ditch,

ditch, the poetry that matters

ditch, n., where you are when you are not on the main road.

ditch, is a Canadian online poetry magazine celebrating the non-conforming, the radical, the alternative, the surreal, the avant-garde, the non-linear, the abstract, the experimental.

there is no regular publishing schedule; the site will be updated as new material is received.

sign up for our mailing list (see below) to be notified when new material is posted.

(click on the highlighted poets' names to read their work)

Our featured poet is Gregory Betts

Gregory Betts was born in Vancouver to Maritime parents, and, "as part of the national compromise," spent most of his life in Toronto. Though not a natural "Upper Canadian," Gregory's work in poetry, fiction, and criticism has consistently explored the literary milieu of his adoptive city. He is the author of If Language (BookThug, 2005) and the collaborative Haikube (2006)—the sculptural counterpart of which, by Matt Donovan and Hallie Siegel, was displayed at the Olga Korper Gallery. He teaches Canadian and Avant-Garde Literature at Brock University in St. Catharines.

rob mclennan lives in Ottawa, even though he was born there. The author of over a dozen trade books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, he is spending the 2007-8 academic year as writer-in-residence at the University of Alberta. The editor/publisher of Chaudiere Books, Poetics.ca (with Stephen Brockwell), above/ground press, and ottawater, his online home is                                                      robmclennan.blogspot.com

Julian Jason Haladyn is a Canadian artist and writer. His poems have appeared in, among others, ´a·pos·tro·phe, Elimae, Identity Theory, Istanbul Literature Review, Laika Poetry Review, Nthposition, and Otoliths, as well as the collection Nuit Blanche: Poetry for Late Nights (Toronto: Royal Sarcophagus Society Press, 2007). His first poetry book, entitled 17/13, will be published this September by Blue Medium. In addition, he has published collaborative critical articles and reviews with Miriam Jordan in Parachute, Broken Pencil, C Magazine, On Site Review, and a chapter in Stanley Kubrick: Essays on His Films and Legacy (McFarland and Company 2007). As a practicing artist his solo and collaborative artwork has been included in exhibitions internationally.

M.A.C. Farrant is the author of eight collections of satirical and humorous short fiction. As novel-length memoir, My Turquoise Years, was published by Greystone Books/Douglas & McIntyre in 2004. She has published a number of chapbooks with David UU's Berkley Horse, with Damian Lopes's fingerprinting inkoperated and with Farfield Press.

Her stories have been adapted for both radio and television and are widely anthologized in Canada and the United States. 

She is a book reviewer for the Vancouver Sun and the Toronto Globe & Mail.

In 2006 stories appeared in the Penguin Anthology of Canadian Humour; Dropped Threads 3 (Random House); a tribute anthology for bill bissett, (Nightwood Edition) and other places. Three anthology contributions are forthcoming in 2007/08.

In March, 2007 a short fiction collection, The Breakdown So Far, appeared from Talonbooks.  She is currently working with the Arts Club Theatre of Vancouver on a stage adaptation of My Turquoise Years.

Alessandro Porco (b. 1979) is the author of The Jill Kelly Poems (ECW Press, 2005). A second collection of poetry, titled Augustine in Carthage, is forthcoming in the spring of 2008, also from ECW Press. Currently, Porco attends the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he working towards a doctoral dissertation on the subject of Hip-hop poetics. Porco may be found on the web at www.buffalo.edu/~asporco or alessandroporco.blogspot.com.

Catherine Paquette is a Montreal-based writer. She is the author of the chapbook: the burden of a song (Mercutio Press 2007), which is a long-poem/visual experiment. Her work has appeared in publications such as brokenpencil, misunderstandings magazine and Fireweed, and more recently in the American online journals Glitterpony, Shampoo, and No Tell Motel.

Greg Santos was born and raised in Montreal. He has been featured in print and online publications, such as, McSweeney's, Matrix, and Feathertale. He had a broadside published by Impress in 2006, and had poetry featured on the “Poems of the Week” section of the Parliamentary Poet Laureate website. He co-edited the "Voce: Recorded Poems" DVD project for Palimpsest, Yale University's arts and literary journal. He lives in New Haven, CT and will be starting an MFA in Creative Writing at The New School in Fall 2007. Visit his frequently updated poetry and literary themed blog at http://moondoggy.blogspot.com/ and his website at http://gregsantos.mosaicglobe.com/.

jennifer best is a writer living in montreal. she has been published in prose toad and blank magazine.

Duane Locke, Ph. D. (Metaphysical Poetry) lives in rural Lakeland, Florida, and has had published extensively in print and e-zines as well as having 17 print and e-books published.

Duane Locke is also a exhibited widely painter and photographer, a discussion of his work appears in Gary Monroe’s Extraordinary Interpretations (U of Fla press). Recent exhibition, “Outsider Art” at Polk Museum. Is listed in Who’s Who in America (Marquis)

Jeff Crouch is a writer in Grand Prairie, Texas. His writing has appeared in an extraordinary number of publications. 

DB Cox can be found in the early-morning hours, bent over a Fender Strat, in roadhouses and juke joints throughout the south. He describes his playing style as “ look at life through drunken, godless eyes” To quiet his tortured soul, he writes. He has published three books of poetry. His first chapbook is entitled “Passing For Blue”, and is available from Rank Stranger Press. Two other chapbooks, “Lowdown” and “Ordinary Sorrows”, are available from Pudding House Publications. His latest full size collection called “Empty Frames” can be picked up on-line at Main Street Rag Publishing.

PJ Nights was born and raised in the wild and ravishing state of Maine. She is the co-editor of two print anthologies, Women of the Web available from Sun Rising Press and from east to west: bicoastal verse (print edition #1) available at Lulu.com. Her poetry has appeared most recently in Ocho 10, Blue Fifth Review, Slow Trains, Panamowa:  A New Lit Order, and the Velvet Avalanche Anthology. Her personal website, which also features other poets updated every season, is from east to west: bicoastal verse at  http://www.geocities.com/pj_nights.

Hakim Bellamy is a two-time National Champion in the Poetry Slam scene. Hakim is a freelance journalist, community organizer and social justice advocate as well as a playwright and actor. Hakim’s poetry and journalism have been published internationally as well as his radio journalism on KUNM 89.9FM out of Albuquerque, NM. He is currently working for the New Mexico Office of African American Affairs and is a board member for Poetic Justice Institute as well. He is most proud of being the Poetry Club coach at South Valley Academy.

Upcoming features include:  Todd Swift.

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