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At the end of April, I took CBC's Magic 8 Questionnaire. The good folks at Canada Writes select eight questions posed by Canadian authors for me to answer. Great concept.

Here's question 6:

6. From Cordelia Strube: Do you think your work will still be around 50 years from now?

Future Ian has returned from 2063 to answer this question. Pastians, th’ansr=evrythng b still arOnd in the fute. Evry last wrd b on th’internet. As Presentians, we still deb8 th’ethics of immortal info given the mortality of mortals. + Todd says hi and don’t worre. (U will kno who he b.)

You can read my whole interview here, and you can also read the interviews of the other Griffin finalists, James Pollock and David McFarlane.

One month left until the Griffin readings. (How many hours? you ask.)

It's like I'm nine again and counting the days to my birthday which, incidentally, is around Griffin time.

and summarize our whole conversation, my mother quotes Orwell's Animal Farm to me, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

Mothers of the world, how do you manage to comfort and commiserate by disquieting your poor children? The mind of a mother over 50 may be society's most underused resource.

I heard some music rising today, decontextualized, and recognized just how timeless the second movement of Beethoven's seventh symphony is. It really steals up on you.

Listen.

Handel, for me, is the composer who can do the most with the fewest instrumental resources. Beethoven, I realized today, can work with almost nothing--no rhythmic urgency, no sugary melodies, no radical harmonies or counterpoint--and still manage to dumbfound.

The movement is iterative. More of the same, but with very slight shifts of being, dynamics, orchestration. From bar to bar, there is the steadiness, the magic, of the autonomous nervous system going about its work. Then you realize, I am breathing. Then you realize, The side of my neck is pulsing. I have been kept alive for 33 years without my will. Not against my will but without it.

You're not going to believe this.

Personals is shortlisted for the Robert Kroetsch Poetry Book Award! The award is presented annually to the best poetry collection published by an Alberta-based publisher. Personals is also up for a cover design award (Yay, Natalie Olsen!). If you haven't seen the cover, turn your eyes to the left. Easy now. Consult a doctor before beginning any exercise routine.

The winners will be announced in Edmonton on May 25.

Kroetsch wrote a collection called, Advice for My Friends. The first poem, "for a poet who has stopped writing," ends,

          but (now and then) you've got to tell somebody
          and a reader has I guess, in spite of all, ears

  I wonder what advice Kroetsch would offer me now? Maybe:

          Ian, your cup will not always overflow.
          Drink slow.

The National Post is going to feature an interview and a poem by the Griffin finalists for the next seven weeks until the winner is announced in a fete of confetti and cymbal clashing. My interview and poem appeared in last Saturday's Post.

Q: What’s one book you’d give to a young writer?

A: Margaret Atwood’s Power Politics. It begins my bookcase: top shelf, left side, like a cursor.

Mark Medley asks other questions like, "What’s the worst trend in modern poetry?" and "Name one poet, living or dead, it seems everyone loves but you." Oh, I'd love to ask that last one of some other writers.

Money is very expensive.

And the award goes to Owen Percy for "YOU BEAUTIFUL BASTARD! Ian-- this is freaking me out! The Griffin shortlist! You! YOU!"

You might remember Owen from last year's winning performance after the Danuta Gleed: "You glorious, prize-winning bastard!"

Honesty is not a field trip to cruelty.