The Hummingbird Podcast

14/04/2024

What does the word craft mean to you?

We explore what this word means to us as creators, from the silly to the serious. Plus the role of intuition, practice and inner knowing. Jessica shares her poem “On Deciding on Learning to Write” …

31/03/2024

Beginning ideas, sustaining ideas, consuming ideas—how as creators do we relate to this word? Jessica shares her poem “The Crossing of Candle Eyes” and Catherine shares three short poems inspired by her mother: “The Red Element” “It’s Only Her Piano Face” and “ My Suburban Forest.”

Beginning ideas, sustaining ideas, consuming ideas—how as creators do we relate to this word? Jessica shares her poem “The Crossing of Candle Eyes” and Catherine shares three short poems inspired b…

17/03/2024

While staying in to rest and heal what occupies our mind and imagination? What does it mean to “clean house”? How do we know what to hold on to and when to let go? We explore these things in dialogue and in poetry. Jessica shares two poems: “Leaving Home” and “Shine Firefly” and Catherine shares her poems “Freckle” and “Father’s Tattoo.”

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13/02/2024

We are back with a new episode as we continue to reflect on winter. We'd love to hear from you! How do you take care of yourself in the coldest, darkest months?

Writing, resting, going inward, the importance of self-care. Letting go. Balance. Writing through dark times. Balancing our creative life with teaching. Valuing our own rhythm. Catherine reads an e…

28/01/2024

What do you enjoy most in winter?

What might our dreams teach us? Catherine shares her poem from the Niagara Falls Poetry Project “The Water Draws.” Jessica shares her poem “When.” Plus sleep habits, reading habits and Raymond Carv…

16/01/2024

How do you know you are a writer? Is it possible to find poetry in the everyday? What’s it like to share raw work? What might we do with our dream lines? Catherine shares her poem “Last Shadow” and Jessica shares a new poem “Robin Takes a Break.”

14/01/2024

How do you know you are a writer? Is it possible to find poetry in the everyday? What’s it like to share raw work? What might we do with our dream lines? Catherine shares her poem “Last Shadow” and Jessica shares a new poem “Robin Takes a Break.”

How do you know you are a writer? Is it possible to find poetry in the everyday? What’s it like to share raw work? What might we do with our dream lines? Catherine shares her poem “Last Shadow” and…

31/12/2023

What do you hope to learn in 2024?

What assists us when we’re learning? What happens when we’re open and curious? Learning isn’t always easy and the unknown is our biggest teacher. Yet, how as writers do we share what we’ve learned?…

17/12/2023

Join us as we continue to reflect on living a creative life!

This question leads us to talk about many things including P.K. Page, what it’s like to be a highly sensitive child, whether we’d like the gift of invisibility or mind control, the power of dreams,…

03/12/2023

We continue to explore ideas in Rick Rubin's book 'The Creative Act.'

What happens when we move from word to image? Catherine talks about her experience leading a creative problem-solving workshop and how the images that appear know more than we do. What happens when…

19/11/2023

Have you read Rick Rubin's 'The Creative Act' yet? We loved it!

We talk about Rick Rubin’s book The Creative Act: A Way of Being and what it awakens in us as creators. What does it mean to lead a creative life? How do we get into a creative space? Catherine sha…

05/11/2023

We explore full circle moments and how with aging we carry more questions than answers.

We are excited to launch Season 5 and look forward to sending out a new episode every two weeks! More poetry, conversation, and friendship!

As we kick off season five, we explore full circle moments and how with aging we carry more questions than answers. Catherine shares the story behind her poem “The Rain Barrel” and Jessica talks ab…

04/11/2023

Season 5 launches tomorrow! Subscribe so you don't miss an episode!

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28/10/2023

Hummingbird Podcast update! The first episode of Season 5 drops Sunday, November 5. Thank you, Hummingbird listeners for your patience! We missed you and are excited to be back. 💗

02/08/2023

In our last episode, we talked about a summer with Rilke? How is your summer going? Have you had a chance to read Letters to a Young Poet?

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04/06/2023

We discuss Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke, a book we read in a workshop together twenty years ago when our friendship began. We read an excerpt from the first letter that explores life lessons and the interaction between the inner and outer self. This leads us to chat about what it means to be a writer vs author, the role of attention, and connecting to the core of the inner self. Plus the importance of the everyday as a source for writing and the letting go of outcome.

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26/05/2023

One more episode left this season! We are so grateful for our listeners. While most are from Canada and the US, people from over 30 countries listen to the Hummingbird Podcast. Thanks for joining us for the conversation!

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21/05/2023

Our conversation circles and spirals as we revisit Jessica’s book The Writing Spiral: Learning as a Writer. Rumi, T. S. Eliot, solitude and self-awareness all feed our talk about the labyrinth as a metaphor for our life path and how to arrive at the centre of the self. Plus Emily Carr and the “unity of movement.”

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17/05/2023

In the writing process, we often encounter the unknown, moments where we can't see where we are going or have been. We rely on our memory and imagination to get us through.

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14/05/2023

How do you practice listening and attention when writing?

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07/05/2023

We explore looking back to look ahead. Catherine talks about her just published book, Put Flowers Around Us and Pretend We’re Dead: New and Selected Poems, the micro journey and the macro, the role of attentiveness and what it’s like putting a New and Selected book together. We also share quotes by Mary Oliver, Albert Einstein and a mourning dove visits us too.

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30/04/2023

Catherine and Jessica discuss writing life as part of each episode, sharing questions, insights, and experiences.

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30/04/2023

We began Season 4 talking about the importance of keeping the channel open.

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23/04/2023

We talk about the heartbeat of the ground (a line from Catherine's poem "A Leash of Deer"), the pulse of everything, plus the current that connects us. Jessica shares her poem "A River Flows" and its origin story. We discover how a poem can hold a poem beneath it. Catherine reads her poem "Chthonic" and takes us to the underground. We see how imagery can lure us to slip beneath.

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09/04/2023

Catherine shares her poem “A Leash of Deer” and the story behind it. (Yes, it started with a coaster purchased in Edinburgh.) We talk about how poems and encounters with animals open us up and bring us closer at the same time, how they expand and contract. Jessica reads an excerpt from her latest book Bernice and the Georgian Bay Gold that includes an encounter with a crow. When we lean into the energies around us, we feel the connections. When we pay attention, the gifts come.

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26/03/2023

We explore how art shapes our lives and our lives shape art. We talk about what shakes and shimmers, negative capability, and chance encounters with animals. Catherine reads an excerpt from her novel Quarry. We move from the ‘ice-cream realm’ to the weight of grief. We realize if we can let go of control and let the body guide us—that’s when the magic appears.

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17/03/2023

Happy St. Patrick’s Day from ! 🍀💚☘️