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 Homelands in Victoria, BC.

Yvonne Blomer is the author of Death of Persephone: A Murder, a poetic noir mystery rooted in myth and the ongoing violence against women and girls. An excerpt won the Gwendolyn MacEwen Poetry Prize in 2021. She has edited five anthologies, including the celebrated eco-poetry triptych Refugium, Sweet Water, and Sublime, as well as Hologram: Homage to P.K. Page, and served as Arc Magazine’s poet-in-residence for 2022–23. With an MA from the University of East Anglia, she teaches immersive poetry workshops online and lives on the territories of the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) speaking people.

This episode is generously supported by Bolen Books. Independently owned and operated by the Bolen family since 1975, Bolen Books is Western Canada’s largest single-location independent bookstore and a cornerstone of Victoria’s literary life. Discover more at Bolen Books.

The Poet Laureate Podcast is recorded in studio at Haus of Owl: Creation Labs—supporting artists to create the best work of their careers. Original music by Chris Regehr. To learn more or reach out, visit www.thepoetlaureatepodcast.com or find us on Instagram @poetlaureatepodcast & poetlaureatepdcast@bsky.social.

We acknowledge with gratitude that this work was created on the unceded homelands of the lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples.