Saint Ursula's Commonplace Book

a free pdf for paid subscribers

Image description: 4 publications on a wooden table: 1. Ursula, a small chapbook with a yellow cover and red swirls. Two orange triangles with text: Ursula/The Breton princess Ursula was beheaded by the Huns at Cologne before her marriage to a pagan prince. She died with eleven thousand virgins who accompanied her on her pilgrimage to Rome. Another chapbook entitled A Book of Miracles; Another chapbook entitled a Book of Saints with a painting in black and white, “The Dream of St. Ursula by Vittore Carpaccio, 1495 on the cover. A broadside with 4 colour photo booth photos of me, and the first poem from the manuscript published by Pooka Press on a broadside.

This is the forth free pdf given to paid subscribers in appreciation for their support this year and the final poetry publication that I will share with subscribers in 2024; although there will be one more surprise for paid subscribers in December. To see the other pdfs given to paid subscribers, please click here. Thank you for supporting my work!

I began Saint Ursula’s Commonplace Book in 2006 or so. I was getting off an OC Transpo bus on Bank Street and I saw an older woman trundling a cart and speaking. To me it sounded like she was spouting prophecy. For some reason I thought of her as Ursula. When I got home, I looked up the name and learned of the saint. This began several years work. I was fortunate to receive funding from the City of Ottawa for the creation of the manuscript.

The work is a series of long poems and poem series which comes after I wrote two long poems, Welcome to Earth, poem for alien(s), published by Book*Hug in 2008 and Eleanor, published by above/ground press in 2007. Eleanor is about Eleanor of Aquitaine coming to Ottawa in the 21st century. She was the first woman of history that I wrote about, followed by Ursula and then All the Catherines (unpublished) and Kiki (published by Chaudiere Books and now available from Invisible Publishing). \

Vancouver’s Pooka Press run by my dear friend Warren Dean Fulton published the first of the Ursula poems in 2007. I published a long poem from the draft manuscript in 2008. In 2015, above/ground press published the poem series, A Book of Saints and one of its poems was published by Arc Poetry Magazine. Also in 2015, USA publisher Dusie published a book of miracles.

I love the idea of a commonplace book, a place where someone copies out inspiring quotes, writes notes, presses flowers. I gave my character Ursula a commonplace book and she wrote all kinds of things. We collaborated together. I thought of, and still do, all the people I see on the streets.

At this time of year, I urge readers to donate to local organizations which help the unhoused and those going through food insecurity. In Ottawa, two such organizations are Cornerstone Housing for Women and the Parkdale Food Centre. If you can donate to an organization that helps folks in need, please do so, and think of Ursula.

If you are a paid subscriber and wish to read the entire manuscript, which consists of five sections plus what i refer to as Interstices, little asides by a speaker other than Ursula, who is prone to wandering, you can click on the free pdf link below the paywall.

If you can’t afford to subscribe, please send me a message and I will give you a complementary subscription.