C Baran has made the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize longlist for She Says, You Know, Though, You Do / The Other Day, I Told Ivan That Having Mice Is Like The Trouble With Tribbles.

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.

If you're interested in the CBC Literary Prizes, the CBC Nonfiction Prize opens in January and the CBC Poetry Prize opens in April.

The shortlist will be announced on Nov. 18 and the winner will be announced on Nov. 24.

C Baran is a disabled artist and writer living on Canada's west coast. Her poems have been published in Berkeley Poetry Review, Prism, Room, jubilat, Magma and in Best Canadian Poetry 2019. She was the winner of Pris's 2019 Pacific Spirit Poetry Prize, their 2020 Grouse Grind Lit Prize for V. Short Forms and Magma's 2021 Editors' Prize.

"Alternative job ideas / gaslighting"

"She Says, You Know, Though, You Do was inspired by a conversation with a relative.

"The Other Day, I Told Ivan That Having Mice Is Like The Trouble With Tribbles began much as it starts. On the phone, I told a friend that having mice was like The Trouble With Tribbles, but written by Stephen King. I haven't seen the Star Trek episode since I was a kid, but I can still picture Kirk opening that overhead compartment."

One good thing about this year — I have not had to resort to hunting the mice for food. Though, if I did, I'd have less credit card debt. So, maybe put a pin in that?

You know, I still see people pinning perfect homes on Pinterest. Perfect meals on Facebook.

I picture posting my artfully arranged backyard spit-roasted mice, nestled in a bed of dandelion greens. Or recipes for nettle soup. Road sourced dried chamomile tea. Laneway blackberry pie. Pigeon soup. Chocolate covered grubs. I could do that. I've eaten dandelions and edible flowers in salad. Dried my own found chamomile. Eaten the insides of thistles. Eaten bugs.

Eaten gourmet bugs, suspended like amber in a brightly colored lollipop — bought at a novelty shop.

she says, you know, though, you do tend to exaggerate, you do tend to talk
about it, right? about
how immobilized you are — about being stuck, it's just
everything your swollen joints - the pain it's always just
dire, I think it's all in your head — and — you know, you're
scary.

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.