

Mute Swan,
Poems for Maria
Queen of the World
NOW PUBLISHED
The St. Thomas Poetry Series (Toronto)
Learn more…
“A brave, original, memorable collection.”
Malcolm Guite, Poet, Singer-Songwriter, Priest, and Academic
“…fiercely present…committed to justice-making as well as to the mysteries of being…”
Susan McCaslin, Poet, Writer, and Educator
Upcoming 2023 National Poetry Month Events:
A POP-UP POETRY INSTALLATION, by Lesley-Anne Evans
at the 2023 UNBOUND Poetry Festival
(Delta Literary Arts Society)
Saturday, April 15, 2023, 10 am – 8 pm
The North Delta Centre for the Arts
11425 84 Ave, Delta, BC
popuppoetry.ca
THE JOY OF WORDS
Celebrating three poets and their new books.
Saturday, April 22, 2023 @ 7:30 pm
St. Thomas’s Church
383 Huron Street, Toronto, Ontario
An evening of poetry, with readings by St. Thomas Poetry Series poets, Lesley-Anne Evans, Bruce Meyer, and Bruce Hunter. This in-person event will be live-streamed. We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, and the League of Canadian Poets.
THE JOY OF POETRY
Readings, and open mic.Thursday, April 27, 2023 @6:30 pm
Third Space Cafe
1708 Dolphin Ave #103, Kelowna, BC
An evening of readings, book sales and signings, and an open mic.. Featuring Okanagan authors Robert Humphries, Fern G.Z. Carr, Sally Quon, and Lesley-Anne Evans.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, and the League of Canadian Poets.
Mute Swan promotional video, filmed at Feeny Wood, B.C., by Olivia Seneshen.
Book Launch: A Celebration of Mute Swan.
A live streaming celebration was held on December 11, 2021, at Feeny Wood, B.C.. This event is recorded and available at this link.
Testimony One: On Account of a Ripe Brandywine Tomato
From Mute Swan, Poems for Maria Queen of the World.
1. There is no angel.
2. There are cicadas clicking like a vinyl record riding one relentless everlasting note. There is occasional lowing—dairy cows content with alfalfa beyond the electric fence. There is my cotton sundress. And my dusty feet. There are damp curls sticking to my sunburned neck.
3. When I am four. When I am electric—the white heat of want.
4. There is my grandfather’s garden.
5. There is a blood-red globe larger than a grapefruit. There is a scent—green, sharp, hard to wash off. There is beauty. When I see. When I reach out and take it into myself as though it is the only answer I will ever need.
6. There is red. There is red blood like wine. There is thin skin. And sharp teeth. There is puncture, bite, and softening of jaw and lips. There is the making way for sun warmed flesh. There is the haloed aroma and the tender glabrous leaf. There is swallow, saliva, and licking lips, there is abundance and ambrosia that cannot be contained, there is spilling, and washing, and dripping, and there is wanting more.
7. There is no shame.
About Lesley-Anne

Lesley-Anne Evans, an Irish-Canadian poet, writes from Feeny Wood, a contemplative woodland retreat in Kelowna, B.C., Canada, on the unceded ancestral territory of the Syilx Okanagan people.
Lesley-Anne’s debut poetry collection Mute Swan, was published by The St. Thomas Poetry Series (Toronto), in 2021. Lesley-Anne has been commissioned to write libretto and lyrics for opera and cantata. Her poetry is published or forthcoming in The Antigonish Review, Barren Magazine, Cascadia Review, Contemporary Verse 2, The Ekphrastic Review, Lake Journal (UBC), Letters Journal, Presence Journal and Soul Lit. Lesley-Anne’s work is awarded and anthologized.
Lesley-Anne is co-founder of Red Couch, an art gallery for marginalized artists, and co-created SEE:kelowna, a museum exhibit sharing stories of homelessness.
“Thus, I am a feather on the breath of God.”
Hildegard of Bingen