Local poet Erin Robinsong has been offering her poetry to the public of Cortes for more than 20 years.

On Aug. 23, Robinsong rolled in with rhythms that reminded us of the ocean: her newly published book, Wet Dream made its debut on the humble concrete stage at the Cortes Natural Food Coop (CNFC) courtyard. 

Marnie Andrews, of Marnie’s Bookstore, hosted the event in cooperation with the CNFC. Andrews introduced the talented local poet, noting her popularity amongst the locals. Robinsong explained how she convinced her publishers to have the event on Cortes.

“Poetry audiences are not like this in any other place…Cortes per capita is like, one of the bigger poetry loving communities that I've ever been to…Thank you for helping to bring this book into the world with me," the poet said. "It's actually not coming out for another month officially but I told the publisher whose wonderful Brick Books, there would be more people at a launch on Cortes than in Toronto. And they were like, ‘okay!’ So they printed the book a month early. And so right now the only place you can get it is Marnie's books, in the world.”

Several individuals contributed to the artistic performances for the night, including Flora Wallace, Cosmo Sheldrake, Merlin Sheldrake, Heather Wolf, Nicholas Moon, and Julian Nelson. Wallace is also the artist responsible for the book cover of Wet Dream. Robinsong explained that Wallace’s technique incorporates natural inks and rainwater.

Wet Dream is available to purchase exclusively at Marnie’s Books until Sept. 23, and then it will be available at bookstores worldwide.

To hear more from the poetry night event listen to the CKTZ update below: