fiction series on his Substack, Waymarkers

Call Out Coyote: Poems by

Seth Wieck’s poetry collection Call Out Coyote is available to preorder from Wiseblood Books!

Seven Poems by

Elijah has published a whopping seven poems in the latest issue of The New Stylus!

I hope you all had a joyous Christmas season. I had the opportunity to visit many friends and family members in Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal. Keep reading for some beautiful photos from my time in the snowy Ottawa Valley, and my thoughts on the current AGO exhibition, David Blackwood: Myth & Legend.

Traces News

Welcome to our 2026 Interns

This January, we launched our inaugural Traces Internship Program. For 2026, we have two interns joining our editorial team. Read more about them below!

Lucia Ottenbreit: My name is Lucia Ottenbreit, and I am a fourth-year literature student at Our Lady Seat of Wisdom College in Barry's Bay, Ontario. I'm currently working at the college as a student events organizer. My hobbies include playing piano, swing dancing, and writing. In this internship, I am most excited to work with the Traces team and learn how to cultivate my own voice as an author!

Sydney Goodreau: Hello everyone! My name is Sydney Goodreau and I am a fourth-year Creative Writing honours major at Redeemer University. My passion for both reading and writing go hand-in-hand. And while my classes often bury me in books, I spend my extra time playing the piano, singing in choir, and travelling with my friends. I can't wait to intern at Traces, a magazine that combines my passion for tasteful literature and my love for seeking God's divine hand in my home country, Canada.

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Submissions are OPEN!

We’re now open for submissions for our Spring issue, which will be published in May 2026. We’re accepting poetry, book reviews, and interviews (pitches and completed pieces).

Submit!

We are also open to prose pieces, and are especially interested in publishing short essay series on topics related to Canadian and Christian art. Check out Burl Horniachek’s latest essay in his series on Christian Canadian poets and Norm Klassen’s latest dispatch from The Order of Love, as examples.

The Order of Love

Our Traces dispatch, “The Order of Love,” is published monthly. In the January instalment, Klassen comments on another recent AGO retrospective on Joyce Wieland:

“A metaphysically assured aesthetic beckons this generation of Canadian Christian artists, critics, and curators, one that looks to politics and art and to an “eternal” it dares to name, even as it acknowledges the inexhaustibility of its naming and its making.”

Contributor Sightings

The Traces community out in the wild…

The Colosseum: A New Journal of Arts and Letters

This new journal features new work from many members of the Traces community! Consider subscribing or submitting your own work to this new, exciting journal.

The Colosseum “will publish new poetry, fiction, essays, and reviews in hopes of enlivening contemporary literature, renewing our culture, and supporting the return to literary craft and intellectual and spiritual depth in the arts.”

Greening the White Cube: Josh Tiessen’s new Substack newsletter!

From Tiessen: “I am excited to launch a newsletter featuring my paintings, essays, lectures, and films, exploring the intersection of creativity, ecology, and spirituality. This will include my free Josh Tiessen Insider Report, an occasional update for my art exhibitions, public talks, print releases, books, and more.”

Josh Nadeau launches new book: Heaven Meets Earth: A 40-Day Journey of Transformation Through the Nicene Creed

In Heaven Meets Earth, philosopher-artist Josh Nadeau, creator of Sword and Pencil, invites you to explore the Nicene Creed in this 40-day devotional journey of transformation for everyday saints. With his iconographic-style art and his insightful words, Josh brings the traditional to the present day in this visually inspired exploration of the faith.

Do you have a publication, event, or milestone you’d like to share with the Traces community? Submit your news to be featured in a future edition of “Contributor Sightings.”

Ordinary Time

Things we’re reading and listening to in our spare time…

David Blackwood: Myth & Legend

This month, I’ve spent a lot of time with the works of the Canadian printmaker, David Blackwood. The current exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario, “David Blackwood: Myth & Legend,” is one of the best exhibitions I’ve seen at the AGO since the Rubens exhibit in 2019.

Rather than repeating myself too much here, I’d like to direct you to my personal Substack, The North Facing Window, launched this week. There, you can find my first post introducing the life and work of David Blackwood, with additional posts on specific aspects of his work to follow in the coming weeks.

The North Facing Window

Short Stories of the Sea: An Introduction to David Blackwood

Consider this a brief introduction to Blackwood’s life and work. Over the next few weeks, I’ve planned a series of posts that engage with Blackwood’s work in depth, including formal analyses of works from the Lost Party Series, a close reading of Blackwood’s work alongside Rambrandt’s “The Storm on the Sea of Galilee,” and my personal connection Blackwo…

Read more

4 months ago · 13 likes · 2 comments · Maya Venters

The North Facing Window is a place for my personal reflections on Canadian art and writing, which I hope will be of interest to many of our Traces readers.

The North Facing Window

A Canadian poet writing about literature, art, tradition, craft, culture, and more.

By Maya Venters

Wellwater by Karen Solie

Karen Solie is perhaps one of Canada’s most internationally recognized poets, making a name for herself in Canada, the USA, and the UK. Her most recent collection, Wellwater, was published with Picador Poetry and House of Anansi Press in April 2025. So far, the collection has been awarded the 2025 Governor General's Literary Award for Poetry, the Forward Prize for Best Collection of Poetry, and was a CBC, Observer, Financial Times, and Guardian Best Book of 2025. On January 18th, the winner of the esteemed T. S. Eliot Prize will be announced, for which Solie’s Wellwater is a finalist in the running.

I have been rereading Solie’s collection, and I plan to share some extensive thoughts on her work in the coming weeks. For now, I’ll share a poem from the collection and simply encourage readers to purchase this brilliantly executed collection from perhaps Canada’s best living poet.

Community Events & Opportunities

Call for Submissions: Poems for Persons of Interest

Poems for Persons of Interest is now open to submissions for their March issue. Submission window closes on February 10th.

David Blackwood: Myth & Legend

The David Blackwood Exhibition is now open at the Art Gallery of Ontario until July 26, 2026.

ZOOM Seminar: Faith, Forgiveness & Fortitude in Jane Eyre

Shemaiah Gonzalez, author of Undaunted Joy: The Revolutionary Act of Cultivating Delight, is running an online seminar on Faith, Forgiveness & Fortitude in Jane Eyre. Sessions take place on Wednesdays for the months of February, and spaces are filling quickly!

Is it too far to say that everyone’s favourite time of the year is right around the corner? Pumpkin patches, hot apple cider, the fall colours changing… this is my favourite time of the year to be in Quebec’s Eastern Townships. There is nothing quite like seeing the trees turn orange in the “mountains” (sorry west-coasters) while driving the windy roads from town to town. Not to mention, making a necessary stop for sparkling apple cider and cheese at the Saint Benedict Abbey in Saint-Benoît-du-Lac. Keep reading for more of Quebec’s autumnal treasures.

Traces News

Traces Advisory Board

We’re excited to announce the members of our Advisory Board! We are grateful to these individuals for supporting our work at Traces. We will be interviewing each member and featuring their work in our forthcoming issues, so stay tuned.

D.S. Martin is a poet, Series Editor for the Poiema Poetry Series, and Poet-in-Residence at McMaster Divinity College in Hamilton, Ontario.

Dorothy Nielsen is a poet, cellist, and retired English professor in London, Ontario.

Burl Horniachek is a Canadian poet and translator. He lives in Selkirk, Manitoba, with his wife and two children.

Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson is a George MacDonald scholar who lives on a farm in the Ottawa Valley, Canada. She writes and lectures on MacDonald, the Inklings, the 19th century, and Faith & the Arts.

Doug Sikkema is an Associate Professor of English and the Core Program at Redeemer, teaching courses primarily in humanities.

Daniel Bezalel Richardsen is a public servant at the Department of Finance Canada and a reservist with the Royal Canadian Navy at HMCS Carleton.

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Submissions are CLOSED

Thank you to everyone who sent us their writing! We are now closed for submissions and our editors are putting together our best issue yet. We can’t wait to share it with you. Submissions for our spring issue will open again on January 15th, 2026.

The Order of Love

Our new Traces dispatch, “The Order of Love,” is published monthly. The October instalment is now live! Read the latest below, and leave a comment to let us know what you think.

Contributor Sightings

The Traces community out in the wild…

D.S. Martin: New Book Release

The Role of the Moon by D.S. Martin is newly published by Paraclete Press. The collection has received endorsements from A.F. Moritz, Sydney Lea, and Rowan Williams (former Archbishop of Canterbury). Stay tuned for our review!

Liv Ross: Writer in Residence at VoegelinView

Congratulations to Traces editor, Liv Ross, for starting a new role as the writer in residence at VoegelinView. Read her September poem, To the Valley Beneath Beacon Rock.

A.A. Kostas: New Traces Contributing Editor

has joined Traces as a contributing editor. You can read more of his personal essays, poetry, and reflections on his substack, Waymakers.

Do you have a publication, event, or milestone you’d like to share with the Traces community? Submit your news to be featured in a future edition of “Contributor Sightings.”

Ordinary Time

Things we’re reading and listening to in our spare time…

When the weather turns, I always find myself reaching for some familiar P.K. Page poems. My go-to collection is The Essential P.K. Page, selected by Arlene Lampert and Théa Gray, published by The Porcupine’s Quill. If you haven’t heard of PQ Press (now partnered with Gordon Hill), they are a small press in Erin, Ontario producing beautiful little books. Their Essential Poets Series selects some of the best poems from important figures in Canadian poetry, allowing readers to dip in and out of their work. They are also the go-to Canadian publisher for works by P.K. Page, selling bundles of her collected writings.

Second Reading

Returning to old or forgotten loves…

We have a lot of P.K. Page fans here at Traces. In fact, my literary friendship with Poetry Editor, began around a kitchen table in a small, Montréal apartment, where we got lost for hours discussing the intricacies of a Page poem. Page’s well known poem, “Autumn” is one of dozens of glosas she wrote over her poetic career, where she often pulled from writers including Pablo Neruda, Dionne Brand, Leonard Cohen, and Juan Ramón Jiménez.

Autumn
by P.K. Page

Whoever has no house now will never have one.
Whoever is alone will stay alone
Will sit, read, write long letters through the evening
And wander on the boulevards, up and down...
- Autumn Day, Rainer Maria Rilke

Its stain is everywhere.
The sharpening air
of late afternoon
is now the colour of tea.
Once-glycerined green leaves
burned by a summer sun
are brittle and ochre.
Night enters day like a thief.
And children fear that the beautiful daylight has gone.
Whoever has no house now will never have one.

It is the best and the worst time.
Around a fire, everyone laughing,
brocaded curtains drawn,
nowhere-anywhere-is more safe than here.
The whole world is a cup
one could hold in one’s hand like a stone
warmed by that same summer sun.
But the dead or the near dead
are now all knucklebone.
Whoever is alone will stay alone.

Nothing to do. Nothing to really do.
Toast and tea are nothing.
Kettle boils dry.
Shut the night out or let it in,
it is a cat on the wrong side of the door
whichever side it is on. A black thing
with its implacable face.
To avoid it you
will tell yourself you are something,
will sit, read, write long letters through the evening.

Even though there is bounty, a full harvest
that sharp sweetness in the tea-stained air
is reserved for those who have made a straw
fine as a hair to suck it through-
fine as a golden hair.
Wearing a smile or a frown
God’s face is always there.
It is up to you
if you take your wintry restlessness into the town
and wander on the boulevards, up and down.

Community Events & Opportunities

Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild: Virtual Writer-In-Residence

The SWG is looking for a Virtual Writer-in-Residence for their Virtual Facilitated Retreat held online from February 5 to 8, 2026. Saskatchewan residency is preferred, but all Canadians may apply. Deadline to apply: October 14th, 2025.

CV2 Magazine: Foster Poetry Prize

The Foster Poetry Prize awards $1000 and publication in CV2 to the author of the winning poem. Deadline for all entries: November 1st, 2025.

Upstart & Crow Poetry Micro-Grants

$500 Micro-Grants (for emerging writers) are back for a winter instalment, plus a chance to have your poetry printed, displayed and distributed through Upstart & Crow. Deadline is November 3, 2025.

Book Launch: The Role of the Moon by D.S. Martin

The St. Thomas Poetry Series is hosting this event at St. Thomas’s Church, 383 Huron Street in Toronto, on Saturday November 22nd, beginning at 2:30. Opening the event will be Ottawa poet , author of The Living Law from Darkly Bright Press.

BC and Yukon Book Prizes

Listen up BC & Yukon-based publishers and authors! The BC and Yukon Book Prizes are open, with eight prize categories and one award given out each year. Deadline is December 1, 2025. Find out more.

Ontario Arts Council: Recommender Grants

The OAC is now open for Recommender Grants for Writers and Theatre Creators. Applications are open now through to January 9th, 2026, with some moving deadlines, depending on recommender preferences.

Off the Beaten Path

The Oka Melon

Have you heard of the mysterious Oka Melon? A cross between a banana melon and the Montreal melon (what even are those?), the Oka melon was developed by Father Athanase in 1912. Father Athanase was a monk at the Trappist Monastery in Oka, Quebec, which had a school of agriculture at the time. Over the years, the melon was almost completely lost, due in part to the closure of the agricultural school. After having disappeared from history, the Oka melon continues to be cultivated and harvested by a group of Cistercian monks in the Laurentian Mountains today.

Welcome to Feuilles, a monthly newsletter where we will be sharing news, events, contributor & editor updates, and community resources.

I can’t believe it is already September. For some reason, this year has passed more quickly than most. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that we launched Traces nearly one year ago, and it’s been a wild ride! We’re so grateful for each of you, dear readers and contributors, for helping make our first two issues a success.

With the Labour Day weekend behind us, it is easy to be nostalgic about summertime. This June, I was lucky to spend three weeks visiting my family in Newfoundland. Keep reading for my NFLD book recommendations from this summer!

Traces News

Help us reach 300 subscribers!

Traces Journal will officially be one year old when we launch our autumn issue this November 2025. Our goal is to have 300 subscribers by then! Give us a hand by sharing Traces with your friends, family, colleagues, church communities, and closeted poetry lovers.

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Submissions are open

With our autumn issue just around the corner, remember that you have one more month to submit your work to us! For this issue, we are seeking reviews, interviews, and poetry submissions. Submissions can be made via our Submittable portal or sent directly to one of our editors. Submissions close October 1, 2025.

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The Order of Love

Our new Traces dispatch, “The Order of Love,” is published monthly. The September installment is now live! Read the latest below, and leave a comment to let us know what you think.

We’re Hiring!

Traces continues to look for new editors to join our team. We are always open to applications for Contributing Editors, and we are currently searching for a new Interviews Editor. If you have any questions or are interested in applying, please send a CV and a brief cover letter to traces.editor@gmail.com.

Contributor Sightings

The Traces community out in the wild…

Jesse Keith Butler: New Poem in Autumn Sky Poetry Daily

Read ’s poem “The Life We Chose,” from his debut poetry collection, The Living Law. You can read ’s review of the collection, written for Traces Journal, here.

Josh Tiessen: Artist-in-Residence at the Moshava Art Gallery, NYC

Congratulations to , who is on his way to NYC to take up a new position as Artist in Residence at the Moshava Art Gallery! To learn more about Tiessen’s work, read his conversation with for Traces Journal.

Bret van den Brink: PhD Candidate at the University of Toronto

Contributing Editor, Bret van den Brink, began his PhD in English at the University of Toronto. For his hot takes on literature and religion, follow him on Twitter/X.

Daniel Cowper, Letters from an Island

continues his essay series, Letters from an Island, at the . Read his latest, “Who Forgot About Beauty? And Why?”

Poetry in Place: New Anthology Includes Traces friends & contributors

A new poetry anthology from Guernica Editions, titled “Poetry and Environmental Hope in a Southern Ontario Bioregion,” includes poems from Madhur Anand, Mia Anderson, Fitsum Areguy, Elise Arsenault, Gary Barwin, Anna Bowen, Klyde Broox, Linzey Corridon, Corri Daniels, Brian Day, Adam Dickinson, Joanne Epp, Jaidyn Fenton, Linda Frank, Marilyn Gear Pilling, Alyssa General, Catherine Graham, David Haskins, Cornelia Hoogland, Karen Houle, Mark Kempf, Greg Kennedy, Paula Kienapple-Summers, Stacey Laforme, Janice Jo Lee, John B. Lee, Sheryl Loeffler, Tanis MacDonald, Daniel MacIsaac, Chandra Maracle, Kate Marshall Flaherty, Geoff Martin, Elizabeth McCallister, Daniel David Moses, Honey Novick, Mariam Pirbhai, Arwen Roussell, Bernadette Rule, Doug Sikkema, Jennifer Tan, John Terpstra, Elizabeth Tessier, and Anna Yin.

Do you have a publication, event, or milestone you’d like to share with the Traces community? Submit your news to be featured in a future edition of “Contributor Sightings.”

Ordinary Time

Things we’re reading and listening to in our spare time…

“Chores” by Maggie Burton

When I was in Newfoundland this summer, I was determined to pick up as many titles from Breakwater Books as I could fit into my suitcase. So far, my favourite poetry collection has been Maggie Burton’s “Chores,” which won the 2024 Canadian First Book Prize from the Griffin Poetry Prize.

The book explores various perceptions and responsibilities of “women’s work” (ie, the work of sustaining life) from the particularities of a Newfoundlander’s perspective. Burton’s imagery and language are deeply rooted in the landscape and culture of the Rock, giving mainland Canadian readers a glimpse into the lives of women on the far east coast.

Second Reading

Returning to old or forgotten loves…

“Autumn, Wildcat Creek” by Maurice Cullen

In keeping with the Newfoundland theme of this edition of Feuilles, let me briefly highlight an autumnal painting by one of my favourite Canadian painters, Maurice Cullen. I first discovered Cullen at the MBAM for his painting, “Ice Harvest” (p.s. Quebecers can attend the MBAM for free this month!). I have since delighted in viewing many of his paintings in person at galleries across Canada. Here is a little taste of one of his more expressionistic works from 1925.

Community Events & Opportunities

Call for Halloween Poems at the New Verse Review

Our friends at the New Verse Review: A Journal of Lyric and Narrative Poetry are currently open for submissions to their Halloween issue! Last year’s issue included poems from Traces contributors & friends, including Alex Rettie and Daniel Cowper. Submissions are open now until September 19th, 2025.

CARDUS: Fall Nature Walk at Chedoke

Cardus is hosting a fall nature walk to explore the grounds of Chedoke Estate. Guided tours will be led by a local naturalist, focusing on birds and their fall migration patterns, as well as learn about the natural heritage of this escarpment property.

Date: September 20, 2025 | Time: 8:30am - 11:30am

University of Alberta Press: Accepting poetry manuscripts

The University of Alberta Press is accepting poetry manuscripts between September 1 and 30. The Press will select up to three manuscripts for publication in 2027. Note: All submissions must be from poets who are Canadians or landed immigrants. Deadline is September 30, 2025.

Presence: A Journal of Catholic Poetry: Open for Submissions

Presence is open for submissions for their annual issue, which will be published in April 2026. They are accepting poetry and translations until October 1st, 2025.

Morrice in Venice at the McMichael Art Gallery (ON)

The exhibition, “Morrice in Venice,” has been extended into November 2025 due to popular demand. James Wilson Morrice, born in Montreal, was the first Canadian painter to regularly travel to Venice, and this exhibition collects his works from the mid-1890s to the early 1900s. Now through November 23, 2025.

Off the Beaten Path

The Veiled Virgin

You may be familiar with this sculpture by Giovanni Strazza, which often goes viral on social media due to the incredible rendering of fabric in stone. I recently learned that this sculpture is housed in St. John’s, Newfoundland, right here in our own backyard. You can read more about the sculpture, its fascinating history, and how to see it for yourself on the Newfoundland & Labrador Heritage Website.