Melissa Poon

Writer | Musician

"Love is an action, never simply a feeling." -bell hooks

[Melissa Poon @mykpoon]

#FramebyFrame puts an abundance of Canadian talent onstage in the most brilliant of ways; it was a treat to review it for @TheDanceCurrent as part of the #EmergingArtsCritics programme!

#EAC is made possible by @nationalballet @TheWholeNote @TorontoSymphony @TheDanceCurrent https://t.co/909Q8P0afY

[The Dance Current @TheDanceCurrent]

"Frame by Frame reimagines ballet for a digital world..." #EmergingArtsCritics participant @mykpoon discusses #FramebyFrame, a #digital homage to filmmaker Norman McLaren. #EAC is a partnership w @nationalballet @TheWholeNote & @TorontoSymphony >> https://t.co/iNZ8KUKPcI #ballet

[Melissa Poon @mykpoon]

I have witnessed such great kindness as this,
in this, my true life, you must believe me.
I mean, on a Sunday, when nobody was supposed to be
watching. Nobody at all. I saw this happen, the two
of them hugging, when nobody was supposed to be
watching, but not a secret either

[Hafizah Augustus Geter @RhetoricAndThis]

@chenchenwrites On Kindness by @aracelisxgirmay has healed my heart many times. https://t.co/EBnBIHhb4Q

[Nicole Tallman @natallman]

I am running into a new year like Lucille. 🖤

[Victoria Chang @VChangPoet]

A small section of a poem by Phillip B. Williams: “Final Poem for a King.” -from Mutiny

[Melissa Poon @mykpoon]

“People are not the worst moments of their lives.”

There is more than that. So much more. So many more moments.

“People are not the worst moments of their lives.”

[A. H. @a_h_reaume]

We spent some time during the pandemic not talking (I wrote about permanently grieving the loss of him in my life in December. I cut him out for a while because of ableism). And I’m just so glad to have him back. People are not the worst moments in their lives.

[Dr. Maya C. Popa @MayaCPopa]

Saul Bellow for your Monday evening: ✨

[The New York Times @nytimes]

“There is value in choosing how to be seen, in reclaiming the right to select the face you show the world, in insisting that others see you as you know yourself to be,” @pronounced_ing writes. Read her essay, and see more photos from the project. https://t.co/VQSyTPG6WB

[Melissa Poon @mykpoon]

A lovely piece from Anne Michaels’s Correspondences for #WorldPoetryDay - “Not Our Memory of the Dead but What the Dead Remember”

https://t.co/8Qgsg6sbxo

[Melissa Poon @mykpoon]

“The waves never stop coming, and somehow you don’t really want them to. But you’ll learn that you’ll survive them. ...If you’re lucky, you’ll have lots of scars from lots of love. And lots of shipwrecks.”

[Dave Whiteside @dave__whiteside]

So many people have experienced loss and grief this year, and grieving during COVID has felt different.

I come back to this from time to time and it's just too beautiful not to post. To anyone who has grieved this year or any year, this might speak to you in a meaningful way.

[The Globe and Mail @globeandmail]

New technology is helping musicians play together virtually in real time - by eliminating lag time online https://t.co/nJpRTxGoWA

[Dr. Maya C. Popa @MayaCPopa]

Not at my most chipper today.

Here's a lovely, hopeful poem by Ellen Bass:

[Melissa Poon @mykpoon]

Moving words that can move mountains, move people, move progress.

“The new dawn blooms as we free it.
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it.
If only we’re brave enough to be it.” -@TheAmandaGorman

[Barack Obama @BarackObama]

On a day for the history books, @TheAmandaGorman delivered a poem that more than met the moment. Young people like her are proof that "there is always light, if only we're brave enough to see it; if only we're brave enough to be it."

[Melissa Poon @mykpoon]

"It seems the vast majority of our interactions with the things that fill our souls will continue to be on our laptops, rather than in person."

[The Rundown @therundowntvo]

Ontario's sports, tourism, and culture industries contribute $75 billion to the Ontario economy. How big is $75 billion? It’s larger than Ontario’s forestry, agricultural, and mining sectors combined, writes @spaikin #onpoli https://t.co/OhNPjJzEXG

[Elisa Gabbert @egabbert]

The sentences and paragraphs you write that mean so much to you and nobody ever mentions them, perhaps they sense that language is somehow private, too hot to touch

[Melissa Poon @mykpoon]

A real privilege for me to play a part in getting the cohort together and I can’t wait to see what this brilliant group will accomplish!

[Holly P @holly_palen]

So excited to launch the ECCCIntrapreneurs program this morning. A cohort of 10 enthusiastic, talented people will work together using innovative approaches to tackle challenges! Thanks @mykpoon for organizing!

[Ilya Kaminsky @ilya_poet]

poems wil not return
you, here—but
they keep you alive, here

—Henneh Kyereh Kwaku

[Ilya Kaminsky @ilya_poet]

I wrote my heart in a poem
and it took up the whole bedroom it doesn’t pay rent it stays up
watching cities burn to the ground I am so sorry that you have
nowhere to sit I just loved someone

—Hanif Abdurraqib

[Melissa Poon @mykpoon]

A poem by Aracelis Girmay to take into the weekend, "Consider the Hands that Write this Letter"

https://t.co/NXcEbjKLKc

[Melissa Poon @mykpoon]

With @OttawaPopsOrch’s Stories Through Music series, we are looking to build a community - one that can share perspectives, craft connections, and cultivate a greater understanding of different experiences in a time where unity is so necessary.

Thanks for the write-up @apt613!

[Ottawa Pops Orchestra @OttawaPopsOrch]

'Art is always the first thing to go, but where would we be without it? It’s such an important thing to build a community that can create that, but also consume it. We live better lives because of it.'

https://t.co/DtNmXUWFvJ

Mentions: @twinflamesband @deonandan @JLeiper