Poetry and Music Open Mic & Live in June & July

I have visited sacred places,
knelt before gods,
whispered, prayed—
for peace in my heart,
for peace in this world.

I wander beneath green trees,
birds singing among leaves.
I imagine poets before me implore:
Each poet is a bird—sing, just sing!
But I fear I am no nightingale,
no lark, no thrush.

Still, a song stirs in my heart.
Still, I must chant—
for the joy of being a poet,
for the peace, the power,
the strength of each word.

So now I drum with all my soul,
answering the woodpecker’s beat.

Let the wind carry the rhythm far—
to another forest, another heart.
Let someone pause,
listening—not knowing why—
and feel a stillness take root,
a single note
trembling into harmony.

 We thank our sponsors: Nova Marketing Group, Triple J Canada, Sureway Press, Mississauga Arts Council and Canadian Poets: Katherine L. Gordon & DC Reid.

Peace and Harmony through Poetry and Music Project 2025 updates

Peace and Harmony through Poetry and Music is a cross-disciplinary collaboration uniting poets and musicians to explore language, sound, and cultural expression. Through compositions, performances, and filming, the project weaves poetry and music into a unified experience, fostering cross-cultural dialogue, creative exchange, and a shared vision of peace and harmony.

Poet Anna Yin will lead this project and collaborate with three to four musicians from diverse cultural and musical backgrounds. Please click here to see steps and details.

We are very happy that this project won a Matchmaker Microgrant from MAC in 2025 and we want to thank our sponsors: Nova Marketing Group, Triple J Canada, Sureway Press, Mississauga Arts Council and Canadian Poets: Katherine L. Gordon & DC Reid.

Many thanks—stay with us for what’s next.

Happy Father’s Day 2025 /Father is a Mountain (lyrics by Anna Yin)

[Verse 1 – Childhood]
As a child, I knew no distant land.
My father stood—a tall, unshaken stand.
Step by step, I learned to climb,
Chasing dreams where stars shine.

[Verse 2 – School Years]
With curious heart, I went to school,
My father was my steady tool.
I gripped the seat and held on tight,
He pedaled me toward books and light.

[Chorus]
He lifted me in quiet grace,
His shoulders held the sky in place.
His gaze, a sail to send me wide—
No matter how far I may fly,
He stands where home and love abide.

[Verse 3 – Youth]
In youth, I chased the winds of fire,
My father was a slender wire.
Not too loose and not too tight,
He let me soar in open light.

[Chorus]
He lifted me…

[Verse 4 – Immigration]
Then life pulled me across the seas,
His voice came softly through the breeze.
“Take care,” he said—so calm, so spare,
A mountain’s love wrapped in the air.

[Final Chorus – Variation]
Still he lifts me from afar,
Across each ocean, under every star.
Though years have lined his watching eyes,
No matter how far I roam,
His love is where my spirit flies.

[Closing Line]
Father is a mountain, standing tall,
Lifting dreams though oceans call.
Through time and tide, I always know—
He lights my path, he guards my road.

Shab-e She’r (Poetry Night) Anna Yin & Jovan Shadd on May 28, 2025

Featured poets: Anna Yin & Jovan Shadd
+ Open Mic for poetry in any language
Wednesday, May 28, 2025
Tranzac Club, 292 Brunswick Ave, Toronto, ON M5S 2M7
Open Mic Sign-up: 6:30 PM EST
Show 7-10 PM EST
Admission: $10-20 Sliding Scale

Check photos of the reading night. So glad that Richard Greene, Al Moritz and many other poets and friends joined us to read!

Breaking into Blossom is ready for per-ordering! Congratulations

Thanks Frontenac House. Now Breaking into Blossom is ready for pre-ordering… We hope in the coming National Poetry month, you can receive it as a perfect poetry gift!. #books #poetry #publishing

Here is a poet who finds authority in endurance. With a deepening craft, Anna Yin confronts bereavement, repression, displacement, and the complexities of love in poems that are heartfelt and crystalline. –Richard Greene:

Anna Yin’s poems ‘breathe in two languages,’ creating a lovely tension between immediacy and distance that feels as though two points on a globe have been connected by a flight path. Her imagery is deeply sensual, compelling yet delicate. Her lines hover in our minds like the dream that “finds his own key, unlocks the door and comes inside.” —Alice Major

From Molly Peacock:
In her gorgeous book, Breaking into Blossom, Anna Yin’s poetry is like the interior of the abalone shell she depicts, “emerald… just shining.” Almost anything or anyone in this volume can break unexpectedly into blossom, including the poems themselves, often concluding with unanticipated discoveries.  The book undulates with observations and the animated sur-reality of all kinds of exchanges, from an interview with a painter to the poet’s father’s late life words to a desperate woman stepping on a Forget-me-not.  “The career of flowers differs from us only in inaudibleness,” Emily Dickinson wrote to her cousins, and Yin’s buoyant inspirations from poets across time, Li Po to Wallace Stevens, Akhmatova to Dickinson herself, give voice to subtly noticed feelings and thoughts.  Anna Yin is fast becoming a Canadian treasure.

Anna Yin’s more works showcased in USA, Hongkong, Taiwan & Canada

创世纪诗刊选用Anna三首华语新诗: 沉默,风信子,金陵。 proud for their work persisting in 70 years!

From Vancouver for Anna’s two Chinese poems

two poems for Ontario

from hongkong for Anna’s poem: Brueghel’s Two Monkeys… thanks 聲韻詩刊 Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine

Poetry and Music (The Seeking Heart) in both Chinese and English (心之寻–诗歌与音乐)

After watching 2025 Spring Festival Gala at Living Arts Center, Mississauga, Anna Yin wrote a poem: The Seeking Heart in both Chinese and English, then made poetry and music videos. We share them here with you and hope you too enjoy the beautiful music and create your own poems. Cheers. #poetry #music #videos The poem is also on Live Encounters Poetry and Writings March 2025