Migration Song by Nicole Lachat
CBC Books | | Posted: November 10, 2021 2:30 PM | Last Updated: November 10, 2021
2021 CBC Poetry Prize longlist
Nicole Lachat has made the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize longlist for Migration Song.
The winner of the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, have their work published on CBC Books and have the opportunity to 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. 18 and the winner will be announced on Nov. 24.
If you're interested in the CBC Literary Prizes, the CBC Nonfiction Prize opens in January and the CBC Poetry Prize opens in April.
About Nicole Lachat
Nicole Lachat was born in Edmonton to a Peruvian mother and Swiss father. She earned her BA in psychology from the University of Alberta and her MFA in creative writing from New York University. Her poetry appears in Palimpsest Magazine, Tinderbox Poetry Journal and Ruminate Magazine, among others. She won second prize in the Short Grain 2018 Contest and is a Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity fellow. Lachat currently lives in Lincoln, where she is pursuing her PhD in creative writing at the University of Nebraska.
Entry in five-ish words
"Longing, migration, isolation, body and legitimacy."
The poem's source of inspiration
"As a child of immigrants, and as a person who has now migrated herself, I spend a lot of time considering what homeland is and what it might be.
In my poems I try to understand the role of borders, both those of nations and those of the body.
"I am full of longing for places which exist primarily in the imagination. In my poems I try to understand the role of borders, both those of nations and those of the body."
First lines
At dusk, I read the silhouette of Canada Geese
across the sky. Their sharp formation a cutting verse,
an arrow, a victory. The shape of fingers making their way
back to prayer.
across the sky. Their sharp formation a cutting verse,
an arrow, a victory. The shape of fingers making their way
back to prayer.
About the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize
The winner of the 2021 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 the 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 2022 CBC Nonfiction Prize will open in January. The 2022 CBC Poetry Prize will open in April.