Lacuna and The Fisherman by Anna Moore

Anna Moore has made the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize longlist for Lacuna and The Fisherman.

The winner of the 2020 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. 5 and the winner will be announced on Nov. 12.

About Anna Moore

Anna Moore writes poetry, fiction and the occasional essay. She holds a BFA in creative writing from the University of Victoria, and is currently working on a poetry collection about sports and other rituals. She lives in Victoria.

Entry in five-ish words

"Seaside alienation and unexpected joy."

The poems' source of inspiration

"The inspiration behind the poems was a typical beach wander with a friend who was collecting pottery shards that had washed up on the sand. I also had a strange dream about a solitary fisherman.

I wanted to share these poems because I thought the inherent loneliness in them might resonate with other people.

"I wanted to share these poems because I thought the inherent loneliness in them might resonate with other people."

First lines

Lacuna

Living is like stepping from one boat to another, smaller – 
the little leap, the sea beneath yawing wide in the dusk.

Yesterday I couldn't pry open my eyelids,
though I felt safe, sightless at the cliff's edge.

I collect shards of blue and white pottery from the shallows; 
sew from these a cloak to cover my own flimsy nape. 

One day I will break like a thin piece of driftwood,
threaded with shipworm, undone by a last crash of waves. 

About the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize

The winner of the 2020 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 2021 CBC Nonfiction Prize will open in January. The 2021 CBC Poetry Prize will open in April.