The Hart House Review

Jim Mezei and Kellen Hatanaka

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 23:35:00 -0500

The Market

The Saw Horse Design co. is the combined efforts of Kellen Hatanaka and Jim Mezei. They met while studying illustration at OCAD and began collaborating in their third year. This is the first painting in a series focused on classic graphic design, hand painted signs, packaging, and craftsmanship.

Tim Prior

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:15:00 -0500

an entertainment (from otro mundo)

This incident occurred
on August 2, 1498,
during Columbus’s third
voyage, shortly after
arriving at the place he
named Trinidad.

a canoe rowed by 24 men, gliding over the water, on the second day;
these men armed with bows and arrows and wooden shields
and they wore scarves about their heads,
of elaborate design and bright colours, like
the almaizares worn by the Moors
of Spain; and these men hailed the ships, but their language
was unintelligible to him, and he made signs
that they should approach, but they were wary
and would come no closer, and as he desired speech
with these newcomers, he ordered his men
to dance upon the deck, that the Indians,
delighted by such entertainment
would not fear them,
his sailors shaking tambourines
and playing trumpets and flutes and
and singing as well,
but instead these people were confused
by this mysterious display,
launching their arrows toward his ships,
and in exasperation he ordered
the crossbows fired upon them,
and they fled, not understanding
any of this, fearing a trap
in their uncertainty

and though he did not see these men again
the music echoed in his ears
for a time: rough music
his men had played at on those rugged decks
flute and measured tambourine, a charm
of song and laughter upon
that company in that land
a thing like a dream,
though in this unaccountable place
it was not

(spent arrows
clattering against the hull
crossbow bolts hissing
into clear water

Tim Prior is a Toronto teacher and poet whose poetry has, since the early eighties, appeared in a variety of Canadian literary journals, The Antigonish Review, Canadian Literature, CV2,The Fiddlehead, Grain, Hart House Review, Queen’s Quarterly, and Toronto Review of Contemporary Writing Abroad, among others. Most recently my poetry appeared in the December 2011 issue of the Literary Review of Canada and is also forthcoming in CV2. Poems from Otro Mundo have previously appeared both in The Antigonish Review and Hart House Review. Tim Prior is a University of Toronto graduate.

Minhee Bae

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:54:19 -0500

Where Will They End Up?

And Then What Happened?

Minhee Bae is a painter from Poughkeepsie, New York and currently attends University of Toronto, specializing in Visual Studies with minors in Art History and Cinema Studies. To view more of her work, please visit minheebae.blogspot.com

Binoy Zuzarte

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:34:00 -0500

And Hartley Played His Violin

Her postmarked letter arrived in August with Honey,
in the mouth of this yellow fox, we remain an odd calculus

but he swore it read I am your tongue’s half-melted tea biscuit.
That was Nobu—the best bad student of literature ever reared

by that nuclear town. Issa at his feet became dewed gumboots;
Kafka in his hands became a plate of smelt roe.

Yet she was not infallible. While writing out a travel narrative,
her thoughts blinked into naïve symmetry: These are not chapters,

merely courteous e-mail updates and long-form blog posts.
Only after some time did they learn their true theory

was Iser’s, and they spoke with heavy cognizance
like two planets. A lack of precision. They could infer this.

And the moment Nobu beat the drum, he graduated
into flight, clutched dearly in the talons of an osprey,

and he began a joyous chantey, ever so lightly sibilated
by a fluttering between his teeth: stuck floss.

Binoy Zuzarte is a member of Poets and the News, a collective that experiments with a more journalistic poetic process. He lives and writes in the Toronto area.

Iris Liu

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:30:00 -0500

Darling Day

Iris Liu is a second-year student specializing in philosophy. In her spare time she enjoys Wittgenstein, chimpanzee intelligence and red wine. A photographer by trade and a writer by calling, she is a quiet contemporary exemplar of what Kandinsky called “the perfect merging of pure but discreet art forms”.

Deputy Editor

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 11:59:23 -0500

The Hart House Review is now accepting applications for the post of Deputy Editor, who will become Editor-in-Chief for the 2013 Review. Please submit cover letters and resumes to harthousereview@gmail.com by Sunday February 5.

Emily Izsak

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 21:26:00 -0500

Two-Ring Circus

They think these sequins and stockings
make us identical;
we are a synchronized spectacle.
I plunge open hands into pails of powder,
stippling candy floss air
with floating clouds of silver chalk.
Slick sweat trapped under gossamer gloves
cannot lick the level bar, cannot grease my grip.
I jump just to feel my heart dip.
Knees suspended from swinging rope,
I am reaching again;
pretending the distant net can hold my weight
only to gain the courage to be caught.
A graceful performance
to eyes in the ground level stands.

You walk with outstretched hands.
Tiptoeing on top of tense rope,
straight from beginning to end.
Careful steps.
Short breaths.
Slowly,
lest you stumble.
I tumble but you stand.
I will land at the end of your high wire;
when we clasp hands,
they will clap theirs together
though we will be much too high
to hear the applause.

Emily Izsak is a first year English student at the University of Toronto. She is fond of modern American drama and lyric poetry. She was born and raised in Toronto.

Sasha Reid

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

The Seasons

Sasha Reid is a recent graduate from the University of Toronto. She has written many short stories, including her most recent, The Crux of Affinity, and will be releasing her first self-published book, Psychopathy: A Necessary Evil?, in late 2012.

Chelsea Martin

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 19:36:30 -0500

Five Flash Fictions

—

I told a customer that I was severely depressed, and that when I wasn’t at work I was either crying or killing small things. Then he ordered a really complicated drink.

—

Customer: You look beautiful today. Are you ovulating?
Me: Why does everyone think they can talk about my menstrual cycle whenever they feel like it?
Customer: I’m pretty sure you’re ovulating.

—

It’s upsetting to feel so close to someone yet not have the ability to control their thoughts or effectively manipulate their feelings. Sex is ultimately disappointing because a body becoming separate from another body is a cruel reminder that two bodies can’t be merged in any emotionally sustainable way. I’m not saying I feel lonely during sex but if I think about it afterwards it does seem lonely.

—

I’d rather hang out by myself all the time and cry about how hot the shower is than hang out with someone who only wants to tell me 85% of what goes on inside their heads. I wish I were the type of person who had 13-15 friends and liked each one of them with about 10% interest, because I would end up being at least 130% interested in my friends. I think I could probably spend about 3 hours finding the solution to that math problem, mostly because I always forget how to use the “/” button on my calculator, but also because this issue barely qualifies as a math problem. I guess I’m feeling a little isolated.

—

Customer: It looks like you’ve been crying.
Me: Great.
Customer: What? I meant that in a good way.

Chelsea Martin has written two books and owns a small business called Universal Error. jerkethics.com universalerror.com

Jesse Patrick Ferguson

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 19:01:00 -0500

Colour Base

Jesse Patrick Ferguson currently lives in Sydney, Cape Breton, with his wife and son. Jesse has published poetry and reviews in ten countries, in both print and online formats. Some highlights include: Canadian Literature, Prairie Fire, The Walrus, Poetry Ireland Review, Poetry and Harper’s. His work also appears in the anthologies Best Canadian Poetry, 2009 and Rogue Stimulus. Jesse has been a poetry editor for The Fiddlehead, and he has served on the editorial boards of several other Canadian journals. In 2009, Freehand Books published his first full-length poetry collection, Harmonics.

Chris Chambers

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:12:00 -0500

Autumn/PM

We have our way with the perfect pop song.
After five straight listenings it leaves your face drenched
lying on the couch—that’s only a fifteen minute project, think
what could it do in an hour…a day…a month…another month.

Ask my mother how long she was married before she had me
because I can’t remember the year she got married. Some son.
My other half lies sleepless, exhausted, confused with fatigue
just like me, in our bed. “A bitter stranger?”
Who knows from the lyrics of pop songs.

All the same, good things are happening to us.

The sound of jack hammers wake us at eight again.
The majority of our neighbours voted for speed bumps to slow down
the world, but not us. Never us.
We’ll ride our bikes up to Castle Knock for Christmas dinner
wearing five of my sweaters between us.

Chris Chambers has published two books, Wild Mouse (with Derek McCormack) and Lake Where No One Swims (both from Pedlar Press). In 2012 he will be seeking a publisher for a new ms of poems called Thrillows and Despairos.

Dr. Ernest Williamson III

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 09:32:00 -0500

The Other Side of Sorrow

Dr. Ernest Williamson has published poetry and visual art in over 350 print and online journals. Visit his website: www.yessy.com/budicegenius

Kevin Sampsell

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 09:26:00 -0500

Warm in the Snow

We go to your parents’ farm for Christmas and they give us a Wii. We open presents and play virtual tennis all morning. We decide to take mushrooms in the afternoon, right before dinner and about an hour before some friends pick us up to go out for the night. I’m eating turkey and mashed potatoes and I realize that the mushrooms have killed my taste buds already. I pile a bunch of food that I don’t usually like on my plate—stuffing, squash, cranberry—and I eat it without the slightest grimace on my face. I ask for hot sauce and challenge your dad to a “hot sauced turkey contest.” He drinks a beer and sweats through his new polo shirt. I am laughing and taking the smallest sips of water, chased with hot coffee. Suddenly, there are loud thrusts of wind banging against the window and snow is swirling everywhere outside. Our friends call us and tell us that they can’t come and get us because they’re already snowed in. You are looking out the window and holding the phone to your ear for several minutes, even though no one is on it to talk to anymore. Your mom says curiously to you from behind, “Hello?” and you start talking on the dead phone like your mom is on the line. I walk over to you and take the phone from you and turn you around to face your mom. You start laughing uncontrollably, at first like something is really funny and then like an insane person. Your laugh sounds backwards: Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah. I am trying to usher you away, maybe to your old bedroom in the back, but I feel the rush coming on too. My face is stretched into a mad grin and my shoulders feel hunched. The house is surrounded by a tornado of snow and I realize that we are stuck inside with your parents while our brains turn to goo in our heads. Your dad is shaking his head like he knows what’s going on, but your mom asks in the most innocent country bumpkin accent, “What could be so funny?”

Once we’re in your old room, we quietly try to come up with a game plan. We know we can’t stay inside with the sober family so we tell your parents that we’ll go check on the cows. We find them in the two shelters by the pasture but there is one who is still out in the storm, walking in circles. We stumble around in the wind and try to steer the animal to a shelter but it turns at the last moment and heads back toward the middle. “He likes it!” you shout through the wind. You climb up and get on his back. “Come on,” you say. I try to climb on too, but just drape myself over him like a blanket. I feel warm like a blanket. You run your fingers through my hair and I stare down and watch the cow’s hooves dancing around the glowing white dance floor.

Kevin Sampsell lives and writes in Oregon, where it snows sometimes, and where there are still cows.

Elena Bilenky-Iourtaeva

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:07:00 -0500

Rusty Painting

Elena Bilenky-Iourtaeva was born in Moscow, where she was raised with an emphasis on artistic education - music, painting and clay modeling. In 1999 Elena arrived to Geneva, where she expanded her artistic activity to printmaking and Chinese calligraphy.

After a few years of studying mathematics in Paris and Lausanne, Switzerland, Elena moved to Canada to live with her beloved husband Andrey. Now both are attending the University of Toronto, with Elena specializing in Fine Arts. Her main practical investigations are in photography and painting; and theoretical interests are in devotional and Medieval art.

Liza Kobrinsky

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:07:00 -0500

Liza Kobrinsky is the winner of the 2011 Hart House Poetry Contest. Submit your entries to this year’s contest by January 15, 2012. For more information on the Hart House contests, please visit our “Contests” page.

Mother Courage

We left behind
Lemon trees, barefoot children,
A people united by a common
Feeling of nausea
Thinking about 1944, 1945…
You put a rock on the tombstone,
But you don’t cry. Especially
If your tattooless arms
Are still strong.

The plane landed in snow.
I had split my lip
Running around the airport.
We held on to each other
As the cold blew us along.
Too many languages, I gargled.
On the playground we learned each other –
Endurance, respect for getting the rules right,
And all silently not understanding
When the teacher died of Hep B.
I wasn’t yet sure what the custom was
So I sang, slowly, a sad Hebrew song.

You never offered any explanations
But I felt you in your worry:
As I chipped my teeth getting the words out,
Skinning my knees on Canadian concrete
Stumbling through wilted trees.

My arms and legs grew longer
Mother Courage drags her cart
On two twisted ankles.

Liza Kobrinsky is a fourth year economics student who reads too much and always writes everything down. Born in Moscow, she now lives in Toronto. She likes traveling, politics, and theatre.

Contests!

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 13:06:00 -0500

Enter the Hart House Literary Contests. Prizes for Fiction and Poetry. Open to all current and alumni UofT students. Deadline: Jan. 15, 2012. See our Contests page for more details.

Garett Walker

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 11:25:00 -0500

National Portrait
Collage
Found Material.

Garett Walker is an artist and photographer. Having completed both his BFA in Photography and MFA in Documentary Media Studies from Ryerson University, he has traveled extensively across Canada, using his camera to document the country’s varied regional cultural heritage. He is a recipient of many private and public artistic development grants, which help to fund his ongoing work. He is an active participant in the Toronto arts community and his work is collected by various private collectors and public institutions in Canada. Garett lives and works in Toronto.

Elizabeth Ellen

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 11:00:00 -0500

Concentration

When she drove her daughter to school at seven she was careful not to cross the center line. It took all of her concentration. Her own mother had driven while intoxicated. She spent the time between her daughter’s bed time and her own going up and down the stairs. She played Judy Garland on the portable record player in the basement. Her mother had sung also. She clutched the wheel with both hands and sat unusually upright. She saw her daughter into the school and drove home. She was so careful with her daughter on all other occasions. She never drank before ten. She never sang either.

Elizabeth Ellen is the author of BEFORE YOU SHE WAS A PIT BULL (Future Tense) and SIXTEEN MILES OUTSIDE OF PHOENIX (Rose Metal Press). FAST MACHINE, an anthology of her work from 2002-2011, will be published by Short Flight/Long Drive Books in early 2012. She lives in Ann Arbor.

Corrie Jackson

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 13:10:00 -0400

Native Land

In There Triptych

Corrie Jackson lives and works in Toronto. To see more of her work go to http://xxxxcollective.com/#1762363/Corrie-Jackson

Submit!

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 14:43:00 -0400

Submissions are now open for our 2012 print edition. Deadline for all categories: January 15th, 2012. See our submission guidelines for more details.