The Poet Laureate Podcast

Poet Laureate Podcast – Episode Eight Joanna Streetly | Deep Time, Transformation, and the Ethics of Place In this eighth episode, Kyeren Regehr sits down with Joanna Streetly—poet, memoirist, and the inaugural Poet Laureate of Tofino. Writing from a float house in Clayoquot Sound, Joanna explores the intersections of deep time, personal grief, and the fluid nature of transformation. The conversation navigates the ethics of writing about place as a settler, the "brave swimmer" metaphor for ex...

In this seventh episode, Kyeren Regehr welcomes Yvonne Blomer—poet, editor, and the fourth Poet Laureate of Victoria. With nuance and urgency, Yvonne speaks to reimagining myth through a feminist lens, her environmental curation of the anthologies Refugium, Sweet Water, and Sublime, and the ways poetry intersects with mothering, disability, and visual art. Featuring three poems, including the haunting palindrome “Audubon: Still Life.” Recorded at Haus of Owl Creation Labs on Lekwungen Homelan...

Poet Laureate Podcast – Episode Six Drew Lavigne | The Aesthetic Pull In this episode, Kyeren Regehr welcomes Drew Lavigne—poet laureate of Moncton, poetry editor at The Fiddlehead, curator of the Attic Owl Reading Series, and author of Evening Dress (Anstruther Press). With precision and vulnerability, Drew speaks about the compulsion to write, the quiet power of memory, and poetry as both record and ritual. The conversation travels through long-form poetics, family mythologies, shame and t...

Episode 5: Fiona Tinwei Lam on Poetry as Ritual, Film, and Public Art The Poet Laureate Podcast with host Kyeren Regehr In this episode, former Vancouver Poet Laureate Fiona Tinwei Lam joins Kyeren Regehr to explore poetry’s power to honor history, heal collective wounds, and engage the public in fresh and unexpected ways. Fiona begins with her moving poem “Gift”, which commemorates the Uda family’s donation of 1,000 cherry trees to Vancouver—most of which were only planted after the family’...

Poet Laureate Podcast – Episode Four Steven Ross Smith | Writing Like Jazz In this fourth episode, Kyeren Regehr welcomes Steven Ross Smith — poet, mentor, arts leader, and former Poet Laureate of Banff. One of Canada’s great poetic experimenters, Steven speaks about improvisation and constraint, the sonic body of the poem, and his long-running Flutter Tongue series. With clarity and generosity, he reflects on risk, coherence, and the question of what poetry is — and might yet be...

In this third episode Kyeren Regehr welcomes John Barton—poet, editor, essayist, and the fifth Poet Laureate of Victoria, BC. With unflinching grace and poetic precision, John speaks to the evolution of queer poetics in Canada, the intimate distances of influence and his evolving relationship with formal constraint. Featuring three poems, including the Frank O’Hara–inspired “In Eggs and Love.” Recorded in Victoria, BC, on the Lekwungen homelands at Haus of Owl. Please note: this is our longe...

In this second episode, Kyeren Regehr welcomes Iranian-Canadian poet and multi-genre writer Hollay Ghadery, inaugural Poet Laureate of Scugog Township, who speaks with deep honesty and intelligence about poetry as a practice of receptivity, form as a map, and writing as a means of reclaiming enchantment. Featuring three poems, including Braids. Recorded in Victoria, BC, on the Lekwungen homelands at Haus of Owl. This episode is generously sponsored by Munro’s Books. A literary landmark in dow...

In this debut episode, Kyeren Regehr welcomes acclaimed Métis poet Lorri Neilsen Glenn who speaks with clarity and grace about writing as a way to think, to listen, and to find connection across time and experience. Featuring three poems, including Writing Has Always Felt Like Praying. Recorded in Victoria, BC, on the Lekwungen homelands at Haus of Owl. This episode is generously sponsored by Munro's Books. A literary landmark in downtown Victoria, Munro’s has been a sanctuary for reade...