Recent Paintings

This is all the painting I have done in the last ten days. I don't remember the last time I had this kind of creative deluge in any form. Writing comes to me very slowly, and it requires a lot of thought, and the process always has many layers of revision and editing and polishing. These paintings come comparatively quickly, rapidly, intuitively. I believe these paintings are an embodied form of thinking that is bringing me closer to my next writing project. 

    More here: http://www.paulvermeersch.ca/p/art.html

New Ekphrastic Project: Kay Sage's "In the Third Sleep"

From 2010 to 2014, I curated a blog where I invited poets to write ekphrastic poems responding to, and titled after, Arshile Gorky’s 1944 abstract expressionist painting “They Will Take My Island.” You can look at the project here.

Then, from 2015 to 2018, I did a similar thing challenging poets to take on J. M. W. Turner’s Romantic painting “Sunrise with Sea Monsters.” You can visit that project here.

Now, I'm inviting selected poets to respond to Kay Sage’s 1944 surrealist painting “In The Third Sleep.” The parameters are simple: the poem must be called “In The Third Sleep,” and it must respond to, engage with, or build on some element of Kay Sage’s painting, but it should not merely describe her painting. Beyond that, the poem can take any form. Visit the new Kay Sage project here. 

Kay Sage's “In the Third Sleep” is in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, and you can visit it online here.

Talking about NMLCT on the New Book Network podcast

I was very happy to sit down with Hollay Ghadery on the New Book Network podcast and talk about my new collection of poems NMLCT. Click on this link to listen to our conversations!

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Reading in London, Ontario, on December 09, 2025

LONDON, ONTARIO! Mark your calendars: 

I'm bringing NMLCT to you, with huge thanks to Antler River Poetry! I'll see you at Little Wren Books on Dec 09, 2025. 7PM.

From my early childhood in London in the 1970s, to my time as a student at Western in the 1990s, it will feel like a homecoming, and I am looking forward to seeing you then.

DECEMBER 9, 2025

London, ONTARIO 

Antler River Reading Series

Little Wren Books

7pm

NMLCT is CBC Books "Top Pick"!

NMLCT is CBC Books poetry "Top Pick" for the second half of 2025. Thank you to the CBC and to everyone who has been supporting my book this year. I feel incredibly lucky. 

Click here to see the whole list.

NMLCT: MONTREAL LAUNCH ON OCTOBER 18

Montreal friends! I am coming to your beautiful city to launch NMLCT at the Rocket Science Room on October 18! I'll be joined by poets Liz Howard and Jessi MacEachern, with Jay Ritchie presiding over the evening as emcee. I am indebted to the assistance and hospitality of Leigh Kotsilidis for helping put this event together, and I hope you will join us and bring your poetry-loving friends along.

October 18, 2025

Montreal, QUEBEC

Montreal Launch for NMLCT

with Liz Howard and Jessi MacEachern

and Jay Ritchie as the MC. 

Rocket Science Room

#204-170 Jean Talon O., 

Atlas Building, Little Italy, 

Montreal, QC

Doors 6:30pm

Readings 7:00pm

Click here for all the DETAILS.

I’ll be at the Toronto Word on the Street Festival this weekend

I’ll be at the Toronto Word on the Street Festival this weekend. Come by the ECW Press booth at 11am on Saturday. I’ll be signing books. Come by and say hello!

At other time, I can be found at the booths for either Wolsak and Wynn Publishers or The Ampersand Review. 

Word On The Street’s 36th Annual Festival
David Pecaut Square
215 King Street W

Sat, Sept 27 – 11AM – 6PM
Sun, Sept 28 – 10AM – 5PM

I am coming to the Kingston WritersFest on September 19

I am coming to the Kingston WritersFest this Friday, September 19, for two events! 

At noon, I'll be doing my "How to Read a Poem" workshop, and at 1:30 I'll be sharing the stage with Callista Markotich and Terese Mason Pierre for a poetry panel called "Projections and Reflections" with host Jason Heroux.

I hope to see you then! 

Gert more information here.