Walk In The Woods: Portrait of the Ojibway Prairie Complex

Ojibway is a “priceless … tiny pocket of nature that reminds us, perhaps, of what once was and what could be …” – David Suzuki

Walk in the Woods is an adventure about going out on the best and the worst days of the year and taking a walk in the jigsaw puzzle of the wetlands, forest, savannah, and prairie areas that hug the near edges of Windsor, Ontario.

“I ventured out daily, marvelling at a world I had never really known. I carried a camera. I photographed and documented what I was experiencing. Mostly, I walked alone. I went out when it was misty, overcast, and when it was sunny, and I never missed a snowy day … It was a walk of meditation, reflection, gratitude, and it was a walk about learning what I was seeing…”– Marty Gervais

The Family Farm

Black Moss launches an exploration of a way of life that has disappeared, what we are losing and what we have lost.

Although I despise the word “lifestyle” the connection between agriculture and the wilderness, cultivation and culture, are very relevant and there is an entire way of life vanishing.

The ironic parallel for me as a writer is the disappearance of poetry in the life of the people. Once upon a time, when education was committed to the making of a well-rounded, fully engaged mind, my Uncle John, a shepherd who could quote Virgil and Shakespeare, is now gone. Even the educated classes don’t seem to realize the importance of the contemplative, slow thinking, lingering and deepening experience, and the entertainment of agitprop performance pieces.  – John B. Lee

Black Moss uses narrative literature and poetry to chronicle the events, lives and experiences unique and important to Canadians. The Family Farm is one of the first three of these themed explorations that can be found in Poetry in Life on this site.

“great interns, great book of poetry, great publishing house…” – Percy Hatfield, MPP Windsor-Tecumseh

People from cities across Canada and as far away as Thailand attended the virtual launch of Bruce Meyer’s new book Grace of Falling Stars on April 7. The launch was arranged and promoted by Black Moss Press interns who are enrolled in the publishing program at the University of Windsor. Almost 200 people attended the event, which received rave reviews.

Windsor Mayor, Poets Laureate and Community Leaders
Launch Dance of Self-Isolation

Poetry collection release marks one-year anniversary of first case of COVID-19 in Windsor-Essex

A Dance of Self-Isolation

City of Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens, Poet Laureate Mary Ann Mulhern, Poet Laureate Emeritus Marty Gervais and Youth Poet Laureate Samantha Badaoa release  A Dance of Self-Isolation: Covid Poems from the Biggest Little City in Canada on Saturday, March 20, the first anniversary of the first case of COVID-19 in Windsor-Essex.

A reading was hosted by Dan MacDonald, host of The Dan MacDonald Show on AM800 CKLW, to launch the book. In addition to the mayor and poets laureate, the guest readers and panelists included:

• Councillor Jo-Anne Gignac, Windsor City Council;
• Jelena Payne, Commissioner of Community Development & Health Services, City of Windsor;
• Anthony Paniccia, Board Chair, Windsor Regional Hospital;
• Janice Kaffer, President and CEO, Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare; and
• Bev Becker, Board Chair, United Way/Centraide Windsor-Essex County.

Black Moss books are distributed by Fitzhenry & Whiteside. We acknowledge and thank the Canada Council and the Ontario Arts Council for their generous support. Thank you as well to the City of Windsor for its support and encouragement of our press and building community awareness of and support for Canadian literature in Windsor.