i'll expect big things from the moon later tonight by c. a. r. rafuse
CBC Books | Posted: November 7, 2024 2:30 PM | Last Updated: November 7
The Ottawa writer is on the 2024 CBC Poetry Prize longlist
c. a. r. rafuse has made the 2024 CBC Poetry Prize longlist for i'll expect big things from the moon later tonight.
The winner of the 2024 CBC Poetry Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and have their work published on CBC Books. The four remaining finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books.
The shortlist will be announced on Nov. 14 and the winner will be announced on Nov. 21.
If you're interested in the CBC Literary Prizes, the 2025 CBC Nonfiction Prize opens in January and the 2025 CBC Poetry Prize will open in April.
About c. a. r. rafuse
c. a. r. rafuse lives in Ottawa although his heart remains where he was born, in Winnipeg. He has published one poem, douglas lake, one in the Spring 2023 Malahat Review. He has composed more poems than he's able to count and hopes to publish a book before the end of time.
Entry in five-ish words
"A lyrical day including sisters."
The poem's source of inspiration
"Driving. Driving constantly inspires me. I'm able to think and compose, therefore be. In this poem, driving through poetry and sibling love and music also the past and the present. The poem takes place from approximately mid morning to sometime late in the afternoon. The poem ends around suppertime. Where I find myself counting my blessings and listening to Spotify. I could have said ABBA but chose The Supremes."
First lines
i'm almost dying
of peace
this very moment /
of peace
this very moment /
what a shocking day
of talking and thinking and writing,
this morning
of talking and thinking and writing,
this morning
driving through all the rural geographies
of my poems
that mean everything to me
of my poems
that mean everything to me
Check out the rest of the longlist
The longlist was selected from more than 2,700 submissions. A team of 12 writers and editors from across Canada compiled the list.
The jury selects the shortlist and the eventual winner from the readers' longlisted selections. This year's jury is composed of Shani Mootoo, Garry Gottfriedson and Emily Austin.
The complete longlist is:
- Borderland by Howard Anglin (Calgary)
- on the last day of ramzan, the moon makes the sun in its image by Manahil Bandukwala (Ottawa)
- Lament by Jessica Bebenek (Montreal)
- Citrus Dreams by Elena Bentley (Clavet, Sask.)
- When it's 9:48pm and the kids are asleep and you realize you've spent the entire night on your phone by Nicole Boyce (Calgary)
- ABC Gum by Devlin (Halifax)
- scar/city I by Daniela Elza (Vancouver)
- I Thought I Might by Tamsyn Farr (Wakefield, Que.)
- Score Before Cutting by Claire Gordon (Ucluelet, B.C.)
- There is no neutral way to say I was fourteen by Cicely Grace (Vancouver)
- After Icebergs by Matthew Hollett (St. John's)
- a house in O's name by Eimear Laffan (Nelson, B.C.)
- Gas Station Coffee by Paula Lemke (Langley, B.C.)
- magdalene sonnets by Louie Leyson (Vancouver)
- 吃苦 (Eat the Bitterness) by Emily Yiling Ma (Burnaby, B.C.)
- Kananaskis by Kathleen McCracken (Belfast, Northern Ireland)
- A Tenuous Life Act, I Lay Dreaming by Sasha Pickering (Halifax)
- Regeneration and other poems by Katherine Poyner (Nanaimo, B.C.)
- Girls of the Now by Dora Prieto (Vancouver)
- No Apples and Oranges by Marion Quednau (Sechelt, B.C.)
- i'll expect big things from the moon later tonight by c. a. r. rafuse (Ottawa)
- Song for the Earth and the Water by Harold Rhenisch (Vernon, B.C.)
- Palimpsest County by Rachel Robb (Toronto)
- Doom Scroll by Jenny Sampirisi (Toronto)
- Northern Childhood by Eleonore Schönmaier (Ketch Harbour, N.S.)
- Some Notes on Intoxication and Simile: Like Butterscotch by Catherine St. Denis (Victoria)
- The Killer and the Harpist by Catherine St. Denis (Victoria)
- The Rupture by Ayşe Lara Yildirim (Toronto)