Long Sault Night Rain by Katie Munnik

Katie Munnik has made the 2018 CBC Poetry Prize longlist for Long Sault Night Rain.

• 30 writers make longlist for the 2018CBC Poetry Prize

About Katie

Katie Munnik is a Canadian writer based in Cardiff, Wales. Her debut novel, The Heart Beats in Secret, won the Borough Press Open Submissions Competition and will be published in April 2019. Her collection of short fiction, The Pieces We Keep, was published in 2017.Her prose, poetry and creative nonfiction have appeared in several magazines and anthologies. She is a graduate of Queen's University, the University of St. Andrews and the Humber School for Writers. Katie's hometown is Ottawa.

Entry in five-ish words

Moving houses, making ink and grief.

The poem's source of inspiration

"Last spring, I moved houses suddenly. In the midst of my hurried sorting and packing, my sister emailed me a series of photos of things she'd found in the walls of her house during recent renovations. There were old photographs, newspaper clippings, the bowl of a broken pipe and a small china sheep. Her house was relocated when the Saint Lawrence Seaway was builtand the idea that these hidden objects had been picked up and travelled with the house made me think about the things that all houses can hold and about the ways we do and don't learn to let go when changes come."

First lines

Night rain on the roof, the oiled leaves of the walnut and the oak.
It is steady and darkening, falling louder on the new road.
Another year's visit, the stillness under the rain.

My sister signed the deed and settled
in this new town made of old houses,
named for the rapids that aren't here anymore.
She likes this place and I like to visit
because the evenings are quiet away from the city,
because she is here, and she's made it her home.

About the 2018CBCPoetry Prize

The winner of the 2018CBCPoetry Prizewill receive$6,000 from theCanada Council for the Arts, will have their work published onCBC Booksandwill have the opportunity to attend a writing residency attheBanff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from theCanada Council for the Artsand have their work published onCBC Books.