Today we welcome to our blog Patrick Connors, a poet living in Toronto and contributing to its rich poetic landscape. Patrick’s latest collection. The Long Defeat, is coming out with Mosaic Press.
In this new book, Connors explores the depths of human experience, influenced by personal challenges and global crises. Reflecting on his own experience of pandemic-induced unemployment, Connors captures universal themes of dissatisfaction and the desire for renewal.
Intrigued by the title, we asked Patrick to speak about what he hopes people will take away from this timely collection.
Bring home The Long Defeat by Patrick Connors.
Q: What is the main message you want to get across to your readers?
A: We are in times of great strife. We have been through a pandemic, war throughout the world, and unrest within our own borders. It seems very dark, and hopeless. But this could be the beginning of a great victory. Holding onto this belief gets me through the hardest days.
The wonderful Pat Connors!
More about Patrick Connors:
Patrick Connors’ first chapbook, Scarborough Songs, was released by Lyricalmyrical Press in 2013, and charted on the Toronto Poetry Map. He contributed 18 poems to Bottom of the Wine Jar, published in 2017 by SandCrab Press, and launched in Gibara, Cuba.
He has had work printed in Belgium, India, and the United Kingdom, in addition to the United States and Canada.
Past publication credits include: Blue Collar Review; The Toronto Quarterly 4; Spadina Literary Review; Tamaracks; and Tending the Fire, released in spring 2020 by the League of Canadian Poets.
Recent publication credits include: Rabble; Poetry and Covid; Devour; Lummox 9 Anthology; Canadian Stories; Harbinger Asylum; Silver Birch Press; and Poetry Pause.
He has performed at the Austin International Poetry Festival; featured in numerous reading series such as The Art Bar, Wild Writers, and Plasticine Poetry; hosted events under the 100,000 Poets for Change banner, as well as the United May Day Committee; and was on the organizing committee for The Great Canadian PoeTrain Tour.
His first full collection, The Other Life, is available from Mosaic Press.
His next full collection is forthcoming.