Apartment 402 by Elizabeth Page
CBC Books | | Posted: November 7, 2019 2:00 PM | Last Updated: November 7, 2019
2019 CBC Poetry Prize longlist
Elizabeth Page has made the 2019 CBC Poetry Prize longlist for Apartment 402.
The winner of the 2019 CBC Poetry Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, have their work published on CBC Books and attend a two-week writing residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Four 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, 2019. The winner will be announced on Nov. 21, 2019.
About Elizabeth
Elizabeth Page is a poet and novelist in Kenora, Ont. She is currently enrolled as a student at Simon Fraser University's Writer's Studio, working under mentor Eileen Cook. She was awarded second place in the 2018 Northwestern Ontario Writers Workshop's Bill MacDonald Prize for Prose. Elizabeth's passion is her speculative fiction novel that she hopes to have prepared for publication by the end of her time at the Writer's Studio in June 2020.
Entry in five-ish words
Two lost souls: existing, surviving.
The poem's source of inspiration
"This poem reflects my youth experiences and the feeling of not knowing where you fit in the world. I was inspired to write it because I wanted to explore the depths of these emotions and what it means to be on the precipice of adulthood, but still very much a child."
First lines
The hall is lined with garbage bags
Air thick with sweet tobacco, rotting burgers and fries
A forgotten hotel
But not entirely-
The rent is still collected by a large man, in small bills
By the week
Air thick with sweet tobacco, rotting burgers and fries
A forgotten hotel
But not entirely-
The rent is still collected by a large man, in small bills
By the week
We sit at the top of the fire escape
I wish I could feel the fresh air from the lake, but it's blocked by main street stores
Stagnant, the alley smells of wet cardboard and old shoes
We watch as the homeless stand at the corner begging for change
As if we're more than one paycheck away
From taking that walk down the ladder ourselves
I wish I could feel the fresh air from the lake, but it's blocked by main street stores
Stagnant, the alley smells of wet cardboard and old shoes
We watch as the homeless stand at the corner begging for change
As if we're more than one paycheck away
From taking that walk down the ladder ourselves