On The Threshold
The New Era of McSway Poetry Collective
McGill University has a rich history with creative writing, and is presently home to a litany of writing organizations. Its oldest poetry club, McSway Poetry Collective, is embarking on new projects this year that aim to further cement its role in Montreal’s writing community. Founded in 2012, “McSway set out to revive the vibrant tradition of spoken poetry at McGill”, as is written on their website; it is now “a vibrant hub where writers, poets, and artists come together to amplify their voices, share raw and refined work, and create an electric, supportive community”. Last week, I had the opportunity to chat with co-presidents of McSway, Carla Billon and Pooja Kundalia.
Carla, an English student, has been with McSway for the duration of her studies. She first encountered McSway at McGill’s activity fair during her first year, which led her to attend the collective’s workshops. The palpable sense of community she felt upon attending a McSway workshop inspired her to join the team: “I felt, ‘I want to do more, I want to take charge of those events and be more involved’. I first applied to be a workshop facilitator, then became VP of workshops, and now Pooja and I are co-presidents together.” Pooja, who studies political science and philosophy, began working with McSway as their social media coordinator. “I’ve always been writing poetry,” she asserts; when a friend already working with the collective informed her that McSway had vacant spots on their team, Pooja jumped at the opportunity for involvement.
This year, McSway has placed further emphasis on external promotion, particularly for their events. Most notably, they host weekly writing workshops every Tuesday, as well as frequent open mics. Advertising on social media has encouraged more people to join the community. “I’ve definitely seen an uptick in attendance for our events,” says Pooja, “especially with regards to enthusiasm. We’ve seen people bring their other art forms to McSway; at our last event, we even had a flute player—it was beautiful.” Carla agrees that McSway’s circle has expanded to include artists of all mediums, not exclusively poetry: “we have a lot of people showing up for open mics. At one venue, people started randomly playing the piano in the corner of the room.”
The multimedia trajectory of McSway’s workshops has allowed them to open the door to a vast number of people. “I don’t think poetry can only be found in words; it’s in music, nature, and artwork. Having the flute player at our event was one of the coolest experiences I’ve had at McSway,” Pooja says. Not only does this musical incorporation attract people with varied interests, it also offers newcomers a more accessible way to explore poetry. “The use of music in poetry has grown a lot in recent years; genres like spoken word or slam poetry make use of percussion and rhythmic sounds, which shows people that poetry doesn’t always have to be so formal,” Carla agrees. “It’s less scary; it encourages people to just show up, listen to poetry, and maybe even write some themselves.”
Having McGill University as a home base only further allows McSway to expand its outreach. “We’ve been lucky enough to form a lot of ties with the McGill faculty,” Carla acknowledges. Professors like Eli MacLaren, who organizes the Montreal Poetry Prize, and Miranda Hickman, who organizes Poetry Matters, are active in the city’s literary community, and actively encourage their students to get involved with writing groups like McSway. A primary method of involvement is through submitting to McSway’s online journal, Snaps, which publishes biannual zines. The journal’s website reveals that Snaps is “named after the custom of snapping one’s fingers in support of a poet’s performance”.
This year, McSway is launching its first print project, an anthology open to all debut Montreal writers. “People can see their work in a physical book, but it also creates community—a place where everyone’s different art forms can come together. Our idea for it was a meeting of people and poems and art,” Pooja declares. McSway is looking for debut artists in particular to submit to their anthology; “we acknowledge that there are more well-known streams of publishing, but I guess we wanted to start our own. The number one thing we want to emphasize is accessibility; it would be amazing to give people an opportunity to get their work out there and in print,” Pooja claims. The call for submissions expands beyond the confines of McGill University and is targeted to the Montreal writing community as a whole. McSway hopes to collaborate with local bookstores like The Word and Paragraphe Bookstore to amplify their artists’ work.
The purpose of the anthology differs from that of their online journal: “Snaps has been publishing zines for the past couple of years, but they’re more temporary; archives don’t have zines because they don’t last. The anthology is a good way to create a legacy and give us as a club a physical presence,” Carla says. Pooja agrees that “Snaps is an ongoing project” and that the anthology is meant to capture a moment in time. The upcoming anthology is entitled Thresholds: “it’s the idea of when you’re on the brink of something new, or at an in-between space between something old and something new. A lot of the young writing community in Montreal might feel like they’re at a transitional point in their lives,” Pooja reveals. Thresholds is currently seeking poetry, short prose, artwork, and photography.
Submissions for Thresholds are open until Friday, March 20th, and the form is linked HERE.
